Vacancies

Chief Operating Officer

Role Summary

We are looking for an exceptional, values-driven Chief Operating Officer (COO) to join our Executive Team, where you will sit at the heart of delivering excellent care today while redesigning how our services work for the future.

The challenge is substantial—and so is the opportunity to make a lasting difference. We face significant operational and financial constraints shared across the NHS, alongside the realities of delivering safe, responsive care across acute, community and specialist services over a wide geography.  We are not looking for someone simply to manage those pressures. We need a leader who will bring grip, pace and clarity; make difficult choices; unlock the capability of our people; and turn ambition into measurable improvements for patients.

We are responding with ambition and pace for our patients and staff — strengthening how we work, making the changes we need to make, and embracing the NHS 10-year plan to deliver sustainable, high‑quality, patient‑focused care for our communities.

This is a compelling opportunity for an experienced COO or Deputy COO with the ambition, resilience and expertise to lead at scale, the courage to challenge established ways of working and the credibility to unite clinical, operational and corporate teams behind a clear plan. You will work across organisational boundaries, build strong system partnerships and create the conditions for sustained improvement—not short-term fixes. In return, the Royal Devon offers a highly rewarding executive role alongside an exceptional quality of life in one of the UK’s most desirable locations.

About the Role

For more information on the Job Description and Responsibilities please click the link below.

More detail about the role

As a Board-level Executive Director, you will work alongside our highly experienced Chief Executive, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer as part of the Trust’s senior clinical and operational triumvirate. Your influence will reach every part of the Royal Devon: setting expectations, aligning priorities and translating strategy into disciplined delivery at ward, service, site and system level.

You will lead a demanding operational portfolio with patient outcomes at its centre and delivering performance against NHS constitutional standards, regulatory requirements and local priorities. This includes improving access and flow, accelerating elective recovery, strengthening urgent and emergency care, increasing productivity and ensuring resilience through periods of pressure and escalation. Success will mean more patients receiving the right care, in the right place, at the right time—and staff being better supported to deliver it.

Your defining task will be to build and embed a single, high-performing operating model across the Royal Devon. In partnership with Care Group triumvirates, you will strengthen accountability, governance and execution while devolving meaningful ownership to clinical and operational leaders. You will use continuous improvement approaches, including GIRFT and our 3Rs methodology—to remove unwarranted variation, redesign pathways and deliver demonstrable gains in quality, productivity and patient experience.

As the Trust’s Accountable Officer for Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR), you will lead the Trust’s response to major incidents and escalation, providing calm and decisive leadership in complex and high‑risk environments. You will also participate fully in the Executive Director on‑call rota.

This role offers a rare opportunity to shape a unified operating model across a large and complex Trust, influence system‑wide transformation, and lead with visibility, integrity and compassion in line with our values.

Why join the Royal Devon at a pivotal point in our journey?
You will join at a point when the need—and the mandate—for change are clear. Major national investment gives us tangible opportunities to modernise care, expand capacity and redesign pathways, including:

• A new Surgical Hub at Heavitree, opening in early 2027
• Expansion of the Devon Nightingale Community Diagnostic Centre
• A new Community Diagnostic Centre at Bideford, opening in summer 2027
• New staff accommodation at North Devon District Hospital as part of the Future Hospital Programme, completing in autumn 2027

We also have a track record of turning innovation into frontline change. Our digital foundations and appetite to do things differently give the next COO a powerful platform from which to transform services:

• The first Trust nationally to deploy Epic in the community
• Supporting system partners to roll out Epic, making Devon the first county in the UK to have a single shared electronic patient record
• Piloting Ambient Voice Technology to improve efficiency and release clinical time
• Leading nationally in Acute Hospital at Home, with our Virtual Wards service collecting more remote data than any other Epic‑enabled hospital in Europe.

We are a research‑active organisation, hosting, in partnership with the University of Exeter three NIHR research centres, alongside our own commercial research centre, to improve patient outcomes at the Royal Devon, in the UK and globally. 

