Southampton is an attractive place to live and work situated on the south coast, with an international airport and direct trains to London. The New Forest National Park and beaches of the Jurassic coast are also right on our doorstep. The city offers living costs 30% lower than London and 17 schools rated outstanding by Ofsted.

We believe that using technology wisely shows strong time management and commitment to innovation. However, personalising your recruitment application to highlight your unique skills and experiences is crucial. Relying too heavily on generic, AI-generated content instead of drawing from your own strengths and accomplishments may lead to your application being rejected if multiple candidates present identical or similar information.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

In this role, your key responsibilities will include:

• Setting the strategic direction for EPRR across UHS, assessing emerging threats and critical service dependencies, and establishing a prioritised programme that supports patient safety, organisational resilience and the Trust’s strategic objectives.
• Establishing clear expectations for preparedness across divisions and corporate services, constructively challenging gaps in capability and providing executive and Board assurance processes with a clear assessment of readiness, outstanding risks and decisions required.
• Advising executive and senior clinical and operational leaders on complex resilience issues and significant incidents, interpreting incomplete or conflicting information and explaining the implications of decisions for patient care, service continuity and recovery.
• Influencing joint planning with NHS leaders and resilience partners, ensuring UHS requirements inform wider arrangements and leading improvements where exercises or incidents reveal weaknesses that cross organisational boundaries.

You Will Need To Demonstrate

• Significant senior leadership experience in emergency preparedness, resilience, incident response or business continuity within a complex, service-critical organisation, with education to master’s level or equivalent senior specialist experience and continued professional development.
• Framework and Core Standards, supported by experience of applying these requirements to organisational governance, risk management and assurance.
• The judgement and credibility to advise senior decision-makers, negotiate competing priorities and secure action beyond your direct management authority, including when circumstances are uncertain, time-critical or subject to professional challenge.
• A record of developing people, leading organisational change and building effective multi-agency partnerships, supported by practical experience of planning, business continuity, exercising and translating incident learning into sustained improvement.
• You must be able to travel to UHS services across Hampshire and attend meetings and activities with partner organisations.

Person specification

Qualifications, Knowledge And Experience

Essential criteria

• Educated to Master's level or equivalent senior specialist experience in emergency planning, resilience, business continuity or a related discipline
• Evidence of continued professional development in leadership, emergency preparedness, resilience, incident management or business continuity
• Highly specialist knowledge of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, NHS England EPRR Framework, NHS EPRR Core Standards and annual assurance requirements
• Significant senior experience of leading EPRR, emergency planning, incident response or business continuity in a complex, service-critical organisation
• Experience of developing, reviewing and assuring incident response plans, emergency plans, risk-specific plans and command arrangements
• Experience of maintaining assurance evidence, leading audit or self-assessment and preparing reports for senior governance forums
• Experience of business impact analysis, business continuity planning and Business Continuity Management System development or assurance
• Experience of planning and delivering training, exercising, communications tests, lessons learned and improvement programmes
• Experience of working with multi-agency partners, including NHS partners, emergency services, local authorities, Local Resilience Forum or Local Health Resilience Partnership arrangements
• Experience of managing staff, performance, development and service improvement at senior level
• Experience of managing budgets, resources and delegated programmes of work
• Ability to work under pressure, interpret complex information, make sound recommendations and provide confident advice during significant operational disruption

Desirable criteria

• Formal emergency planning, resilience, civil contingencies or business continuity qualification
• Business Continuity Institute, ISO 22301, incident command or JESIP-related training
• Programme or project management qualification or demonstrable equivalent experience
• Experience within an acute NHS trust, major trauma centre or large teaching hospital environment
• Experience developing digital or Microsoft 365 based assurance, business continuity or resilience management tools
• Knowledge of NHS operational pressures, hospital command structures and system-wide escalation arrangements