Chief People Officer | Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
| Posting date: | 23 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | VSM - £137k per annum |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 24 May 2026 |
| Location: | Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1BW |
| Company: | Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7962097/812-26-MR-CPO |
Summary
Delivering excellent community care for the future starts with how we lead our people today.
Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust is a specialist community provider – a Trust at the heart of delivering the NHS’s focus on moving care closer to home. As services continue to move out of hospitals and into neighbourhoods, homes and communities, HCT’s focus on prevention, anticipatory care and ensuring people get their care where and when it is best for them places us at the centre of everything the 10 Year Health Plan hopes to achieve. The privilege we have of caring for people across our region from their first few days to old age, often in their homes depends on having an engaged, skilled and supported workforce. We are now seeking an exceptional Chief People Officer to join our Executive Team and help lead this chapter of our journey.
Please apply directly to:https://www.gatenbysanderson.com/job/GSe131461/Chief-People-Officer/
This Board‑level role offers a significant opportunity to shape the future of a values‑driven organisation. As an Executive Director, the Chief People Officer will play a full role in the collective leadership of the Trust, contributing to strategy, performance and culture across the whole organisation. Working closely with the Chief Executive and Executive colleagues, the postholder will provide clear, credible leadership of the People agenda at a pivotal point in the Trust’s development.
We are seeking a senior people and OD leader with the credibility to operate at Board level, a core understanding of the NHS, and a strong personal track record of improving culture and staff experience. Our Executive Team is very visible, and having the energy, commitment and passion to engage with staff across our services in the east of England is imperative.
We are a Trust guided by our values of being Caring, Inclusive and Pioneering, and the Chief People Officer will play a key role in bringing these to life. The role combines oversight of a well performing People function, together with a clear mandate to lead organisational development, leadership and culture. We are looking for someone who can ensure the trust remains one of the best at developing and supporting its people, as evidenced by this year’s staff survey results where HCT was the best-scoring community trust in nine questions. We want to maintain our reputation for taking bold approaches to cultural issues and we will continue to find new ways to improve. This includes tackling racism - using employment policy, leadership development and staff engagement to ensure everyone feels our efforts to make HCT a great Place to Work. Whilst we are immensely proud of our culture we are not resting on our achievements and feel strongly that there is always more we can do for our staff.
We pride ourselves on excellent delivery of HR, workforce planning and employee relations, while bringing the aforementioned creativity and ambition to the OD space. Our low vacancy, turnover, sickness, time to hire rates, and minimal temporary staffing use, are linked to the pride we take in providing a high quality service to staff, which ultimately gives them more time doing what they do best – caring for our patients.
This is a rare opportunity to influence the direction and culture of a community Trust with a clear sense of purpose and ambition. With a strong executive team, a clear commitment to living our values and the appetite to invest in leadership, culture and organisational development, this role offers the chance to make a visible, lasting impact - for our people, our patients and the communities we serve.
Please apply directly to:https://www.gatenbysanderson.com/job/GSe131461/Chief-People-Officer/
This advert closes on Monday 18 May 2026
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