National Head of Ambulance Operations
| Posting date: | 08 December 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £53,195 – £64,381.34 (£58,958 – £70,823 including London Weighting) |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 05 January 2026 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | St John Ambulance |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 292928JCP |
Summary
Our offer to you
We pride ourselves in being a great place to work, providing a supportive culture with opportunities to grow and develop your career, achieve a healthy work life balance and to be recognised for the great work you do. You will receive:
Competitive salary and pension scheme
33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) - increasing to 38 days over 5 years
Hybrid, Flexible working
Cycle to work scheme Electric Vehicle Scheme
Health and Wellbeing portal – access to financial, health and wellbeing support and an Employee Assistance Programme
Discounts – you will have access to Blue Light and NHS Discounts as well as discounts on mobile phones, gym membership, cinema tickets, restaurants, holidays and shopping
About Us
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a team of over 1,400 employees and over 28,000 volunteers, united by our goal of saving lives through essential first aid services, training and campaigning. As a charity with rich heritage and a long history of serving humanity, we are proud of our past and excited about creating a healthier, safer, more resilient future.
St John Ambulance works at the heart of communities, supporting and enabling them to access and receive physical and mental health first aid. We do this through developing and providing effective community response and outreach services (e.g. Ambulance response & Nighttime Economy) and using our longstanding expertise to empower people with vital clinical skills and the confidence to use them (e.g. our Volunteers and Community Advocates, NHS Cadets and Young Responders programmes). There is also a buoyant social enterprise network which delivers first aid training and supplies medical consumables to businesses and consumers.
Job Summary
The Head of Ambulance Operations is responsible for the strategic leadership, improvement, development, and delivery of sustainable and cost effective operational ambulance services across the country. They’ll lead on the strategic development of future offerings, taking St John Ambulance into new market areas and leading balanced growth whilst ensuring their team deliver patient centered, high quality services on a day-to-day basis. You’ll look upwards and outwards, forging relationships with, and engaging with, the wider Health & Social Care Sector leaders and influencers, and be visionary and energetic in your approach to growth, creating a vision that others can buy into and support.
About the Role
➢Design, implement, and evaluate the organisation’s strategy in relation to Ambulance Operations services and monitor and report performance regularly to Directorate and Network Leadership Teams
➢Forge and maintain relationships with both the wider Health & Social Care Sector and Regulatory Sector senior leaders to drive opportunities and engagement for and with St John Ambulance
➢Ensure all aspects of ambulance service delivery are discharged by leaders, providing subject matter expert advice to the Director of Urgent & Emergency Care, other directorates and the organisation
➢Support direct reports to plan, commission, and deliver new services through effective tendering, design, implementation, and review stages
➢Be responsible for budget creation, management, and reporting and ensure a cost effective delivery of services
➢Provide strategic oversight and assurances on operational performance in all stations and contracts contained within the area of responsibility including but not limited to patient experience, clinical standards, income, cost control, health and safety, delivering against agreed Key Performance Indicators
➢Provide visible, credible leadership to direct and indirect reports, adopting an improvement and learning culture through all reports in line with SJA business plans, objectives, strategy and budget
➢Co-design and provide assurance that core standards for Ambulance Hubs across England are met/exceeded, benchmarking standards with external partners and providers whilst maintaining safe and effective working environments for our people in line with required standards
➢Deliver the quality and patient safety agenda within the organisation’s ambulance operations
➢Support direct reports to maintain their registrations as Registered Manager(s) with the Care Quality Commission and ensure delivery of all regulated activity services is in line with those set out and regulated by the CQC under the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
➢Work in collaboration with the National Fleet Manager, Head of Supply Chain, and other senior managers to design, implement and review modernisation and improvement programmes
➢Champion and exemplify compassionate leadership and St John values, actively promoting diversity and a variety of perspectives across the organisation
➢Engage, involve and empower St John People in problem-solving and improving the organisation
➢Perform any other duties commensurate with these responsibilities, the band of the post and skills and qualifications of the post-holder
Please see the job description for more detail (this can be viewed on our website or once you click apply)
If you are a current St John Ambulance employee, please apply here: Click here
For all other candidates, or St John Ambulance volunteers wishing to apply: please apply below
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive high volume of applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
We pride ourselves in being a great place to work, providing a supportive culture with opportunities to grow and develop your career, achieve a healthy work life balance and to be recognised for the great work you do. You will receive:
Competitive salary and pension scheme
33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) - increasing to 38 days over 5 years
Hybrid, Flexible working
Cycle to work scheme Electric Vehicle Scheme
Health and Wellbeing portal – access to financial, health and wellbeing support and an Employee Assistance Programme
Discounts – you will have access to Blue Light and NHS Discounts as well as discounts on mobile phones, gym membership, cinema tickets, restaurants, holidays and shopping
About Us
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a team of over 1,400 employees and over 28,000 volunteers, united by our goal of saving lives through essential first aid services, training and campaigning. As a charity with rich heritage and a long history of serving humanity, we are proud of our past and excited about creating a healthier, safer, more resilient future.
