Chief People Officer

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Wigan; On-site; GBP 200,000 +; Full time

Job summary

A prominent NHS Trust is seeking a strategic Chief People Officer to lead the development and implementation of their People & Culture Strategy. The successful candidate will have extensive experience in people and organizational development, with a strong focus on equality, diversity, and inclusion. This pivotal leadership role involves collaborating with stakeholders to enhance workforce planning, cultural transformation, and employee experience while ensuring the Trust's values are upheld.

Qualifications

• Senior People & OD leadership experience in a complex environment.
• Experience of developing and delivering impactful People & OD strategies.
• Demonstrable commitment to anti-racism and detailed knowledge of NHS frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the People & Culture Strategy.
• Lead workforce and organisational development initiatives.
• Strengthen leadership and drive performance improvement.

Skills

People & OD strategy development

Organisational development

Workforce transformation

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Leadership and inspiring followership

Education

MA in HR Management or equivalent experience

MCIPD

Recognised Leadership Development

Job description

Choose Well - Choose WWL

Job overview

Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) is seeking an exceptional, values-led Chief People Officer (CPO) to join our Board and Executive Team at a crucial moment in our organisation’s evolution. This is an outstanding opportunity for a strategic, system-minded people leader to shape the future of a major acute and community teaching trust serving more than 329,000 residents across the Wigan Borough.

A pivotal moment for our organisation

WWL is delivering a £4.8m transformation programme — the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester — in partnership with our local authority and ICB, reshaping urgent and emergency care, improving patient flow and accelerating our acute-to-community shift. Alongside this, our three-year financial recovery plan is progressing successfully, supported by a refreshed Executive Team and a new Chair passionate about integrated care. With two new divisions, Start Well and Live Well, we have reshaped our operating model to meet the borough’s health needs across the life course and deliver care closer to home.

We are an organisation defined by our culture : low turnover, high engagement, a strong ethos of continuous improvement, and deep partnership with our local system. As an anchor institution — with 70% of colleagues living in or near the borough — WWL plays a vital role in improving population wellbeing, tackling inequality, and supporting the local workforce pipeline.

Main duties of the job

About you

We are seeking an accomplished senior People & OD leader with experience gained in a complex environment, ideally within the NHS or wider public sector. You will bring :

• A track record of developing and delivering impactful People & OD strategies
• Significant experience of organisational development, workforce transformation and culture change
• Deep expertise in equality, diversity and inclusion with demonstrable commitment to anti-racism
• Strong partnership skills, including working with multi-agency stakeholders and Trade Unions
• Visible, compassionate leadership and the ability to inspire followership
• The confidence, credibility and strategic insight to influence at Board level
• A personal style that reflects our values — compassionate, collaborative, authentic and ambitious

Working for our organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that ‘happy staff, makes for happy patients’. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement, and living our values ‘the WWL Way’.

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As CPO, you will be a strategic equal at the Board table, responsible for the design, implementation and evaluation of our People & Culture Strategy, aligned with the NHS People Plan, NHS People Promise and long-term workforce ambitions. You will lead the full portfolio of workforce, organisational development, culture, leadership, digital people services, education, recruitment, wellbeing and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) — including leading our journey to become a fully anti-racist organisation.

You will provide visible, inclusive and compassionate executive leadership, strengthening people management capability across the Trust and driving service improvement, modernisation and high performance. You will also play a key system leadership role through the Greater Manchester HR Directors’ Network, the Healthier Wigan Partnership and wider locality programmes.

Will be required to travel to all Trust sites.

Key priorities include

• Leading and embedding our People & Culture Strategy
• Overseeing workforce planning, modernisation and future workforce design
• Driving the acute-to-community shift and redesigning workforce models to meet growing demand
• Strengthening leadership capability, succession planning and talent development
• Improving colleague experience, wellbeing, psychological safety and engagement
• Leading EDI strategy and reporting, with explicit responsibility for anti-racism
• Ensuring robust employee relations, partnership working and Trade Union collaboration
• Supporting organisational transformation through high-impact OD and cultural change programmes
• Delivering People Services excellence with grip, control and service improvement focus

A full Job Description and Person Specification is available in the attached candidate pack.

A recruitment microsite with further information can be found at

Applications are via CV and Cover Letter . Please email : [e-mail] using the subject line : “WWL CPO Application”

For an informal and confidential conversation, please contact : Jonathan Phillips – 07817 988490

Key dates

• Closing date : Midnight, Monday 15 December 2025
• First-stage assessment : Week commencing 15 December 2025
• Final interviews : Week commencing 12 January 2026

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• MA in HR Management / associated subject (or equivalent experience)
• MCIPD
• Recognised Leadership Development
• Evidence of continuing professional and leadership development

Desirable criteria

• FCIPD

Experience

Essential criteria

• Senior People & OD leadership experience in a highly complex organisation
• Evidence of successful development, implementation and delivery of People & OD strategy
• Evidence of effective partnership working with multi-agency stakeholders & trade unions
• Record of successful delivery against HR / OD improvement targets
• Leadership of equality and diversity function (or significant elements of them)

Desirable criteria

• Previous HR Director / CPO experience in an Acute and / or Community Trust

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Detailed knowledge and understanding of NHS People Plan, NHS People Promise, Transforming People Services and local workforce imperatives
• Expert understanding of principles of inclusion and diversity (with strong commitment to delivery)
• Detailed knowledge of regulatory frameworks (i.e. CQC, GMC, NMC, HCPC, MHPS, etc)

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of the GM ICs and the associated workforce priorities

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria

• Highly visible and inclusive leadership style – able to quickly build credibility and followship
• Passionate about people, partnership and inclusion, including demonstrable commitment to anti-racism, with ability to inspire others
• Demonstrates that people are at the heart of everything they do
• Ability to lead strategic and tactical transformational programmes, deploying proven quality and service improvement methodology
• Ability to build effective relationship and allyships with stakeholders and regulators
• Able to demonstrate strong personal values of integrity and compassion
• Proven ability to convert vision into reality, with outcomes embedded long-term

Desirable criteria

• Demonstrate ability to build, lead, develop and motivate effective team(s)
• Quality & Service Improvement abilities
• Proven influencing and negotiation skills, particularly across organisational boundaries and at regional / national levels

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 introduced new rules relating to the recruitment of executive and non-executive directors, known as the Fit and Proper Persons Requirements (FPPR), placing obligations on NHS organisations to seek the necessary assurances that all directors are suitable and fit to undertake the role.

You will be asked to complete an FPPR declaration form during the recruitment process that will enable us complete a number of checks to ensure that you are;

• Of good character;
• Have the necessary qualifications, skills and experience;
• Are able to perform the work that they are employed for after reasonable adjustments are made