Director of Corporate Governance

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Thank you for your interest in the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT). This is an exciting time to join us and be part of our journey to improve mental health care across North London and deliver excellent services to our local people. We will achieve this through the North London Way, as we:

• Collaborate at every level by living our values to create the right conditions for us all to work together.
• Develop our new Trust culture, to help make our new Trust a great place to work and to receive great care.
• Empower our teams to lead the planned improvements in our services, by skilling them and giving them the tools to make the changes.
• Focus on delivering excellence at every level to improve our performance and ensure consistently high-quality care across all our services.
• Ensure that research, quality improvement, and technology lead the way and are embedded in our services.
• Take a trauma informed approach to everything we do

We proactively welcome diversity in our workforce and pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer. We aim to recruit from our local communities and provide opportunities to all including apprenticeships, veterans, care leavers and more.

The North London Way to deliver: Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.

Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/

Job overview

This is a key post in our organisation and will report directly to the Chief Executive and be a member of the Executive Team. The role will work closely with the Chair, Chief Executive, members of the Board, the Council of Governors, the Executive Team and other senior colleagues internally and externally.

The North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) formally came into being on 1 November 2024. This followed several years where the former Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and former Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust had been working together as the North London Mental Health Partnership. We have an exciting future ahead, with the proposed acquisition of the nearby Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust into the NLFT from 1 April 2026.

For this key role, we are seeking to appoint an experienced senior governance professional, who will be supported by an Assistant Director of Corporate Governance and a team of four other corporate governance staff.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will lead the continued development of all aspects of the governance framework of the new organisation and offers significant scope for personal and professional development. They will directly support the Chair and Chief Executive and provide expert advice, support and understanding of the corporate governance requirements of an NHS Foundation Trust and will ensure the organisation delivers its accountabilities and corporate governance requirements in full.

Working for our organisation

We serve a very diverse population of 1.8 million people across the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington. We have a combined annual budget of £670 million and employ 6,000 staff.

We provide all age acute and community mental health services across North London, as well as some services regionally and nationally, including personality disorders, children's inpatient mental health services, inpatient eating disorders and a range of CQC Outstanding rated Forensic mental health services for people in the criminal justice system with serious mental health conditions.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Further details of the main responsibilities of this role can be found within the attached job description.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Graduate level education and Educated to Masters Degree level or equivalent experience, preferably supported by a formal management/ business qualification/or professional qualification

Desirable criteria

• Membership of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive experience in an NHS provider organisation at a senior level in a similar role
• Experience of providing strategic Board level assurance and leadership of key organisational business
• Significant experience of working with Regulators, Boards, Foundation Trust Governors and a wide range of stakeholders
• Significant experience of working in a similar role in an NHS Foundation Trust
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of the accountabilities, autonomy and requirements of an NHS Foundation Trust
• Significant knowledge and understanding of Freedom of Information, GDPR and Data Protection Act requirements, and associated NHS responsibilities.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to develop successful relationships with internal colleagues and departments as well as externally with a wide range of stakeholders and work with individuals and groups from a range of backgrounds
• Ability to make a wider corporate contribution to the organisational strategies and decision making operating comfortably at the most senior levels, including with Board members
• High degree of political sensitivity and experience of dealing with a range of issues in a complex stakeholder environment
• Ability to assimilate, process and communicate very complex and often conflicting information to advise the Chair, Chief Executive, Board members and Governors as appropriate

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Commitment to mental health improvement
• Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity
• Ability to manage self and exhibit personal skills, including self-awareness, self-management and drive for improvement and be able to lead others effectively

References will be required to cover your last 3 years of employment/training. One has to be from your current or most recent employer and the others from your previous employer. The references should be from persons with management responsibility or HR.

If you have been unemployed for a period of four years or more, please give the details of your last employer and one character referee of your choice (not members of your family). If more applicable, references will be requested from your teacher or head of faculty. Please ensure you provide full contact details.

Vacancies that are advertised as Fixed Term Contracts will also be available as secondment opportunities for substantive internal staff.

Please be aware that your documents eg. Passport/NI Card, will be electronically scanned using Home Office accredited Verification System.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts, we will close vacancies before the stated closing date once the first 50 applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

All non-medical posts with the Trust are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the Trust's satisfaction, your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Should you not hear from us within three working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.

By applying for this role, you accept in the event you are successful that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which is aimed at improving efficiencies within the NHS both to make costs savings for NHS organisations but also to save you time when your employment transfers.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• Director of Corporate Governance (PDF, 392.4KB)
• Functional Requirements (PDF, 536.5KB)
• A comprehensive guide for candidates (PDF, 875.7KB)