Deputy Chief People Officer
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The closing date is 18 May 2026
Join #TeamMWL as Deputy Chief People Officer
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Are you a visionary HR leader passionate about shaping the future of healthcare? Do you thrive on strategic challenge and leading transformational change? If so, we want to hear from you.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we are proud to deliver five-star patient care--always. As our new Deputy Director of HR, you will play a pivotal role in delivering our People Strategy in line with the NHS People Plan and People Promise. You'll be the driving force behind key workforce priorities, leading a high-performing team and cultivating an inclusive, empowered, and agile workplace culture.
Working directly with the Chief People Officer, you will:
- Lead an experienced team with a broad HR portfolio
- Drive strategic workforce initiatives that boost recruitment, retention, well-being, performance and productivity.
- Shape future leadership through talent development and succession planning.
- Deputise for the Chief People Officer at executive level, both internally and with external partners.
- Champion equality, diversity, and inclusion across the Trust.
Main duties of the job
What We're Looking For
- Significant senior HR experience within complex organisations--NHS or public sector experience highly desirable.
- Proven success in leading high performing people services
- Strategic thinking and confident decision-making underpinned by an accountable, collaborative and inclusive leadership style.
- Strong partnership-building skills with internal stakeholders and external networks.
What We Offer
- The chance to shape the culture, capability, and future of an ambitious NHS Trust.
- A supportive executive team and empowered HR leadership structure.
- Opportunities to influence regional and national NHS agendas.
- A values-driven organisation that puts people first--staff and patients alike.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements
- Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Workforce Development
- Support the Chief People Officer in developing and implementing the Trusts People Plan Strategy.
- Lead the operational delivery of HR services, ensuring efficiency and alignment with the Trusts objectives.
- Provide a high quality, professional HR and OD People service across the Trust.
- Monitor the performance of the directorate against agreed objectives, taking corrective action where necessary.
- Champion a culture of inclusion, continuous improvement, and staff engagement across the Trust.
- Work closely with Senior Leaders and the Executive Team to develop workforce strategies and plans that align with service transformation goals.
- Represent the Trust at a senior level across the NHS, region and with partner organisations.
- Represent the Trust on local and regional workforce related bodies, delivering presentations and reports to external organisations.
Organisational Development & Staff Engagement
- Develop and drive leadership and management development initiatives, ensuring a high-performance culture.
- Develop and lead staff engagement programs to ensure all employees feel included, valued and empowered.
Workforce Planning & Resourcing
- Ensure the Trust has a robust workforce plan, implementing effective recruitment and retention strategies.
- Monitor workforce performance metrics, ensuring HR activities contribute to the Trusts Objectives and strategies.
- Support initiatives to reduce reliance on temporary staffing, improve workforce productivity and quality.
- Provide strategic direction on workforce planning and commissioning of the future workforce, ensuring credible plans are robust, inclusive of all staff groups and integrated with regional workforce planning.
Employee Relations & HR Services
- Provide expert HR advice to managers and senior leaders on workforce-related matters.
- Foster strong relationships with Trade Unions and staff networks to maintain a positive employee relations partnership.
- Oversee the development and monitoring of HR policies and ensure compliance with employment legislation and NHS workforce standards.
- Support the Chief People Officer and relevant SMEs in leading education, training, and professional development programs.
- Drive the adoption of HR technology and digital solutions to improve workforce management and reporting.
- Be responsible for the overall management and maintenance of all workforce information systems including recruitment, training, occupational health e.g. ESR, Patchwork, Allocate, Cohort.
Take responsibility and accountability for the financial management of budgets across all services within the HR Directorate (pay, non-pay and income).
Be responsible for identifying and delivering annual CIP targets for the directorate. Research and scope PIDs and submit for approval at necessary control meetings. Support colleagues across broader directorate to deliver their own financial targets.
Develop and oversee the development of Business Cases as appropriate and ensure that Benefits Realisation reports are submitted to timeframes.
Be responsible for managing the HR Directorate establishment, making and agreeing recommendations for skill mix changes and budget forecasting.
Oversee the allocation of monies from Health Education England, Apprenticeship Levy and other learning and development income, to ensure best value for investment and alignment to the Trust priorities.
Key Working Relationships
- Chief People Officer
- Operational & Clinical Leaders
- Trade Unions
- Staff Networks
- ICB
- Wider HR networks
- External NHS Partners & Regulatory Bodies eg. NHS Employers, CQC and NHSE
Person Specification
Our Values
- We are Kind
- We are Open
- We are Inclusive
Qualifications
- Degree level or professional qualification and/or equivalent qualification and experience
- Master's degree in HR Management or relevant qualification and/ or equivalent experience
- Postgraduate qualification in specialist area e.g leadership/ OD or equivalent experience
- MCPID professional registration
- Evidence of commitment to CPD i.e Elizabeth Garrett Anderson/ employment law qualification
Knowledge & Experience
- Experience of working in a senior HR/ Workforce role near Board level in an NHS Trust or other relevant organisation
- Experience of leading a significant organisational change project within a complex organisation
- Extensive experience of strategic HR, OD, resource management in a complex organisation including analysing and using complex data as the basis for strategic and operational decisions.
- Demonstrable track record of successful change management achievements associated with business and service improvements
- Excellent demonstrable knowledge and skills across the breadth of the workforce portfolio; including Occupational Health, ED&I, Education, OD, HR employee relations, Resourcing, Workforce Planning and digital people systems ie. ESR.
- Proven experience of identifying and building successful and positive relationships at all levels both internally and externally
- Experience of complex negotiations with stakeholders particularly trade unions
- Evidence of successfully leading highly skilled senior multi-disciplinary professionals
- Proven experience in managing a large budget, including leading CIP and driving workforce efficiency projects to enhance productivity
- Experience in leading digital transformation initiatives within HR, including automation, and digital people systems to enhance workforce efficiency and strategic decision-making.
Skills
- Ability to analyse, disseminate and present complex information, using both verbal and written disciplines to inform strategic decision making
- Highly effective communicator, highly developed compassionate leadership style with the ability to engage and motivate individuals
- Outcome focussed demonstrating a passion for 5 Star patient centred care
- Knowledge and understanding of national NHS workforce strategies ie. NHS Long Term Plan / NHS People Plan
- IT literate to high standard
- Understanding of workforce planning, talent management, and retention strategies.
- Ability to articulate a clear sense of direction and develop associated plans to achieve success.
- Ability to influence and lead large and diverse teams in a complex and challenging environment
- Evidence of successful collaborative working across other disciplines including clinical and operational teams
- Excellent organisational and time management skills
Other
- Commitment to the Trust's Values of Open, Kindness and Inclusion
- Personal gravitas and credibility that generates trust and confidence in others
- Ability to instil a culture of excellence and inspire people to think and act innovatively
- Self-disciplined with high level of personal integrity
- High personal reliance and tenacity
- Highly developed negotiation and influencing skills
- Ability to demonstrate range of leadership styles appropriate to situations
- Demonstrates a modern and leading edge to the organisation and management of healthcare systems
- The highest degree of honesty, probity and integrity
- Ability to engage positively with all staff groups
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.
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
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