About you
To succeed in this role, you will already have experience as a substantive COO or Deputy COO from a large, multi‑site acute NHS trust, with experience of leading change in a turnaround or recovery context.

You will be able to show that you have moved beyond plans and programmes to deliver sustained, measurable improvements in performance, productivity, quality and patient experience. You will combine strategic range with operational grip.

You will be visible and decisive under pressure, curious enough to challenge convention and inclusive enough to bring people with you. You will build trust with clinicians, staff, partners and regulators; create clarity where there is complexity; and hold yourself and others to account with fairness, integrity and compassion.

Build your career, and your life, in Devon
Located in the South West of England, the Royal Devon sits between the landscapes of Exmoor and Dartmoor, with some of the UK’s most stunning coastlines on our doorstep. With excellent schools, low crime, vibrant communities and a Russell Group university in Exeter, Devon offers an outstanding quality of life.

https://rdehospital.pagetiger.com/new-recruitment-pack-coo/October26

If you are looking for a comfortable role, this may not be it. If you want to take on big challenges, lead significant change and transform services for patients—while working within the realities of today’s NHS—we would like to hear from you.

Working Pattern: 37.5 hours, Monday - Friday

Interview Date: Week commencing 14 December

For further information please contact: Emily Simpson, Executive and Specialist Recruitment Lead on 07958931414 emily.simpson21@nhs.net

As an inclusive employer, the Royal Devon values diversity and is committed to creating a culture of inclusivity where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential. We believe in fostering a sense of belonging and actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, cultures, and abilities. We recognise the advantages of having a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

Preference will be given to staff with ‘Priority’ and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon.

The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust reserves the right to close vacancy when sufficient applications have been received.

The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was established in April 2022, bringing together the expertise of both the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust.

About Us

Stretching across Northern, Eastern and Mid Devon, we have a workforce of over 15,000 staff, making us the largest employer in Devon. Our core services, which we provide to more than 615,000 people, cover more than 2,000 square miles across Devon, while some of our specialist services cover the whole of the peninsula, extending our reach as far as Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

We deliver a wide range of emergency, specialist and general medical services through North Devon District Hospital and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Wonford). Alongside our two acute hospitals, we provide integrated health and social care services across a variety of settings, including community inpatient hospitals, outpatient clinics, and within people’s own homes. We also offer primary care services, a range of specialist community services, and Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC).

Our state-of-the-art equipment, leading technologies and strong links to local universities put us at the forefront of research and innovations, enabling us to provide world-class care to our local communities.

Our values are at the heart of everything we do, click here to find out more

It has never been a more exciting time to join the Royal Devon, as you will help to shape our services as we continue along our integration journey.

Benefits

Looking after you is important to us.

We strive to help our staff create a healthy work-life balance through flexible working schemes and our family friendly policies.

If you are starting out in the NHS, you’ll start with 27 days paid annual leave (plus bank holidays), rising to 33 days plus bank holidays.

You will benefit from access to our own comprehensive occupational health services, including counselling, onsite wellbeing activities and groups.

We will work together to maintain a culture that develops and supports you and your team.

This might include funding for a care certificate, a degree or leadership qualifications. Or it might include days off to study, engage in CPD or rotational placements to help you hone your skills. Wherever you are heading in the NHS, we will help you get there.

Salary is not the only financial benefit

You will have access to an extensive range of staff discounts on shopping, fitness and leisure options and you can spread the cost of technology and home appliance purchases from major retailers. You will also have access to other benefits including:

• National discount services such as the Blue Light Card and Health Service Discounts.
• Salary sacrifice options including our OFSTED rated outstanding nursery onsite at Exeter
• Car lease schemes.
• The NHS Pension scheme (one of the most generous and comprehensive in the UK).
• Cycle to work scheme

These are just a few of the benefits available – if the role is something you are interested in, we would love to hear from you.