Director of Hospitals

Care Quality Commission; Greater London; Remote; GBP 95,000 - 114,000; Full time

Job summary

A health regulatory body is seeking a Director of Hospitals to lead strategic initiatives in hospital care. The role involves driving improvement, regulatory policy, and managing high-performing teams. Candidates should have substantial experience in health care and stakeholder engagement. The position offers competitive benefits and a supportive work environment focused on values of excellence and integrity.

Benefits

Annual leave starting at 27 days, rising to 32.5

Training and development opportunities

NHS pension scheme with employer contribution

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in complex, senior stakeholder engagement.
• Experience leading large-scale change and driving improvement.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across the hospital sector.
• Lead operational policy development and thematic reviews.
• Manage operational risk and drive improvement activities.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Operational policy development

People management

Analytical capability

Education

Nursing, Midwifery or Allied Health qualifications

Job description

Overview

Roles: We have 2 roles available; one in our Central region and one in our North region

Location: Homebased, although travel across the region and to meetings will be required

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £95,000 - £113,625 per annum

Closing Date: Sunday 12 October 2025 at 11.59pm

For an informal discussion or further information on the role, please contact Nicola Wise, via her Personal Assistant: [e-mail] For general enquiries please contact [e-mail]

About Us

We’re the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and we work to improve health and adult social care in England. We regulate health and adult social care, work together with the public, systems and providers of care to protect people and to promote and improve quality of care. Our vision is to see everyone receiving safe, effective and compassionate care. We’re committed to listening, acting, informing and protecting the public, helping providers and systems of care to improve and innovate, ensuring our people feel valued and do great work, and to working together with partners who share our purpose for better care.

We’re now looking for two Directors of Hospitals to join us on a full-time, permanent basis.

Why this could be a great role for you

This is an exceptional opportunity for a credible and inspirational leader from the health and social care system who has both specialist hospitals sector expertise and experience in driving improvement and innovation to join our senior leadership team.

We’ve built our organisation around our values of Excellence, Integrity, Caring, and Teamwork. That means that we are insight-led, proportionate and innovative; transparent, accountable and impartial; just, compassionate and respectful; and collaborative, inclusive and fair. If these values resonate with you and you feel you can embody and represent them, you will discover an outstanding working environment with opportunities for professional development and growth, where your contributions make a lasting impact nationally.

What’s more, you’ll be taking on a role with real purpose at a time when hospital care is under increasing scrutiny, and where transformation, and having strong leadership, systems and processes in place is more important than ever.

What You Will Bring

To be considered as our Director of Hospitals, you will need:

• Extensive experience in complex, senior stakeholder engagement across the health and social care system
• Previous experience of working in health, social care, the NHS, regulatory or related fields
• Experience leading large-scale change and driving improvement in complex environments
• Experience of risk management, operational policy development and shaping regulation
• Strong people management experience, including building and developing high-performing teams
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence at the highest levels
• Political awareness and strong business acumen, with the ability to identify opportunities for innovation
• Analytical capability, using data and insight to drive decision-making
• Knowledge of regulation, operational and government policy, and hospital sector expertise
• An understanding of corporate finance, managing budgets and measures of performance
• A future-thinking approach, skilled in horizon scanning and shaping strategy

We particularly welcome applications from individuals with Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions (NMAHP) backgrounds or equivalent system / clinical leadership experience, who can bring valuable insight and expertise to this role.

What You’ll Be Doing

As our Director of Hospitals, you will provide strategic leadership across our hospital sector work, driving improvement and shaping future policy and practice. You will work closely with the Chief Inspector of Hospitals and co-lead regulatory activity with other Directors across the hospital sector, ensuring operational excellence and sector specialism through your teams.

Additionally, You Will

• Respond to emerging issues and thematic work in the hospital sector
• Lead operational policy development, taskforce management and thematic reviews
• Build strong relationships with providers and key groups to hear the voices of those who use services to improve our registration and assessment processes
• Manage operational risk and drive improvement activities across the sector
• Support the development of a shared view of quality across health and care systems
• Lead and develop high-performing teams, including leading and managing Deputy Directors to deliver local regulation
• Contribute to strategic planning and delivery across the organisation

Next steps

You can read the full details of the role in the following Job Description and Candidate Information Pack:

• Job Description - Director Of Hospitals
• Candidate Pack - Director of Hospitals

If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form / submit your CV. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether you are shortlisted.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please upload a current CV and covering letter (no more than 750-words) via the Recruitment System. Your covering letter should describe your suitability for the role and outline your knowledge and experience of hospital regulation and of improvement within the health and social care system.

The Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Compliance

To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Equity for all

We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups. If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need. We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact [e-mail]. Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for interview or within your role these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this. We Welcome Applications From Everyone, And Colleagues Can Find Support And Community Among Our Many Employee Networks. This Includes People Of Any

• Age
• Sex
• Gender identity or expression
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Ethnicity
• Disability

Values and vision We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture. Excellence – being a high-performing organisation. Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect. Integrity – doing the right thing. Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can. We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI

AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.