Deputy Director of Operations in Cwmbran

The opportunity to drive benefit realisation across the organisation. The chance to drive cross-portfolio collaboration.

About Our Client

The Welsh Ambulance Service is supported by more than 4,500 staff and volunteers, and everyone has a role to play in providing a service to patients. Our services include:

• Emergency Medical Service (EMS) - Responsible for responding to all urgent and emergency calls and providing appropriate pre-hospital care.
• Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service - A vital part of what we do involves taking people to and from routine outpatient appointments at clinics, hospitals and day centres.
• EMS Coordination Centres - Receive emergency and urgent calls and are responsible for the emergency dispatch of ambulance crews.
• NHS 111 Wales - Provides health advice and information remotely (telephone and video) and via the website.
• Support Service Departments - Play a vital role in our day-to-day work, from managing our finances and keeping our IT systems working to recruiting new staff and keeping them informed.

We receive more than 500,000 emergency calls and one million 111 calls a year, and transport more than 1.3 million non-emergency patients to more than 200 treatment centres throughout Wales and England. Together, we all play a part in making sure that we can respond to anyone needing our help, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The Deputy Director of Operations provides highly visible, senior leadership for the day-to-day delivery of operational, workforce, planning, quality, and financial performance across the Operations Directorate. The job description is not exhaustive, and the postholder is expected to fulfil requirements as delegated by the Executive Director of Operations.

The postholder will:

• Act as immediate deputy to the Executive Director of Operations, enabling increased strategic and external engagement.
• Hold directorate accountability for professional standards, culture, and safeguarding, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and delivery of high-quality, patient-focused services.
• Lead the directorate's financial sustainability agenda, owning budgets, delivering cost improvement plans, and ensuring robust financial stewardship. This includes setting budgets for major areas of activity and holding accountability for several service portfolios.
• Drive cross-portfolio/departmental/directorate integration, system and pathway flow, and continuous improvement, supporting the Trust's strategic objectives.
• Lead major service transformation, improvement programmes, and strategic projects as delegated. This includes organisation-wide policy development and service redesign responsibilities.
• Represent the Trust in internal and external forums, fostering system partnership and stakeholder engagement.
• Lead directorate planning that supports the creation of strategy and the Integrated Medium-Term Plan, and develop plans that translate strategy into measurable outcomes.
• Play a key role in delivering change and transformation, particularly whole-directorate change.
• Work proactively with media outlets (print, radio, and TV) to promote the Trust's profile and communicate key messages. This requires providing and receiving highly complex, sensitive, and contentious information where acceptance is not assured.
• Develop and sustain effective trade union partnerships.

Responsibilities:

• Professional Standards, Culture & Safeguarding - Set and uphold clinical, operational / performance, financial and behavioural standards across Operations. This includes responsibility for clinical service delivery standards across all operational areas.
• Champion a positive, inclusive culture, embedding Trust behaviours/values and promoting psychological safety.
• Ensure robust safeguarding policies and practices, compliance with Duty of Quality, Duty of Candour, Civil Contingency Act and all other regulatory requirements.
• Lead on culture change programmes and organisational development initiatives.
• Responsible for leading directorate-wide cultural transformation programmes.
• Own Operations Directorate budgets, lead cost improvement and efficiency plans, ensuring financial governance.
• Deliver financial recovery plans, monitor expenditure, and report on financial performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Ensure value for money and compliance with Trust and NHS Wales financial frameworks.
• Frequent access to Oracle systems to support operational and strategic functions when acting in a deputy capacity for the Executive Director of Operations.

Strategic Leadership & Transformation

• Lead and integrate the work of all Assistant Directors, aligning portfolios to strategic objectives and operational effectiveness.
• Lead initiatives to enhance system and pathway flow and performance within our organisational remit, while fostering collaboration with external partners to influence broader system outcomes.
• Lead major service transformation, improvement programmes, and strategic projects as delegated by the Executive Director.
• Resolve conflicting expert opinions through advanced judgement and interpretation of highly complex data.
• Develop and implement service/business development plans, business cases, and innovation initiatives.
• Utilise analytical tools, including Excel and Power BI, on a daily basis to manage data and support informed, data-driven decision-making across Operations.

Operational Oversight & Performance Management

• Ensure effective management of all operational delivery areas.
• Oversee business management, risk, and audit functions, ensuring compliance with governance standards. Ensure and sustain effective governance across the directorate.
• Responsible for directorate-level policy implementation and development.
• Drive achievement of KPIs/targets, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement.
• Lead on EPRR, major incident response, business continuity (to fulfil Civil Contingency Act requirements) and participate in Gold/Strategic on-call rota. This includes acting autonomously during high-risk organisational scenarios.
• Accountable to the Executive Director of Operations for the delivery of technical and operational service delivery within the portfolio.
• Line manage Assistant Directors via ESR (Electronic Staff Record), booking annual leave, managing sickness absence, supporting development, succession planning, and PADR compliance.
• Foster a culture of professionalism, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
• Lead directorate workforce planning, talent development, and people engagement initiatives.
• Provide and foster efficient and effective leadership to the Volunteer Service.
• Responsible for formal HR processes, including dismissals, restructures, organisational redesign, and chairing complex casework.

