Chief Executive Officer

NHS; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A major healthcare provider in Nottingham, seeks a Chief Executive Officer to lead the organization in delivering high-quality services. Candidates should have experience as a Chief Executive and in mental health and community services. The role involves ensuring regulatory compliance, financial efficiency, and fostering an inclusive working culture. Interested individuals must apply by January 25, 2026, and provide a CV with professional history and educational qualifications.

Benefits

Inclusive workplace networks

Health and wellbeing support

Commitment to carbon reduction

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading health services through scrutiny.
• Experience in mental health, community health, and forensic care.
• Strong ability to build high-performance teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead a large organization ensuring quality and safety of services.
• Shape and deliver organizational strategy reflecting health priorities.
• Act as the Trust's Accountable Officer for statutory obligations.

Skills

Executive leadership

Partnership working

Financial efficiency

Patient-centered care

Regulatory compliance

Education

Significant Executive Director experience in healthcare

Experience as Chief Executive in health/social care

Job description

Chief Executive Officer

The closing date is 25 January 2026.

We are proud to be Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – a major provider of integrated healthcare services, delivering mental health, intellectual disability, community, forensic and offender health services across the Midlands and South Yorkshire.

With a team of more than 11,300 colleagues, our Trust exists to help people live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Our care is person-centred and delivered where it is needed most – from secure hospitals and community hubs to GP surgeries and people's homes.

Main duties of the job

As Accountable Officer, the Chief Executive will hold overall responsibility for the quality, safety and performance of our services, ensuring strong governance, financial sustainability and operational resilience. Working closely with the Chair and Board, they will lead the delivery of our strategy and provide influential leadership across local, regional, and national systems, while nurturing a culture rooted in our values of Trust, Honesty, Respect, Compassion and Teamwork.

We are looking for a high‑calibre leader with a strong track record of partnership working across complex systems, delivering financial efficiency while maintaining high-quality care, and leading organisations through regulatory scrutiny or major improvement activity. Previous Chief Executive experience in healthcare, and Board‑level experience within mental health or community services, would be advantageous.

At Nottinghamshire Healthcare, we are committed to being a pro‑equity organisation. We want our leadership to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve, and we particularly welcome applications from racially minoritised people, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people and those with lived experience of using our services.

If you are a compassionate, strategic and system-focused leader, motivated by the opportunity to make a meaningful difference at scale, we would be delighted to hear from you.

About us

#TeamNottsHC comprises over 11,000 dedicated colleagues who #MakeADifference every day. We deliver intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and South Yorkshire. Our care is provided from over 200 sites, spanning community locations, acute settings, and secure environments, including prisons.

We are one of the largest mental health and community Trusts in the East Midlands and one of Nottinghamshire's biggest employers. We also host national and regional services, such as the National High Secure Deaf Service and the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health.

We offer a variety of employee-led staff networks, including Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) groups, the Green Champions network, the Freedom to Speak Up network, the Health and Wellbeing Champions network, and the Menopause Champions network. These networks play a vital role in supporting our diverse workforce and promoting a culture of inclusivity.

The health and wellbeing of colleagues is a top priority. We invest significantly in this through our in-house occupational health and staff counselling services, supported by a dedicated Health and Wellbeing team.

The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon emissions, with a specialised Energy and Environmental team working to ensure compliance with environmental legislation, enhance our environmental performance, and achieve our net‑zero commitment.

Job responsibilities

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will provide visible, values-led and inspirational leadership to Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. As the Trust's Accountable Officer, they will hold overall executive responsibility for the quality, safety and performance of all services, for the stewardship of public resources, and for ensuring the Trust meets its statutory, regulatory and governance obligations.

The CEO will be responsible for shaping and delivering the organisational strategy, ensuring it reflects current national and local policy as well as the health priorities of the populations we serve. In doing so, the CEO will ensure the Trust maintains strong financial performance, operational resilience and a culture grounded in our values of Trust, Honesty, Respect, Compassion and Teamwork.

As the leader of a large and diverse organisation which provides a wide range of community, mental health, learning disability, offender health and high‑secure services, the CEO will be a key system leader locally, regionally and nationally. They will champion the needs of the populations we serve, advocate for high quality community, mental health and forensic care and discharge the specific responsibilities associated with leading a High Secure Hospital under the High Secure Psychiatric Directions 2019.

Please see the attached 'Candidate Pack for Chief Executive Officer' for the full Job Description and Person Specification and to find out more information about our Trust.

HOW TO APPLY

Key Dates

• Application deadline: 23:59 on Sunday 25 January 2026
• Stakeholder sessions (in person at a Trust location in central Nottingham): Thursday 12 February 2026
• Interviews (in person at a Trust location in central Nottingham): Friday 13 February 2026

Applications should include:

• A covering letter explaining why the appointment interests you, how you meet the appointment criteria and what you specifically would bring to the post.
• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) with education and professional qualifications and full employment history. Please include telephone contact numbers and email addresses. The CV should include names and contact details of referees to cover the last six years (in line with NHSE guidance). References will not be taken without your permission.
• A completed Monitoring Information Form and Fit and Proper Person Form. Please note that the information you provide will be treated as confidential and is for monitoring purposes only. It will not form part of the application process.

Please send all applications to: [e-mail]

Our recruitment partners are Hunter Healthcare. For an informal conversation, please contact James or Rhiannon:

• James McLeod by email: [e-mail] or by phone: [phone]
• Rhiannon Smith by email: [e-mail] or by phone: [phone]

Person Specification

Experience

• Significant Executive Director experience in a large and complex health or social care organisation.
• Experience of Chief Executive Officer leadership in a health or social care organisation.
• Experience of senior leadership of mental health, forensic health and community health services.

Leadership

• Experience of leading an organisation through regulatory scrutiny, public inquiry, major review or comparable high‑stakes improvement.
• Demonstrable experience of leading patient‑centred health services, with a passion for patient leadership and co‑production of service development.
• Experience of successfully leading an organisation to meet its national regulatory obligations, such as those defined by CQC, NHS England.
• Evidence of building high‑performance senior teams.

Knowledge & Skills

• Track record of contributing to the development of and delivering long‑term strategic plans that improve health outcomes, quality of care, and value.
• Proven track record of leading large‑scale organisational change to achieve quality improvement.
• Experience of leading an organisation through financial turnaround and achieving challenging financial efficiency targets whilst maintaining high‑quality patient care.
• Evidence of successful partnership working on a local, regional and national footprint.
• Demonstrable evidence of personally driving an organisation to reduce health inequalities and create an environment where colleagues can fulfil their own unique potential at work.
• Leadership experience in an organisation facing significant media interest.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust