Deputy Director of Strategy and Planning
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.
We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.
We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.
We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Good luck and we hope to hear from you.
Job overview
We are recruiting for a Deputy Director of Strategy and Planning to lead the Strategy team at Oxford Health. This is a newly created role and an exciting time to join the Trust as we start to develop our new Strategy for 2026 onward.
You'll oversee Strategy development, Strategy delivery and Annual Planning and lead this work externally, working with partners in our ICBs. You'll deputise on a routine basis for the Executive Director of Strategy and form part of the senior leadership of the Trust, working closely with the Trust Board, Executive Team, Extended Leadership Team and senior leaders in Oxford Health and in our ICBs.
The Strategy team is relatively new within the Trust and navigates NHS operating models that are evolving rapidly at national and ICB levels. To excel in this role you'll need to enjoy working in a changing environment both externally and internally, and be able to creatively evolve your approach depending on changing circumstances.
We're looking for an exceptional leader who embodies our values, "thinks outside the box”, and brings energy and innovation to help lift the organisation to be truly outstanding in every sense. We thrive to be an open and inclusive organisation and encourage applications from candidates from all backgrounds, communities and industries.
If you have experience of leading strategy development and delivery within complex and matrixed organisations, we would love to hear from you!
Main duties of the job
Expected areas requiring specific focus and development over the coming years are as follows:
- Developing the new Trust Strategy to be published and implemented from 2026 onward.
- Strengthen and embed the Strategy Delivery infrastructure of the Trust so that Strategic objectives and programmes are embedded at all levels of the organisation and integrate with Annual Planning.
- Improve the integrated Annual Planning process, encompassing finance, performance and workforce so it runs smoothly and effectively enables delivery and improved patient and population health outcomes.
- Develop and strengthen the work of the Strategy team, focusing on building a culture of quality improvement, raising standards and enabling the work of all teams in the organisation
- Work with the Chief Executive Office and the Corporate Affairs team to improve coordination of Executive and Board meetings with the Strategy delivery agenda.
Please refer to the job description attached for a comprehensive list of duties
Working for our organisation
Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.
As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible.Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”
Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”
We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:
- Excellent opportunities for career progression
- Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
- 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
- NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
- Competitive pension scheme
- Lease car scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Mental Health First Aiders
- Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
- Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience developing and delivering strategies or demonstrated transferrable skills and interest
- Experience of running complex planning process or demonstrated transferrable skills and exceptional organisational skills
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Advanced knowledge of strategy development and/or planning requirement
Skills
Essential criteria- Demonstrated Leadership skills and ability to influence in complex environments
- All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
- Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
- We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
- Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
- We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
- We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
- We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
- Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing