Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Associate Director of Improvement , Band 8d
The closing date is 14 July 2026
This is a full‑time permanent role based across sites and an exciting opportunity to join our team.
The Associate Director of Improvement is a senior corporate leadership role responsible for setting the strategic direction for Trust‑wide improvement and ensuring there is a clear line of sight from Board priorities to delivery across clinical, operational and corporate services, in direct support of the Trust’s four strategic aims.
Reporting to the Executive Director of Improvement and Delivery, the postholder holds corporate responsibility for the Trust‑wide improvement strategy, operating model, governance framework and capability‑building approach. They will establish and embed a coherent organisation‑wide approach to continuous improvement, aligned with national priorities including NHS IMPACT, ensuring that improvement methods are applied consistently across the Trust to build capability, support delivery and provide Board assurance on improvement maturity and impact. The role translates strategic priorities into a coordinated portfolio of improvement and service redesign, determines how methods, resources, measures and governance are deployed across clinical, operational and corporate services, and secures measurable organisational benefit, productivity and value for money through the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy (GSQIA) and wider improvement portfolio.
Main duties of the job
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the Trust‑wide improvement strategy, policy framework, governance arrangements and operating model, establishing a coherent organisation‑wide approach aligned to NHS IMPACT and Board priorities.
- Provide expert advice, assurance and recommendations to the Board, Board committees, Executive Team and Trust Leadership Team on improvement priorities, methodology, capability, risk, delivery, maturity and impact.
- Lead a portfolio of major, complex and interdependent improvement and service redesign programmes, with clear objectives, measures, governance, assurance and benefits realisation.
- Lead the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy as the Trust’s principal capability‑building mechanism for Patient Safety & Improvement, including its Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum pathway, Human Factors faculty model, Patient Safety Associate Programme and Gold coaching approach, ensuring the offer remains aligned to evidence, national policy and organisational need.
- Act as budget holder for the improvement function, with accountability for significant programme spend and authority to prioritise and re‑prioritise resources in line with organisational priorities.
- Define the Trust’s improvement assurance, reporting and portfolio oversight requirements, including Board assurance on improvement maturity and impact.
About us
We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.
With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals.
As well as generous annual leave allowance, you will have access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on‑site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Job responsibilities
Provide senior corporate leadership for human factors, matrix working across divisions and system partners, and the adoption of evidence‑based and digitally enabled improvement approaches, including the provision of expert advice and the design, delivery, and evaluation of training programmes.
Deputise for the Executive Director of Improvement and Delivery on improvement matters and represent the Trust at local, regional and national forums.
Management and Leadership
This is a senior corporate leadership role responsible for translating strategy into coordinated improvement delivery across the Trusts strategic aims and golden threads. The postholder determines how improvement methods, governance, capability and specialist resource are deployed, establishes a coherent organisation‑wide approach aligned to NHS IMPACT, and works with a high degree of autonomy to shape major organisational and service redesign.
The postholder will define and embed the Trusts improvement brilliant basics and work with senior leaders to translate priorities into structured programmes with clear aims, measures, coaching, governance and assurance.
Operational
Operationally, the role leads the Trusts contribution to system‑wide improvement across Gloucestershire and the wider Integrated Care System, representing the Trust in local, regional and national forums and influencing shared priorities, service redesign and delivery models. It maintains strong links with digital, data, research and innovation functions so that evidence, insight and technology inform organisational priorities and delivery.
The role holds corporate responsibility within the improvement function for evaluating and implementing evidence‑based improvement methods across the Trust, ensuring that research, innovation, national policy and emerging best practice are translated into the Trusts improvement strategy, governance, capability offer and delivery model. This includes piloting and adopting new approaches, including digitally enabled methods, and applying learning at scale to improve safety, quality, productivity and workforce capability.
The postholder is the Trusts senior lead for human factors, setting the strategic direction, governance framework and delivery approach for its application across service design, safety improvement, investigation, education, risk management and learning systems, and providing expert advice to senior leaders and governance forums.
