Chief Operating Officer

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer to join its Board and shape the next five-year strategy for one of the UK's largest teaching hospital trusts.

Reporting to the Chief Executive, the COO will lead operational delivery, focus on patient flow, productivity and financial sustainability, and build strong partnerships with clinicians and staff across five sites.

Qualifications

• Experience leading large, complex healthcare operations.
• Proven track record of achieving performance improvements.
• Strong governance, financial and people leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational delivery across the Trust to ensure safe, timely and effective care.
• Improve patient flow, productivity and financial sustainability across sites.
• Translate strategic ambitions into practical delivery with clinicians and corporate colleagues.
• Build high-performing teams and collaborative relationships across South East London.

Skills

Board-level leadership

Operational delivery

Healthcare leadership

Change management

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is looking for an exceptional Chief Operating Officer to join its Board at a pivotal point in the organisation's development.

Reporting to the recently appointed Chief Executive, Matthew Trainer, this is an opportunity to help lead one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching hospital Trusts as KCH delivers its new five-year strategy and ambitious vision to transform healthcare.

Serving more than 1.5 million patients across south east London and beyond, KCH provides outstanding local hospital services alongside internationally recognised specialist care, supported by pioneering research, education and innovation.

As Chief Operating Officer, you will be responsible for leading operational delivery across the Trust, ensuring patients receive safe, timely and effective care whilst improving operational performance, patient flow, productivity and financial sustainability. Working as a member of the Trust Board, you will work closely with clinical and corporate colleagues to translate the Trust's strategic ambitions into practical delivery across the organisation.

This is a role for an experienced operational leader who is comfortable working in a large, complex organisation and who understands how to deliver improvement through others. You will build strong relationships with clinicians, operational leaders and staff across KCH, providing clear leadership whilst creating the pace, clarity and accountability needed to deliver sustained improvement.

We are looking for someone with a successful Board-level track record of leading operational services within a large and complex healthcare organisation. You will bring sound judgement, resilience and credibility, together with experience of improving performance, leading major change and delivering sustainable operational and financial improvement. Equally importantly, you will value collaboration, develop high-performing teams and create an environment in which people feel supported to deliver their best.

You will also play an important role beyond KCH, working with partners across South East London to strengthen pathways, improve services and support more integrated models of care for local communities.

This is an opportunity to join a new executive leadership team at an important moment for KCH. If you are looking for a Board-level role where you can make a lasting contribution to one of the NHS's largest and most complex teaching hospital Trusts, we look forward to hearing from you

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. In June 2026, we launched our new strategy for 2026-31. Our vision is to transform healthcare, and we have agreed six strategic ambitions to help us improve care for patients, and the working lives of our staff.

Our six strategic ambitions are delivering high-quality patient care; creating a great place to work; leading pioneering research, innovation and education; building strong and successful partnerships; providing timely and efficient care; and ensuring long-term financial sustainability.

We have also agreed four new organisational values – Caring, Collaborative, Inclusive, Innovative – and these underpin everything we do, and how our teams interact with the patients under our care.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Frank McKenna Job title: Global Managing Director Email address: [e-mail] Telephone number: 07721 613 260

David Heaton, Principal Researcher

[e-mail] / [phone]