Associate Director of Operations - Women's & Children's


Company:	Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust
Salary:	£94,356 - £108,814 per annum
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Colchester / Ipswich, CO4 5JL
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	25 Aug 2026
Closing date:	1 Oct 2026

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Summary

A Vacancy at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

Are you an inspiring senior leader ready for a new challenge?

We are seeking an experienced forward thinking individual to join our senior leadership team in our Women's & Children's Division.

In this pivotal role, you will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight across all aspects of the division, driving performance, improvement and excellence in patient care. You will be a highly skilled facilitator, able to bring together people from diverse disciplines, backgrounds and perspectives, ensuring every voice is heard and valued in shaping services for our patients, their families and our staff.

You will demonstrate exceptional operational and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to navigate complex challenges, analyse information effectively and lead high-performing teams. You will be someone who listens with empathy, understands different viewpoints and works collaboratively to develop innovative, practical solutions. A commitment to fostering a culture of psychological safety and inclusion is essential.

You will be passionate about improving patient outcomes, you will take and inclusive and flexible approach to decision making, driving continuous improvement and excellence across the division.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer you will work in partnership with the Divisional Clinical Director, Director of Midwifery and Associate Director of Nursing and have operational accountability for service delivery, performance, clinical quality and safety, the workforce and financial control, and the implementation of the Trust's strategy.

You will lead, develop and be responsible for the effective and efficient delivery of the day to day operational performance of the Division ensuring sustainable delivery of high quality patient care, safety processes, operational standards and quality/service improvement programmes.

You will work closely with the Chief Operating Officer in monitoring performance against objectives and in ensuring high standards of corporate governance are adhered to.

You will provide strong local leadership balancing strategic plans with operational needs and robust delivery and will drive service improvement to achieve efficiency gains and improve the operational effectiveness of the Division

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients’ own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is thatTime Mattersto everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what’s widely regarded as the world’s best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here -www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

This advert closes on Tuesday 1 Sep 2026

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