Group Chief People Officer in London

At Epsom and St Helier Hospitals, above all we value respect. We put respect at the heart of all we do, by living up to our shared behaviours of kindness, professionalism, positivity and teamwork. This enables us to provide great patient care and make ESTH a great place to work. When you sign up to work with us, you sign up to this and we welcome applicants who share our values.

Job overview

This is a defining moment for St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group (gesh). With over 18,000 colleagues and plans for merger and greater integration, we are seeking an exceptional Group Chief People Officer to shape our next chapter.

Our ambitious five-year plan (2026/27–2030/31) will transform how we deliver care and achieve long-term sustainability. People, culture and leadership will be central to its success.

Our main site is St George’s Hospital in Tooting, and the successful candidate will be employed by St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

About You

You will have a strong track record in transformation, cultural change and workforce modernisation, connecting People strategy to quality, performance and sustainability.

Experience of merger, integration, organisational redesign or operating model change is desirable. NHS or healthcare experience is valuable, alongside experience in other complex, regulated environments.

You will be an authentic, compassionate and visible leader who combines strategic ambition with delivery, builds consensus, challenges constructively and fosters trust, inclusion and accountability.

We welcome applications from diverse backgrounds and encourage candidates who may not meet every criterion to apply. Flexible working can be discussed.

Main duties of the job

Reporting to the Group Chief Executive, Matthew Shaw, and operating as a key member of the Executive Team, the Group Chief People Officer will provide strategic leadership for people, culture, organisational development, and workforce transformation across gesh .

This is much more than a traditional People leadership role.

You will be a trusted adviser to the Chief Executive, Board and Executive Team and one of the principal architects of our future organisation . You will help us create a single organisational identity, strengthen leadership at every level, and develop the workforce and culture required to support transformation on a significant scale.

You will lead the development and delivery of a progressive People and Culture Strategy, ensuring our workforce plans are aligned to the Group’s ambitions for quality, productivity, operational performance, and financial sustainability.

At the same time, you will ensure that our People function provides excellent day-to-day services. We want modern, efficient, digitally enabled and data-driven People services that support our managers and colleagues, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, and enable our clinical and operational teams to focus on delivering outstanding care.

Working for our organisation

We care for more than half a million people across South West London and Surrey, providing acute hospital services alongside a growing range of community and integrated care services. Every day, our colleagues deliver care that's safe, compassionate and centred on the needs of the people and communities we serve.

Our organisation is built on partnership. We work closely with local authorities, primary care, community providers and mental health services because we know that improving health doesn't begin and end at the hospital door.

As part of the St George's, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group, we're also strengthening the way we work across our hospitals, sharing expertise, developing services together and creating new opportunities to improve care for patients across South West London.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Our ambition is for gesh to become one of the most engaged and inclusive NHS organisations in London, creating an environment where every colleague feels valued, supported, included and able to thrive.

As Group Chief People Officer, you will be central to this journey.

Key priorities will include:

• Leading the people, culture and organisational development aspects of our journey towards merger and a more integrated organisational model
• Helping create a single organisational identity, with shared values, behaviours and leadership expectations
• Strengthening leadership capability, talent, and succession planning across the Group
• Improving staff experience, engagement, wellbeing, and inclusion
• Supporting workforce transformation and productivity as services and models of care change
• Developing innovative workforce models aligned to neighbourhood and community-based care
• Modernising People Services through digital technology, automation, data, and workforce analytics
• Ensuring workforce strategy supports the Group’s financial sustainability and transformation ambitions
• Building strong relationships with trade unions, staff networks, system partners, universities and the wider NHS

Please download the attached candidate pack to find out more about this opportunity.

Qualifications

• Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience

Use of Artificial Intelligence We kindly ask that you avoid using AI tools to draft your application. We value authentic, individual responses that reflect your own experience and communication style.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

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