Associate Director of Culture & Colleague Experience | Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

The Associate Director of Culture & Colleague Experience is a highly influential senior leader, responsible for setting the strategic direction and leading the delivery of the Trust’s culture, engagement, inclusion, organisational development (OD) and colleague experience agenda across the Hospital Group.

Reporting directly to the Director of People and acting as their deputy across the culture, OD and colleague experience portfolio, the post holder plays a critical role in shaping organisational identity, enabling high‑performing teams, and ensuring the Group is a great place to work and a great place to receive care.

As a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, the post holder provides authoritative advice to the Board, Executive Directors and system partners on complex cultural, behavioural and organisational issues. They lead the design and delivery of innovative, evidence‑based strategies that enhance staff experience, strengthen leadership capability, and drive cultural transformation aligned to the Trust’s long‑term strategic ambitions and the NHS People Promise.

Strategic Leadership & Culture

• Provide visionary leadership for the Group’s Culture & Colleague Experience plan, ensuring it is ambitious, evidence‑based and fully aligned with Group clinical strategy, workforce plans and national NHS workforce commitments.
• Act as the Group’s most senior expert on culture, behavioural change and colleague experience, shaping the long‑term cultural identity of the organisation and influencing how leaders, teams and services operate across all sites.
• Lead a multi‑year, Group‑wide cultural transformation programme grounded in OD principles, behavioural science, systems thinking and compassionate leadership, ensuring cultural change is sustainable, measurable and embedded across all hospitals.
• Provide strategic counsel to the TMTs, GEM, Board and senior leaders on cultural risks, organisational climate, leadership behaviours and workforce implications of major change.
• Deputise for the Director of People at Trust Management Team, Group Executive, Board and system‑level forums, representing the Group’s cultural agenda with authority, credibility and strategic insight.
• Ensure culture and colleague experience priorities are embedded into Group‑wide business planning, quality improvement, workforce transformation, leadership development and organisational design.
• Shape the Group’s narrative on culture, values and behaviours, ensuring consistent messaging and alignment across all hospitals and services.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) is one of the largest acute Trusts in the country, bringing together a combined workforce of over 13,000 staff and over 100 different clinical services across 10 different sites, serving a core population of more than 500,000 people across South West England. UHBW has been rated by the CQC as ‘Good’ overall and our staff are proud to deliver excellent care to the people of Bristol, Weston and beyond.

As a forward-thinking multi-award winning Trust and a digital exemplar committed to improving patient care, our world-leading research and innovations are having a positive local and global impact. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone’s throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer.

UHBW is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them.