The role is budget holder for the improvement function, accountable for delegated budgets, programme spend and associated resources, with authority to prioritise and re‑prioritise workforce, training, digital and programme resource and to contribute to business cases and investment decisions. It works within broad strategic objectives and exercises substantial independent judgement, escalating only matters with significant corporate, financial or reputational impact.
Quality Improvement and Project Management
The role determines and embeds appropriate improvement methods within Trust education, training and development, including human factors, systems thinking, complexity, just culture and safer system design, ensuring staff have access to proportionate education, practical application and expert support.
The role leads the strategic development, governance and deployment of the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy. Although the core team is small, the postholder determines the faculty model, staged training pathway, curriculum, coaching approach and deployment arrangements so that improvement capability is delivered at organisational scale. This includes formal leadership of a faculty‑based model in which senior leaders act as Gold improvement coaches.
For full details please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information.
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
- Master’s degree or equivalent level of knowledge and experience in a relevant health, organisational improvement, management, leadership or related discipline
- Postgraduate qualification, specialist training or substantial equivalent experience in quality improvement, improvement science, patient safety, human factors, organisational change or programme leadership at senior corporate or system level
- Evidence of continuing professional development in senior strategic leadership, corporate programme delivery, quality improvement, organisational development and service redesign
Knowledge and Skills
- Highly developed communication, influencing and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate highly complex, sensitive or contentious information and provide authoritative advice to Board, committee, executive, clinical and external audiences
- Ability to analyse, interpret and synthesise highly complex, sensitive and at times conflicting qualitative and quantitative information, exercise judgement where evidence may be incomplete or ambiguous, and recommend appropriate courses of action to senior decision makers
- Ability to plan, coordinate and deliver a broad portfolio of major, complex and interdependent programmes across multiple teams, services and organisational boundaries
- Ability to work autonomously within broad corporate and strategic objectives, exercising a high degree of professional and managerial judgement in setting priorities, determining approaches and resolving complex delivery issues
- Expert knowledge of quality improvement science, patient safety, human factors, systems thinking, organisational development and change management, and ability to apply these in practice at organisational scale, including through the strategic leadership, development and continuous improvement of the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy’s staged Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum training pathway as a corporate capability‑building mechanism
- Knowledge of financial management, resource planning, business case development and value for money principles sufficient to act as budget holder, hold accountability for significant programme spend, and move, re‑prioritise, deploy and oversee workforce, training, digital and other resources in line with strategic objectives
- Ability to lead, manage, motivate and develop specialist staff and to provide broader professional leadership for improvement capability, expert practice and workforce development
- Knowledge of relevant NHS policy, regulatory requirements and national improvement frameworks, and ability to translate them into local strategy, governance and delivery
- Ability to write and present clear, evidence‑based strategic reports, business cases, policy documents and assurance papers for senior governance forums
Experience
- Substantial senior leadership experience of leading quality improvement, service improvement, transformation or organisational development work across a large and complex organisation
- Experience of providing strategic advice, assurance and influence to senior leaders, executive teams, Boards, Board committees or equivalent governance forums
- Experience of planning, governing and delivering major, complex and interdependent programmes or portfolios involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, organisational assurance requirements and measurable benefits realisation
- Experience of line managing and developing a specialist team, including performance management, objective setting, professional support and workforce development
- Experience of acting as a budget holder and managing delegated budgets, with accountability for significant programme spend and for the effective prioritisation, re‑prioritisation, allocation and oversight of workforce, training, programme or other organisational resources
- Experience of working across organisational boundaries and with system, academic, research, innovation or other external partners to influence strategy, service development, evidence generation and delivery of shared objectives
- Experience of developing organisational capability through teaching, coaching, mentoring or faculty leadership, including strategic leadership, governance, development, evaluation and continuous improvement of the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy or an equivalent corporate improvement capability programme and staged training pathway
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.
Employer name
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
£94,356 to £108,814 a year(pa, pro rata if part‑time)
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