Head of Audit & Regulation
| Posting date: | 18 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | Negotiable |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 28 February 2026 |
| Location: | Sheffield, S9 1XH |
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | E0384-26-0000 |
Summary
Head of Audit and Regulation Job description and person specification As Head of Audit and Regulation, youll be responsible for advancing Exemplar Health Cares approach to regulatory compliance, quality assurance and inspection readiness - ensuring the organisation is not only compliant but demonstrably among the best in the sector. The role leads the evolution of Exemplar Health Cares quality assurance approach from episodic inspection preparation, to a continuous, intelligence led system that anticipates regulatory risk, identifies emerging quality themes early, and drives sustained improvement. Youll be an expert in health and social care regulation, highly engaging, self-motivated and credible, with the ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical, proportionate and effective assurance across complex services. While youll report to the Clinical Director, and be independent of the operational line, youll also work closely and collaboratively with the Managing Directors and Business Development Director to drive effective internal regulation. Key Responsibilities Regulatory assurance and compliance leadership Provide expert leadership on regulatory compliance across all external frameworks relevant to Exemplar Health Care, including CQC and associated statutory requirements. Act as the subject matter expert in health and social care regulation, maintaining deep and current knowledge of regulatory expectations, inspection methodology and emerging regulatory risk. Lead the development and delivery of a robust, intelligence driven regulatory assurance framework that provides continuous insight into compliance, quality and risk at home, regional and national level. Ensure Exemplar Health Care is consistently inspection ready, with clear evidence of compliance, learning and improvement thats embedded in everyday practice. Provide expert advice and guidance to Regional Director of Operations and senior leaders on regulatory risk, inspection preparation, enforcement activity and regulatory correspondence. Deputise for the Clinical Director as required, representing the organisation with credibility and authority. Quality assurance framework and intelligence Own and continuously refine our quality assurance framework to be outstanding, ensuring it is aligned to regulatory expectations, clinical governance priorities and strategy. Ensure assurance activity is purposeful, proportionate and outcome focused, moving beyond checklist compliance to meaningful evaluation of quality, safety and lived experience. Develop and oversee a national quality intelligence approach, triangulating audit findings, inspection outcomes, incidents, complaints, safeguarding, workforce indicators and service user feedback. Identify emerging themes, systemic risk and unwarranted variation, and translate these into clear organisational priorities and targeted improvement actions. Provide high quality written and verbal regulatory intelligence to the Clinical Director, supporting confident decision making and prioritisation. Inspection, audit and review activity Lead and oversee regulatory style inspections, audits and deep dive reviews, ensuring they are well planned, evidence based and consistently applied. Ensure inspection activity drives learning and improvement, with clear ownership of actions, follow up and assurance of completion. Support and challenge operational teams where quality concerns are identified, ensuring improvement plans are robust, realistic and delivered. Ensure root cause analysis and learning from regulatory failure, enforcement action or serious concerns is timely, rigorous and translated into system level improvement. Organisational learning and improvement Work collaboratively with quality, clinical and operational colleagues to ensure learning from regulatory intelligence informs training, policy development, pathway design and practice improvement. Contribute to the development and review of policies, procedures, quality tools and guidance, ensuring they remain current, usable and aligned to regulatory expectations. Support the introduction of new initiatives that improve service user quality of life, safety and experience, ensuring regulatory implications are understood and managed. Maintain a strong understanding of national quality challenges, sector trends and stakeholder expectations to ensure Exemplar remains ahead of regulatory and quality developments. External relationships and stakeholder engagement Liaise confidently and constructively with regulators, safeguarding partners, local authorities, commissioners, Healthwatch and other stakeholders as required. Support the organisations response to regulatory engagement, inspection outcomes and follow up activity, ensuring responses are accurate, transparent and credible. Represent Exemplar Health Care professionally in regulatory and quality forums where appropriate. Leadership Lead, coach and develop colleagues within the regulatory assurance function, setting clear expectations and building capability, confidence and consistency. Promote a culture of curiosity, professionalism and accountability within assurance activity. Work collaboratively across the organisation to strengthen shared ownership of quality and compliance.