St John Ambulance works at the heart of communities, supporting and enabling them to access and receive physical and mental health first aid. We do this through developing and providing effective community response and outreach services (e.g. Ambulance response & Nighttime Economy) and using our longstanding expertise to empower people with vital clinical skills and the confidence to use them (e.g. our Volunteers and Community Advocates, NHS Cadets and Young Responders programmes). There is also a buoyant social enterprise network which delivers first aid training and supplies medical consumables to businesses and consumers.
Job Summary
The Head of Ambulance Operations is responsible for the strategic leadership, improvement, development, and delivery of sustainable and cost effective operational ambulance services across the country. They’ll lead on the strategic development of future offerings, taking St John Ambulance into new market areas and leading balanced growth whilst ensuring their team deliver patient centered, high quality services on a day-to-day basis. You’ll look upwards and outwards, forging relationships with, and engaging with, the wider Health & Social Care Sector leaders and influencers, and be visionary and energetic in your approach to growth, creating a vision that others can buy into and support.
About the Role
➢Design, implement, and evaluate the organisation’s strategy in relation to Ambulance Operations services and monitor and report performance regularly to Directorate and Network Leadership Teams
➢Forge and maintain relationships with both the wider Health & Social Care Sector and Regulatory Sector senior leaders to drive opportunities and engagement for and with St John Ambulance
➢Ensure all aspects of ambulance service delivery are discharged by leaders, providing subject matter expert advice to the Director of Urgent & Emergency Care, other directorates and the organisation
➢Support direct reports to plan, commission, and deliver new services through effective tendering, design, implementation, and review stages
➢Be responsible for budget creation, management, and reporting and ensure a cost effective delivery of services
➢Provide strategic oversight and assurances on operational performance in all stations and contracts contained within the area of responsibility including but not limited to patient experience, clinical standards, income, cost control, health and safety, delivering against agreed Key Performance Indicators
➢Provide visible, credible leadership to direct and indirect reports, adopting an improvement and learning culture through all reports in line with SJA business plans, objectives, strategy and budget
➢Co-design and provide assurance that core standards for Ambulance Hubs across England are met/exceeded, benchmarking standards with external partners and providers whilst maintaining safe and effective working environments for our people in line with required standards
➢Deliver the quality and patient safety agenda within the organisation’s ambulance operations
➢Support direct reports to maintain their registrations as Registered Manager(s) with the Care Quality Commission and ensure delivery of all regulated activity services is in line with those set out and regulated by the CQC under the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
➢Work in collaboration with the National Fleet Manager, Head of Supply Chain, and other senior managers to design, implement and review modernisation and improvement programmes
➢Champion and exemplify compassionate leadership and St John values, actively promoting diversity and a variety of perspectives across the organisation
➢Engage, involve and empower St John People in problem-solving and improving the organisation
➢Perform any other duties commensurate with these responsibilities, the band of the post and skills and qualifications of the post-holder
Please see the job description for more detail (this can be viewed on our website or once you click apply)
If you are a current St John Ambulance employee, please apply here: Click here
For all other candidates, or St John Ambulance volunteers wishing to apply: please apply below
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive high volume of applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.