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Divisional Head of People
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Divisional Head of People – Band 8c
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Four new opportunities | 37.5 hours per week | Pan-UHSussex
About the Role
University Hospitals Sussex is entering an important phase of organisational change, with a new operating model and a renewed approach to how the People Directorate supports the Trust. As part of this, we are creating four new Divisional Head of People roles.
These are newly created senior leadership roles, designed to strengthen strategic workforce leadership across our new Trust-wide Divisions and give People leadership a more influential role in clinical and operational decision-making.
For the right people, this is an opportunity to join UHSussex at an important point in its development and help shape how workforce leadership operates for the future.
About UHSussex
University Hospitals Sussex is one of the largest acute NHS trusts in the UK, employing nearly 20,000 people and providing care across seven hospitals in Brighton, Haywards Heath, Worthing, Shoreham-by-Sea, and Chichester.
We serve a population of around 1.8 million people across Sussex, providing both local hospital services and specialist care to patients from across the wider South East.
It is a large and complex organisation, with significant ambition for the future.
Our five-year strategy, Excellent Care Everywhere, sets out our ambitions for patient care, our people, our communities, and the future of our services. Alongside this, our new operating model is changing how we organise and lead the Trust and how our People Directorate works in partnership with clinical and operational services.
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These four roles have been created specifically in response to that new model and our wider review of HR.
The Opportunity
As a Divisional Head of People, you will be the senior workforce leader within one of our new Trust-wide Divisions and a full member of the Divisional Leadership Team.
Working directly alongside the Managing Director and senior clinical and operational colleagues, you will bring workforce thinking into some of the most important decisions facing your Division.
You will have the opportunity to influence how we shape our future workforce, deliver transformation, improve productivity and performance, strengthen leadership and culture, and create a better experience for our people.
We want these roles to move beyond a traditional HR business partnering model. This is about providing visible, credible, and influential workforce leadership – combining strategic thinking with a strong understanding of the realities of operational delivery.
You will also help bring together expertise from across the wider People Directorate, ensuring your Division benefits from a joined-up approach to its workforce priorities.
Work Somewhere Different
A career at UHSussex also means the opportunity to work in one of the most varied parts of the country.
Our hospitals span Sussex, offering the combination of Brighton’s vibrant city life, the Sussex coastline, and the South Downs and surrounding countryside.
These are pan-UHSussex roles, so being visible within the organisation and building strong relationships across our sites will be important. In return, you will work across an organisation with an extraordinary breadth of clinical services, communities, and workforce challenges.
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Who Are We Looking For?
We are looking for experienced senior NHS HR leaders who can operate credibly alongside senior clinical and operational colleagues and who want the opportunity to have greater strategic influence.
You will bring significant NHS HR leadership experience, a strong understanding of workforce strategy, and a track record of leading change and transformation within complex organisations.
Just as importantly, you will be able to build strong relationships, provide constructive challenge, and turn workforce strategy into practical outcomes.
You may already be operating at this level, or you may be an established senior NHS HR leader ready to take the next step into a broader and more influential leadership role.
Make Your Mark
These roles offer something relatively unusual: the opportunity to step into a newly created position, within a new organisational structure, at a time when UHSussex is reshaping how workforce leadership supports the organisation.
You will have the opportunity to help shape how these roles operate, influence the development of our new Divisions, and contribute to the future direction of one of the UK’s largest acute NHS trusts.
If you are an experienced NHS HR leader looking for your next challenge and want a role where you can have genuine influence, we would welcome your application.
MLC Partners are managing this campaign on behalf of the Trust. Please reach out to Daniel Abrahams for further information.
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