System Partnership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external partners, commissioners, regulators, and multi-agency stakeholders.
• Represent the Trust at regional and national forums, promoting integrated care and system working.
• Develop and sustain effective trade union partnerships as part of stakeholder engagement.
• Work with the Communications Team to manage communications and organisational reputation, acting as a Trust spokesperson.
• Ensure programme and project management best practices are embedded across directorate initiatives.

Governance, Risk and Assurance

• Ensure robust governance, risk management, and assurance frameworks are in place.
• Maintain up-to-date risk registers, audit compliance, and statutory reporting.
• Lead on clinical governance, patient safety, and quality improvement.
• Lead on information governance, including Freedom of Information for the directorate.
• Responsible for policy implementation and development for the directorate.
• Contributes to organisation-wide policy development.

Freedom to Act

• Exercise autonomy, independent decision-making, and responsibility for interpreting and implementing policy.
• Setting goals and standards for others and interpreting national policy.
• Act as a role model for organisational behaviours, inclusion, and people wellbeing.
• Responsible for daily use of systems and MS Teams channels to collaborate effectively and manage information within various confidential and operationally relevant WAST groups.

The Successful Applicant

• Significant senior leadership experience in a large, complex NHS or emergency services organisation.
• Proven track record of driving demonstrable improvements in professional standards, culture, safeguarding compliance, and organisational development.
• Experience in financial stewardship of large budgets, delivery of efficiency/value programmes, and financial recovery.
• Strategic portfolio management, operational delivery, and service transformation experience.
• Experience in managing major incidents, resilience and business continuity planning, and EPRR.
• Experience working with media (print, radio, TV).
• Delivery of balanced financial position and agreed efficiency plans.
• Improved operational performance to achieve outcomes and system flow.
• Successful implementation of change process with positive staff feedback.
• Experience in enhancing external engagement and raising organisational profile through strategic partnerships, stakeholder management and effective representation.
• Experience contributing to national or regional policy development or representing an organisation in strategic forums.
• Experience shaping medium to long-term planning processes in a devolved or complex health system.
• Experience leading system-level programmes involving multiple agencies such as health, social care, emergency services or local government.
• Experience delivering large digital, data or technology-enabled improvement programmes.
• Experience leading workforce redesign or modernisation initiatives beyond a single service area.
• Experience delivering major business cases or capital or service reconfiguration programmes.
• Experience in improving integrated care pathways across organisational boundaries.

Skills and Attributes

• Role model for openness, inclusion, and compassionate leadership.
• Commitment to organisational behaviours/values and continuous improvement.
• Ability to inspire confidence at Executive/Board level, with clinicians, and across multi-disciplinary teams.
• Resilience, emotional intelligence, and ability to remain calm and decisive under pressure.
• Strong people management, workforce planning, and leadership skills.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and partnership working abilities.
• Able to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information and present such information to large groups, often in hostile or highly emotive environments.
• Ability to plan and organise a broad range of complex activities; formulates and adjusts plans to achieve strategy.
• Flexibility to adapt duties as required by organisational needs.
• Compliance with Trust policies on equality, diversity, inclusion, health & safety, information governance, and infection prevention and control.
• Experience of working with trade union partners on complex and contentious matters.
• Recognition by a national professional body.

Other Essential:

• Satisfactory Enhanced DBS clearance, including an Adults and Children’s Barred List check.
• Can gain and maintain UK Security Clearance.

Qualification and Knowledge

• Master's level qualification or equivalent experience at senior management level (Assistant Director/NHS Band 8d and above or equivalent).
• Evidence of continuous professional development relevant to senior operational leadership.
• Current Gold/Strategic Commander qualification or extensive experience in a Gold/Strategic Commander role, and willing to re-qualify.
• Excellent programme and project management skills.
• Hold and sustain a current UK Driving Licence.
• Recognised project management qualification (e.g., PRINCE2, PMP).
• Participation in national leadership development programmes.
• Formal training in improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma).
• Clinically registered, e.g. Nurse or Paramedic.

What's on Offer

At the heart of Welsh healthcare, our Trust offers you not only the satisfaction of making a genuine difference every day, but also a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and career ambitions.

• Starting salary £110,818 rising to £127,523 with service (AfC Band 9)
• Generous annual leave: Start with at least 28 days' holiday plus Bank Holidays, rising to 34 days with service.
• NHS pension scheme: Secure your future with one of the most respected pension schemes in the UK.
• Flexible working: We strive to help you achieve a healthy work-life balance.
• Health & wellbeing support: Access a wealth of services, from confidential counselling to annual flu vaccinations, all aimed at keeping you physically and mentally well.
• Salary sacrifice schemes: Take advantage of cycle-to-work and car leasing options to make your commute more affordable.
• Continuous professional development: Regular training, development opportunities, and annual personal reviews help you reach your career goals.
• Long service recognition: Celebrate milestones with us, whether you reach 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years of NHS service.
• Welsh language and diversity support: From language learning to a range of staff networks - LGBTQ+, Disability, Women's, BEAM (Black, Ethnic, Asian & Minority) - we ensure every voice is valued.
• NHS discounts: Enjoy exclusive discounts across a variety of retailers and services.