General Manager | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in Cambridge is seeking an enthusiastic manager to lead its Children's Directorate. This role requires strong communication and operational management skills, focusing on improving services for children and young people. If you're ready for a meaningful challenge and have a track record of delivering high-quality care, we invite your application. The position involves strategic liaison with various stakeholders and offers great opportunities for professional development.

Qualifications

• Values-driven approach with a strong track record.
• Experience in operational leadership.
• Ability to manage complex services in healthcare.

Responsibilities

• Lead and improve services across Children's Directorate.
• Ensure high-quality care and compliance with targets.
• Drive service improvement for children and young people.
• Develop workforce capability and morale.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Leadership

Operational management

Partnership building

Performance improvement

Job description

We are looking for an enthusiastic and experienced manager to lead and improve services across our Children's Directorate, which includes Community Paediatrics, Paediatric Therapies, Tier 4 inpatient mental health, Community CAMHS, and specialist services.

This is a key operational leadership role, responsible for ensuring safe, effective, and high-quality care. We are seeking someone with a values-driven approach and a strong track record of delivering against local and national targets to balance the need for authenticity and compassion in leadership alongside performance improvement and financial accountability.

You’ll work closely with multidisciplinary teams to drive service improvement in both mental and physical health for children and young people. The role offers a diverse portfolio, with varied commissioning and contracting arrangements, providing excellent opportunities for professional growth and autonomy within a supportive senior leadership team.

Strong communication and partnership skills are essential, as the role involves strategic and operational liaison with a wide range of stakeholders. If you’re ready for a new challenge and want to make a meaningful impact, we’d love to hear from you.

For more information, please contact Caroline Simmons, Operations Director for Children, Young People and Families Directorate directly [e-mail]

1. Responsible for the operational management and delivery of excellent, high quality, patient focused, and effective clinical services within the area of responsibility ensuring that all service targets and objectives are delivered as set out in the business plan.
2. Ensure that all aspects of service delivery, service development and quality improvement are focused on patient and carer experience, patient safety and clinical effectiveness.
3. Establish excellent relationships with clinical staff, leaders and external stakeholders successfully developing high quality clinical services in response to evidence-based practice and commissioner requirements.
4. Ensure that all care pathway services within the area of responsibility meet their quality objectives and comply with the governance requirements of CQC, NHS Improvement, and the Mental Health Act.
5. Coordinate the contribution and involvement of support and corporate services to the work of the area of responsibility in support of the business plan.
6. Lead the development of workforce capability so that all staff have the right skills, knowledge and behaviours to deliver effective services, and to create a working environment and open culture which fosters high morale and commitment among all staff and promotes their professional and personal development.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children’s, adult and older people’s mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high‑calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under‑represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

1. To be responsible for developing and reviewing the strategic direction of each service within the area of responsibility, supporting, and collaborating with the Clinical Director, Operational Director (OD), Associate Director of Quality & Nursing and the directorate leadership team.
2. To be responsible for ensuring that the management team within the area of responsibility focuses on performance targets, and quality and efficiency improvements.
3. To lead on service transformation and improvement throughout the area of responsibility in line with the Trust’s strategy.
4. To keep the Trust Executive appraised of developments and trends within the area of responsibility through attendance at the Performance and Risk Executive.
5. To lead the area of responsibility in conjunction with the Operational Director, Clinical Director, Associate Director of Quality & Nursing, and the directorate leadership team for agreement with the Trust Executive.
6. To contribute to the contract negotiation process, so that Trust income can be maximised and clear objectives set.
7. To be responsible for securing the necessary resources and facilities to deliver the directorate business plan and all business developments, and to support the Operational Director, Clinical Director, Associate Director of Quality & Nursing, and the directorate leadership team in high-quality, cost-effective service delivery.
8. To ensure that agreed financial activity and other performance targets are delivered.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

This advert closes on Wednesday 10 Dec 2025