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Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust; Tooting; On-site; GBP 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a Group Chief People Officer to lead transformation of people, culture and workforce across the health group. You will drive merger readiness, a unified identity, leadership development and workforce transformation across St George’s, Epsom and St Helier services.

You will lead a modern, data-driven People function, align workforce planning with quality and performance goals, and collaborate with unions and partners to deliver

Qualifications

• Strong track record in transformation, cultural change and workforce modernisation, connecting People strategy to quality, performance and sustainability.
• Experience of merger, integration, organisational redesign or operating model change is desirable.
• NHS or healthcare experience is valuable, alongside experience in other complex, regulated environments.
• Authentic, compassionate and visible leadership with ability to build consensus, trust and accountability.
• Diversity-friendly and flexible working arrangements encouraged.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and delivery of a progressive People and Culture Strategy aligned to the Group’s ambitions for quality, productivity, operational performance and financial sustainability.
• Provide strategic leadership for people, culture, organisational development and workforce transformation across the group.
• Ensure modern, efficient, digitally enabled and data-driven People services that support managers and clinicians.
• Strengthen leadership capability, talent and succession planning across the Group.
• Build partnerships with unions, system partners and universities to support workforce transformation.

Job description

Group Chief People Officer | Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

Company: Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

This is a defining moment for St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group (gesh). With over 18,000 colleagues and plans for merger and greater integration, we are seeking an exceptional Group Chief People Officer to shape our next chapter.

Our ambitious five-year plan (2026/27–2030/31) will transform how we deliver care and achieve long-term sustainability. People, culture and leadership will be central to its success.

Our main site is St George’s Hospital in Tooting, and the successful candidate will be employed by St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

About You

You will have a strong track record in transformation, cultural change and workforce modernisation, connecting People strategy to quality, performance and sustainability.

Experience of merger, integration, organisational redesign or operating model change is desirable. NHS or healthcare experience is valuable, alongside experience in other complex, regulated environments.

You will be an authentic, compassionate and visible leader who combines strategic ambition with delivery, builds consensus, challenges constructively and fosters trust, inclusion and accountability.

We welcome applications from diverse backgrounds and encourage candidates who may not meet every criterion to apply. Flexible working can be discussed.

Reporting to the Group Chief Executive, Matthew Shaw, and operating as a key member of the Executive Team, the Group Chief People Officer will provide strategic leadership for people, culture, organisational development, and workforce transformation acrossgesh.

This is much more than a traditional People leadership role.

You will be a trusted adviser to the Chief Executive, Board and Executive Team and one of the principal architects of our future organisation. You will help us create a single organisational identity, strengthen leadership at every level, and develop the workforce and culture required to support transformation on a significant scale.

You will lead the development and delivery of a progressive People and Culture Strategy, ensuring our workforce plans are aligned to the Group’s ambitions for quality, productivity, operational performance, and financial sustainability.

At the same time, you will ensure that our People function provides excellent day-to-day services. We want modern, efficient, digitally enabled and data-driven People services that support our managers and colleagues, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, and enable our clinical and operational teams to focus on delivering outstanding care.

We care for more than half a million people across South West London and Surrey, providing acute hospital services alongside a growing range of community and integrated care services. Every day, our colleagues deliver care that’s safe, compassionate and centred on the needs of the people and communities we serve.

Our organisation is built on partnership. We work closely with local authorities, primary care, community providers and mental health services because we know that improving health doesn’t begin and end at the hospital door.

As part of the St George’s, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group, we’re also strengthening the way we work across our hospitals, sharing expertise, developing services together and creating new opportunities to improve care for patients across South West London.

Key priorities will include:

• Leading the people, culture and organisational development aspects of our journey towards merger and a more integrated organisational model
• Helping create a single organisational identity, with shared values, behaviours and leadership expectations
• Strengthening leadership capability, talent, and succession planning across the Group
• Improving staff experience, engagement, wellbeing, and inclusion
• Supporting workforce transformation and productivity as services and models of care change
• Developing innovative workforce models aligned to neighbourhood and community-based care
• Modernising People Services through digital technology, automation, data, and workforce analytics
• Ensuring workforce strategy supports the Group’s financial sustainability and transformation ambitions
• Building strong relationships with trade unions, staff networks, system partners, universities and the wider NHS

This advert closes on Monday 12 Oct 2026