Interim Operations Manager - Community Health Services - North

This advert is for current internal applicants only. External applications will be closed.

Grade A: £55,172 (National) or £61,028 (London – for London office based or homebased workers within the boundary of the M25) – There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £600 per annum for those working from home. For part time roles – please note this will be pro rata.

Contracted Hours: Full-time, 37 hours per week – compressed/flexible hours will be considered

Contract Type: Fixed Term, Secondment opportunity, to 31 December 2026

Location: Home based - North

Closing Date: Monday 17 August 2026 at 11.59pm

This role requires regular travel across the Region as needed for meetings and engagement activities. Applicants must be willing and able to travel within this area. For this reason, we are seeking candidates who live within the North. Location will be carefully considered to ensure the role and responsibilities remain manageable.

Make a difference: Every role at CQC contributes to our mission, if you’re looking for a new role in Primary Care and Community Services - Community Health Services that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose then you’ve found it! As an Operations Manager, you’ll lead a team of specialists to deliver high-quality assessments that help ensure people receive safe, effective, and compassionate care.

We are looking for an individual with defined skills and experience in Community Health Services for this role – particularly Community Health Services for Adults, Children, Community In-Patients, Community End of Life Care.

This is an exciting first role of its kind to focus on the regulation of Community Health Services.

Imagine leading a team that helps identify and address risks in health and care services – making a real difference to people’s lives every day. You’ll be part of a supportive, values-driven team that works together to improve care across the country.

At CQC as an Operations Manager – Primary Care and Community Services - Community Health Services in the Operations Directorate, you will get the chance to:

• Lead a specialist PCC team to deliver a complex system-based assessment that uncovers risks and drives improvements in care.
• Work collaboratively with other PCC operational managers to identify and respond to risk and to schedule inspections across the network.
• Develop network wide ways of working in respect of PCC services and specifically Community Health, developing consistency through procedures and processes.
• Collaborate with data and insight teams to apply intelligence that shapes regulatory decisions and protects people using services.

The role: You’ll be key in helping us deliver our work. In this role, you’ll:

• Lead and support teams: Manage a team of inspectors, ensuring they have the tools, support, and development they need to succeed.
• Manage operational delivery: Oversee end-to-end assessment activity of PCC services within the area and the wider network, ensuring it meets performance targets and regulatory standards.
• Collaborate and problem-solve: Work with colleagues across CQC and external partners to manage risk, respond to concerns, and drive improvements in care.
• Contribute to developing our ongoing approach to the regulation of Community Health services across CQC.

Show us: We’ll be looking for the following skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• Significant experience and expertise in PCC services, with specific expertise in Community Health Services for Adults, Children and End Life Care.
• Experience leading operational delivery: You’ve successfully managed teams and delivered complex programmes or services, ideally in a primary care and community services setting.
• Ability to use insight to drive decisions: You’ve used data or evidence to inform actions, solve problems, or improve quality.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills: You’ve worked with a range of stakeholders – internally and externally – to influence outcomes and build effective partnerships.

Join us and help CQC shape the future of health and care.

Compliance: Note for internal candidates: This is a secondment/fixed term opportunity. Please read the recruitment and selection policy section on secondments. You must discuss your application with your line manager before applying. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps: If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether you are shortlisted.

You can read the full details of the role in the Job Description. If you’d like to have an informal chat about the role you can contact: Victoria Oecken, Deputy Director of Primary Care & Community Services at Victoria.Oecken@cqc.org.uk or Linda Hirst, Deputy Director of Primary Care & Community Services at Linda.Hirst@cqc.org.uk. For general enquiries, please email recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

Equity for all: We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need. We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. See our ED&I page for more about this. We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any: Age, Sex, Gender identity or expression, Sexual orientation, Religion or belief, Ethnicity, Disability.

A Note on AI: We know AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.

Values and vision: We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture. Excellence – being a high-performing organisation. Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect. Integrity – doing the right thing. Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.