Assistant Director of People ServicesNHS

Job summary

University Hospitals of Liverpool Group is looking for an exceptional Assistant Director of People for the Group HR Shared Services to lead the development of a modern, integrated and high performing Group People Services function.

This is a unique opportunity to share how transactional services are delivered across the Group, bringing together expertise, systems, processes and teams to create a consistent, efficient and digitally enabled service for our people and our clinical services.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for a leader who can see beyond traditional transactional HR services and understand how people, technology, data, systems and process improvement can come together to create improved quality workforce services.

As Assistant Director of People you will provide senior leadership for the development and delivery of our Group wide transactional workforce services.

Your portfolio will include;

• Temporary Staffing Bank, a shortlisted Team of the Year in the 2025 HPMA Awards and Nursing Times Workforce Summit finalist 2025 that services over 6,000 bank workers.
• Rostering, a recognised award-winning team in the RL Datix Awards 2025.
• Medical Staffing and Medical Rostering - a newly formed team for Group that creates a fantastic opportunity to grow this service at scale.
• Workforce Systems and workforce data - building on the in-house developments of automation and readying the organisation for the forthcoming national People Solution.
• Employment Services and Payroll controls - leading our internal controls, compliance and assurance.
• Recruitment - developing our service for Group, exploring new and innovative ways to attract talent and diversity.

Job description

The Group People Services team launched their ambitious operating model earlier this year and you will lead the next phase our Group shared services operating model, creating greater consistency and standardisation whilst ensuring services remain responsive to the needs of our hospitals, clinical services and workforce.

You will establish a clear vision for the future of transactional people services and translate this into practical programmes of transformation and continuous improvement

This will include developing our structures, processes and systems identifying opportunities for standardisation and automation; reducing unnecessary variation a, strengthening governance and improving the experience of managers and colleagues who use our services.

This role is central to our ambition to create a modern, customer focused and digitally enabled People function working in the context of the NHS People Plan, People Promise and wider NHS workforce transformation agenda.

We are looking for an experienced and ambitious people professional who can operate confidently at senior level and has a proven track record of delivering complex workforce transformation.

You will bring substantial experience of working within the NHS or another large complex organisation and will have a good understanding of the operational realities of delivering workforce services in a demanding healthcare environment.

You will be able to demonstrate;

Significant senior leadership experience within a People Services environment

Experience of developing and transforming shared services or transactional services

Strong knowledge of NHS workforce processes, systems and governance

Experience of leading complex change across multiple services or organisations

A strong understanding of workforce compliance and assurance

Experience of using data and digital technology to improve workforce services

A track record of delivering measurable improvements in quality, efficient and customer experience.

Excellent programme change and transformation leadership skills

The ability to influence and engage senior clinical, operational and corporate stakeholders

Have commercial and financial awareness and experience of translating this into business plans

The ability to build high performing teams to develop a culture of accountability and continuous improvements.

You will be an innovative and credible leader who can move comfortably between strategic thinking and operational delivery.

Please see attached job description for further details.

About us

NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHL Group) was formed on 1 November 2024, born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our communities.

We are one of the largest employers in region, with over 18,900 colleagues who are dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.

For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services that extend to more than two million people in the North West.

We operate from five hospital sites:Aintree University Hospitalis the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside, and hosts a number of regional services including an award-winning stroke facility.Broadgreen Hospitalis home to several elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation.Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospitalprovide specialist services incardiothoracic surgery,cardiology and respiratory medicine, both in the hospital and out in the community.Liverpool Women's Hospitalspecialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK's largest single site maternity hospital each year. TheRoyal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single en-suite bedrooms and mainly focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.