Head of Operations - Paddock Wood

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust; Whetsted; On-site; GBP 67,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS pension scheme

27 days annual leave (plus increases)

Professional development opportunities

Salary sacrifice schemes

Occupational health and counselling

NHS discounts

Job summary

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is seeking a Head of Operations to provide strategic, operational and professional leadership across a large geographic locality. The role requires delivering performance, workforce management and transformation within an NHS Band 8b framework.

You will lead a diverse team, manage significant budgets, and drive service improvement while maintaining regulatory compliance and governance across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East

Qualifications

• Master’s level education or equivalent senior level experience.
• Postgraduate diploma or equivalent with CPD.
• Evidence of post qualifying and CPD.
• Full UK driving licence.
• NARU Tactical Commander accreditation or willingness to complete within 12 months.
• Registrant or clinically practising clinician.

Responsibilities

• Providing strategic, operational and professional leadership across a designated locality.
• Delivering services safely, effectively and in line with standards.
• Lead operational performance, governance and transformation programmes.
• Develop partnerships with system colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Lead workforce initiatives to promote engagement and high performance.

Education

Master’s level education or equivalent senior experience

Postgraduate diploma or equivalent

Evidence of post qualifying and CPD

Full UK driving licence

NARU Tactical Commander accreditation or willingness to complete within 12 months

Registrant or clinically practising clinician

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Employer South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Paddock Wood Make Ready Centre Town Paddock Wood Salary £66,582 - £77,368 Per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 12/10/2026 08:00

Head of Operations - Paddock Wood

NHS AfC: Band 8b

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.

Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.

Job overview

Are you an experienced operational leader ready to influence healthcare delivery at scale?

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is seeking an exceptional Head of Operations to provide strategic and operational leadership across a large and diverse locality.

This is a highly influential senior leadership role with responsibility for leading operational performance, workforce management, financial stewardship and service transformation. Working as part of the senior leadership team, you will play a key role in shaping the future of urgent and emergency care services, ensuring patients receive safe, effective and responsive care.

At SECAmb, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We provide emergency, urgent care and NHS 111 services across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire, serving millions of people every year. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and supported to succeed.

If you are a visible, values-driven leader with the ambition to drive improvement, inspire high-performing teams and make a meaningful difference to patients and communities, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

As Head of Operations, you will provide strategic, operational and professional leadership across a designated locality, ensuring services are delivered safely, effectively and in line with national, regulatory and organisational standards.

You will:

• Lead and support operational managers and frontline teams to deliver high-quality patient care.
• Hold overall accountability for operational performance, workforce planning and financial management within the locality.
• Drive service improvement and transformation programmes, ensuring benefits are realised and embedded.
• Ensure robust governance, risk management and regulatory compliance arrangements are in place.
• Develop effective partnerships with system colleagues and external stakeholders to improve patient outcomes and service delivery.
• Lead workforce initiatives that promote engagement, wellbeing, inclusion and high performance.
• Provide leadership during periods of operational pressure, major incidents and business continuity events.
• Contribute to Trust‑wide strategic objectives as a senior leader within SECAmb.

The successful candidate will bring substantial experience of leading large, complex operational services, with a proven track record of delivering performance improvement, managing significant budgets, leading organisational change and developing high-performing teams.

Working for our organisation

• Option to join NHS pension scheme
• A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing after 5 years' service.
• Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
• Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
• Access to occupational health and counselling services.
• Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money‑saving deals.

Other than in exceptional circumstances, the starting salary for staff new to the NHS will be the bottom point of the band to which they have been appointed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Head of Operations is responsible for providing strategic, operational and professional leadership across a designated locality, ensuring the effective delivery of services in line with organisational priorities, regulatory requirements and national standards.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing visible and effective leadership to operational managers and frontline teams.
• Delivering performance against agreed service, quality, workforce and financial targets.
• Leading the planning, implementation and evaluation of operational and transformational programmes.
• Ensuring effective governance, risk management and regulatory compliance across the locality.
• Managing complex workforce matters and promoting a positive employee experience.
• Developing collaborative relationships with partner organisations and system leaders to improve patient pathways and service delivery.
• Leading on business continuity, emergency preparedness and organisational resilience within the locality.
• Monitoring and managing financial performance and resource utilisation.
• Supporting the development of future leaders through coaching, mentoring and talent development.
• Contributing to Trust‑wide strategic objectives as a member of the senior leadership team.

The successful candidate will demonstrate strong strategic thinking, excellent communication and influencing skills, and a proven ability to lead large, geographically dispersed teams within a complex operational environment.

Previous experience of leading large-scale services, delivering change, managing significant budgets and developing productive partnerships across organisational boundaries will be essential.

This role presents an outstanding opportunity to contribute to the future direction of ambulance services and make a lasting difference to patients, staff and the wider healthcare system.

Qualifications

• Educated to Master’s Level, or equivalent level of experience at senior level.
• Postgraduate diploma or equivalent experience/training with further specialist knowledge to Master’s Level.
• Evidence of post qualifying and Continuing Professional Development.
• Full UK compatible Driving Licence.
• NARU Tactical Commander accreditation or willingness to complete within 12 months.
• Registrant or clinically practising clinician.

Knowledge

• Extensive knowledge of specialist areas.
• Appreciation of relationships between Department of Health, NHS England, and provider/commissioning organisations.

Experience

• Evidence of planning and delivering programmes, projects, and services on time.
• Working knowledge of financial processes.
• Experience of leading a large team of multidisciplinary team members.
• Management experience of complex HR and ER cases.
• Previously responsible for a budget and involved in budget setting.

Skills

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office with intermediate keyboard skills.

Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated.

Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS‑COV‑2 (COVID‑19) vaccination.

Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.

In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.

Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. This will either be a basic, standard, or enhanced check depending on the role. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants.

The Trust is passionately committed to being an inclusive employer - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. As an employer we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement networks, facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds.

We actively support equality of opportunity for all our staff and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, any disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. The Trust is making progress towards its aim of becoming more reflective of its diversity in our workforce and guarantees an interview to candidates with disability who meet the essential criteria specified. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and those from other under-represented groups.

The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people - including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes - including the interview - are fair and equitable.

We are committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on‑going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role.

Due to the high volume of applications at SECAmb, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interview. If you have not heard from us within 10 working days of the closing date, then please assume you have not been shortlisted for interview on this particular occasion.

We understand that AI tools can be useful for generating ideas or structuring your application. However, any content submitted must reflect your own experiences, skills, and understanding. Applications that are generated wholly or in large part by AI, without personalisation or accuracy, may be excluded from consideration. We value honesty, authenticity, and integrity in the recruitment process and expect all applicants to uphold these principles.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.