Director of MidwiferyNHS

Job summary

Director of Midwifery

Division: Corporate Nursing and Maternity / divisional maternity services

Band: NHS AfC Band 9

Salary: £112,782 - £119,583 per annum/pro rata

Interview date: Friday, 6th November 2026*

*Please note, if selected for interview, you will also be asked to attend a stakeholder panel on the day of the interview.

Main duties of the job

The Director of Midwifery is the Trust's most senior registered midwife and providesindependent, authoritative professional leadership for midwifery and the maternity andneonatal pathway, working jointly with the Divisional Director of Nursing for Children andYoung People. Reporting directly to the Chief Nursing Officer, the post holder is accountablefor advising the Board and Executive team on safety, quality, experience, equity, workforce,professional standards and strategic development across hospital, community and systemsettings.

Working as an equal member of the perinatal quadrumvirate with the Divisional Medical Director, Divisional Director of Operations and Divisional Director of Nursing for Children and Young People, or designated senior neonatal leader, the post holder will work with the Chief Nursing Officer to set the strategic direction for integrated maternity and neonatal improvement. They will provide strategic professional leadership and assurance for midwifery services across the Trust and influence the wider system so that women, babies and families, receive safe, personalised, compassionate and equitable care and concerns raised by families and staff are heard, acted upon and never obscured by hierarchy, reputation or operational pressure.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide Trust-wide professional leadership for midwifery and act as the principaladviser to the Chief Nursing Officer, Executive team, Maternity Board Non-ExecutiveDirector and Board.
• Lead delivery of an integrated maternity and neonatal strategy that aligns safety,outcomes, experience, equity, workforce, finance, operational performance, researchand improvement across Trust and system pathways.
• Establish a single maternity and neonatal quality-governance and surveillance system with ward-to-Board and Trust-to-system traceability, clear early-warning thresholds and oversight of unwarranted variation.
• Ensure independent, compassionate and PSIRF-aligned responses to incidents,deaths, complaints and concerns, with effective Duty of Candour and familyengagement.
• Lead safe midwifery staffing, establishment, skill mix, education, retention,professional standards, supervision and leadership succession.
• Through the quadrumvirate, provide leadership, constructive challenge and assurance on clinical standards, evidence-based pathways, escalation, multidisciplinary teamwork and sustained maternity and neonatal improvement, with shared accountability for outcomes.
• Lead delivery and truthful assurance for MIS/CNST, PMRT, MBRRACE-UK, SavingBabies Lives, CQC and applicable national maternity actions.
• Address inequalities, racism, discrimination and differential outcomes through data, listening, co-production and measurable action.
• Promote an open, inclusive and psychologically safe culture in which staff and families can speak up and receive timely response.
• Manage delegated people, budgets and programmes and contribute to Trust-wide executive leadership and on-call arrangements.

Please see job description for further principal duties and responsibilities.

About us

Do you have the ambition and vision to deliver our mission of theBest of Careby the Best of People providing excellent care, every time?

Here at Medway, we pride ourselves on working together as one to ensure that our sharedvisionis achieved for our patients.

As a key partner in the healthcare of our local population, we are keen to deliver this as an outcome of our Trust-wide strategy -Patient First.Using an Operational Excellence approach to align our priorities and operational management structures, we are just over a year and half into ourPatient Firstdeployment. We are looking for creative, skilled people to join our Transformation Team and further support us on this journey.

Our culture and values define us here at Medway NHS Foundation Trust and are the heartbeat of who we are as an organisation.

OurBESTvalues underpinPatient Firstand are at the core of the care we give to our patients, the support we offer to our staff and our overall leadership approach:

B - Bold

E - Every person counts

S - Sharing and open

T - Together

Our Trust is a great choice for people who want to develop their career in an ambitious and dynamic environment; our employees are able to choose the coverage and supplemental benefits that best fit their needs and those of their families. This includes the promotion of flexible working opportunities across the Trust.