Chief Operating OfficerNHS

Job summary

Chief Operating Officer Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) is seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer to join its Executive Team and lead excellence in operational delivery at one of the world's leading centres for babies, children and young people with rare, complex and difficult-to-treat conditions.

As Chief Operating Officer, you will be a Board-level Executive Director and the senior accountable officer for the delivery, performance and productivity of GOSH's services. Reporting to the Chief Executive, Karl Munslow Ong, and working in close partnership with the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nurse and your executive colleagues, you will be a convening, partnering leader, influencing every part of GOSH: NHS services, research, private and international care, education and corporate teams. You will be Senior Responsible Officer for the cancer transformation programme, Lead Director for Emergency Planning Resilience and Response, and Senior Information Risk Owner for the Trust.

This is a role for a leader who builds capability, followership and energy. As GOSH develops a more distributed model of leadership, you will grow the leadership capacity of our care groups, devolve real decision-making, and create the conditions in which operational and clinical leaders take accountability for improvement themselves.

Main duties of the job

You will put in place a performance framework that informs and empowers rather than simply polices, and you will bring an outward, horizon-scanning perspective and a curiosity around innovation and adaptation, anticipating how shifts in demand, technology, workforce and the wider system will shape children's healthcare, and positioning GOSH to meet that future rather than react to it.

You will also help navigate a genuine tension: a growing national emphasis on community-based care that does not always align neatly with GOSH's role as a specialist tertiary children's hospital.

We are looking for an accomplished, credible and values-led operational leader with significant senior management experience in an NHS Trust, and a track record of leading improvement and change in operational health services of real complexity, through cross-organisational working, under pressure. You will bring demonstrable success in developing clinical operations leadership teams, and the ability to sustain improvement through periods of significant disruption, such as a major capital project. You will combine strong operational grip and a determination to deliver the best possible services for patients with a nuanced leadership style that flexes to circumstance, and you will lead through influence, partnership and collaboration with world-class colleagues, in clinical specialties and across the organisation.

Job description

You will be resilient, agile and personally credible at Board level, an outstanding communicator comfortable operating in the spotlight that comes with the GOSH name and committed to an inclusive culture where everyone feels valued, seen and heard.

You will live the Trust's values of Collaboration, Respect and Curiosity, and offer support and constructive challenge to colleagues in equal measure.

This is a rare opportunity to make a distinctive leadership contribution to children's health, helping GOSH advance care for children and young people with rare and complex conditions so they can fulfil their potential, both within the hospital and beyond its walls.

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. Please view the attachment/s below.

How to applyTo apply, please submit your application via email with the subject line Application for the role of Chief Operating Officer to [email protected] by midnight on Monday 19th October 2026.

If you are unable to apply online, or have any accessibility requirements please contact the ProjectManager overseeing this recruitment, Tori Birkenshaw at: [email protected].

All applications should include:

• A short covering letter, of no more than two A4 pages, your interest in the appointment, how youmeet the appointment criteria and what you specifically will bring to the post;
• Your current CV including educational and professional qualifications and full employment history.Please explain any gaps in your employment history and give details (where applicable) of budgetsand people management responsibilities, highlighting relevant achievements;
• A completed Diversity Monitoring Form, a link to which can be found here

Key dates to diary:

• Closing Date: midnight, Monday 19th October, 2026
• Stakeholder Sessions (in-person, at GOSH): w/c 23rd November 2026 (Specific date TBC)
• Selection Panel (in-person, at GOSH): Wednesday 2nd December 2026

Please note, it is unlikely we can accept any late applications nor change the date of the Selection Event;therefore, we ask that applicants take note of these key dates and diary these in the event you areshortlisted.

For further information, please refer to the attached candidate pack.

About us

GOSH is committed to recruiting the best person for the job, based solely on their ability and individual merit as measured against the criteria for the role; through a process that is fair, open, consistent and free from bias and discrimination.

We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer and foster a culture where all staff are valued, respected and acknowledged. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, disability status or length of time spent unemployed.

We particularly welcome applications from BAME communities, people with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions and LGBT+ community members.

We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all applicants and employees are treated fairly and consistently. We are proud to be accredited as a Disability Confident Employer, a member of Business Disability Forum and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

We have active and Executive supported BAME, LGBT+ and Allies, Disability and Long-Term Health Conditions and Women's staff networks. Staff networks are employee-led groups formed around interests, issues and a common bond or background. Staff network members create a positive and inclusive work environment at Great Ormond Street Hospital by actively contributing to the Trust's mission, values and efforts specific to inclusion. All of our staff networks are open to any employee.