Operational Lead

Transformation Unit; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellbeing packages

Pension scheme

Discounts with retailers

Salary sacrifice schemes

Job summary

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Operational Lead to drive the Active Recovery Care & Reablement service. You will oversee staffing, workforce development and performance, ensuring patient-centred care and strong service delivery across the city.

The role requires senior NHS leadership experience, with governance, change management and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams to improve admissions avoidance and discharge planning.

Qualifications

• Senior operational/managerial leadership experience in complex, multi-disciplinary services.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational leadership for the Active Recovery Care & Reablement workforce including scheduling & allocation.

Skills

Operational leadership

Communication

Project leadership

Change management

Multi-disciplinary teamwork

Staff management

Education

Professional qualification (Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist, or Registered Care Manager)

Masters level qualification

Willing to progress to Masters level

Tools

Scheduling systems

MS Office

Job description

Employer Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Northern General Hospital Town Shefield Salary £57,528 - £64,750 pa/pro rata for part time staff Salary period Yearly Closing 12/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 23/10/2026

Operational Lead

NHS AfC: Band 8a

We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated so whilst you care for our patients and clients, we’ll take care of you. We offer many different ways of helping staff including career development opportunities, flexible working, good annual leave and pension schemes , health and wellbeing packages and financial support systems. Joining the Trust also allows you access to a number of saving options via our salary sacrifice schemes and a wide range of discount opportunities with retailers and service providers.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and innovative therapist (PT or OT) or experienced care manager with proven and extensive senior management skills and knowledge to work in the Active Recovery service (AR) at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHSFT (STH). You will be responsible for the development & operational delivery of the AR Care & Reablement team, including Operational Support Managers & Advanced Clinical Support Workers (ACSWs)

Active Recovery is a city-wide service providing rapid, responsive and time-limited support to people experiencing a health crisis in their own homes. Working at the interface of primary, community, acute and social care services, the team plays a vital role in admissions avoidance, hospital discharge and promoting independence through re-ablement.

In this senior leadership role, you will provide operational leadership for the Active Recovery Care & Reablement workforce, including Operational Support Managers, Advanced Clinical Support Workers (ACSWs) and the Scheduling & Allocation Team. You will lead service delivery, workforce development, performance management and continuous improvement, ensuring high-quality, patient-centred care and excellent operational outcomes.

Working with appropriate professional leads and clinical/operational pathway managers to ensure professional development of all staff working within the Active Recovery Care & Reablement team.

Main duties of the job

You will be an experienced operational leader with a proven track record of managing complex services and multidisciplinary teams. You will have strong influencing and partnership-working skills, be passionate about delivering excellent patient care, and be committed to developing innovative community services that support people to remain independent at home.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping and delivering the Active Recovery service within one of the largest care groups in the Trust, making a significant difference to patients, families and partners across Sheffield.

Working for our organisation

You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Professional qualification; Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist or Registered Care Manager
• Evidence of continuous personal and professional development.
• Masters level qualification or can provide evidence of equivalent experience
• Currently working towards or willing to work towards Masters level qualification

Experience

• Significant operational/managerial leadership experience at Band 7 NHS or at care manager level including line-management of staff, e.g. sickness/absence, recruitment & selection & managing complex change initiatives in a multi-disciplinary arena.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of managing change, demonstrating evidence of a change management project.
• Community team based working experience
• Experience of strategic development & understanding the effects of implementation/evaluation & review.
• Experience and understanding of the complexity of managing services across statutory and non-statutory boundaries
• Comprehensive under¬standing of Community Services, Care Closer to Home, local and national drivers.
• Knowledge of Intermediate Care Services.
• Comprehensive under¬standing of the benefits of integrated working
• Experience of managing large teams delivering care into patient’s own homes.

Knowledge

• Operational/managerial skills appropriate to area of responsibility, evidence of specialist training/competencies in relevant area/evidence.
• Excellent communication (both verbal and written).
• Evidence of successfully undertaking a lead role in a project/audit.
• Evidence of ability to develop service policies, guidelines and pathways.
• Understanding of NHS financial management and of working in a multi-disciplinary environment to include aspects of pricing, costing, budgeting, and performance manage¬ment.
• Ability to analyse activity/ financial data and provide assurance.
• Ability to produce reports for Senior Management in the Service and Care Group.
• Able to establish effective working relationships and forge bonds with all relevant stakeholders.

Skills and abilities

• Ability to manage complex workload under pressure and prioritise to meet deadlines
• Operational/managerial skills appropriate to area of responsibility, evidence of specialist training/competencies in relevant area/evidence.
• Excellent communication (both verbal and written).
• Evidence of successfully undertaking a lead role in a project/audit.
• Evidence of ability to develop service policies, guidelines and pathways.
• Understanding of NHS financial management and of working in a multi-disciplinary environment to include aspects of pricing, costing, budgeting, and performance manage¬ment.

Personal Qualities

• Willingness to undertake any training, education or development identified during the personal development planning process.
• The duties of this post require traveling throughout the city on a regular basis; therefore, the post holder must be independently mobile.

Please note that in order to comply with the UK Government’s rules on Skilled Worker sponsorship, any applicants who do not meet the eligibility requirements or concessions on salary thresholds under the Skilled Worker visa will not be eligible to receive sponsorship from the Trust. Please keep this in mind when submitting your application. Further details on these concessions, and who qualifies for them, can be found here .

The Trust is committed to its obligations in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community.

All employment with the Trust is subject to a number of NHS Employment Checks being met to a satisfactory standard including verification of identity, eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, references and qualifications in addition to professional registration, a disclosure and barring records check and occupational health check if these are deemed to be a requirement for the position to be undertaken.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Name Joanne M Thornhill Job title Assistant Head of Integrated Community Care Email address [emailprotected] Telephone number 01143078149