Deputy Chief People Officer

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Competitive Salary - Very Senior Manager (VSM) Circa £100,000

Interview date Monday 16 December 2024

We have an opportunity for an ambitious, highly motivated, experienced and skilled HR professional to join the People Directorate as Deputy Chief People Officer to help lead the full roll out of our People Plan and the introduction of a new HR Business Partner model. The essence of this work is to strategically support our clinical and corporate teams to ensure we focus on People, not Process.

We are seeking a strategic thinker with a can-do attitude who will modernise and improve our people services, deliver change and get the job done.

Main duties of the job

The Deputy CPO will report directly to the Chief People Officer and be a member of the CIPD with a successful track record in a senior HR role.

The Deputy Chief People Officer (Deputy CPO) is a pivotal member of the People Directorate's senior leadership team and will support the Chief People Officer in the overall leadership and management of the People directorate function. This will include leading the development and implementation of the People Strategy, enabling the Trust to recruit, retain and develop the best workforce to deliver its goals and objectives and support high-quality patient care. In addition, the Deputy CPO will ensure that key transactional people directorate functions deliver to our Clinical board and corporate areas, facilitating and enabling high levels of workforce engagement and performance to support delivery of the Trust's strategic and performance goals and its improvement priorities. The Deputy CPO has a wide-ranging and extensive portfolio including: Leading strategy and policy, Overseeing governance, risk and performance indicators for the directorate, Leading communications and stakeholder management, Managing the newly developing HRBP model/partners which will support clinical and corporate areas, Strategic workforce planning.

The Deputy CPO will support the CPO in providing support to members of the Executive team and the Trust Board in relation to strategic, sensitive and complex people issues. The postholder will deputise for the CPO as required, including general oversight of the other key functional areas.

Person Specification Qualifications & Education

• Educated to a Masters degree or equivalent post-graduate qualification or equivalent level of experience
• Evidence of ongoing personal and professional development
• MCIPD
• FCIPD

Knowledge & Experience

• Demonstrable track record of senior HR leadership and management covering a range of people functions including (for example) resourcing, workforce planning, equality and diversity, operational HR services, recognition and reward, employee relations, HR Business partnering, staff well-being and temporary staffing, medical staffing
• Experience of operating at or near Board level, either as a Deputy or Associate/Assistant Director
• A proven track record of leading, designing and delivering complex and/or large-scale organisational change, working with diverse stakeholder groups
• Experience of working in partnership with recognised unions and professional groups, including leading complex discussions and negotiations
• Experience of project management including both in-function projects and large-scale organisation-wide change projects
• Experience of researching, developing and delivering innovative people strategy/strategies that have achieved measurable improvement in staff experience and/or other people metrics
• Knowledge and understanding of the UK employment legislation framework and operational impact on the workforce
• Experience of delivering cost improvement and/or workforce productivity initiatives that have delivered significant quantified savings
• Broad understanding of the current NHS policy context, financial regime and workforce and training issues and of NHS working practices and their impact on people management
• Experience of working in the NHS and/or other public sector organisations at a senior level
• Good knowledge of NHS contracts (AfC and Medical & Dental)

Skills & Abilities

• Highly developed leadership, negotiation and influencing skills, with the ability to motivate, challenge and engage individuals and teams
• Ability to set out a clear strategic direction, inspire others and assume command, together with an ability to translate strategic objectives into deliverable operational plans
• Ability to develop effective working relationships with key partners and influence a wide range of internal and external colleagues to bring about positive change, including convening and coaching the HR Business Partners
• Credibility and confidence to contribute and influence at the most senior level, including Executive and Board colleagues
• Demonstrable commitment to maintaining and delivering excellent customer service
• Excellent time management and organisational skills to deliver projects to time and budget
• Able to develop creative solutions and with strong problem-solving skills, even for the most complex and intractable people issues affecting services
• Analytical and judgmental skills with an ability to deal with complex situations tactfully and with discretion
• Able to conduct difficult and challenging conversations on a regular basis, including with the most senior colleagues in relation to complex employee relations issues such as conduct, capability and behaviours
• Be able to demonstrate the six NHS Leadership Competency Domains

Other Requirements

• Flexibility of working hours to meet the needs of the service
• Able to travel across sites - reasonable adjustments will be made to facilitate this if required.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.