Director of People & Culture

Bicester, Oxfordshire
NHS
PML is a growing not-for-profit GP Federation and NHS partner that has been successfully representing General Practices across Northamptonshire and Oxford for more than twenty years. With more than sixty practices (and counting!) amongst our number and further expansion of our nationally renowned Community Services imminent we have a rare opportunity for a high-performing individual to join our Executive Board of Directors as our new Director of People & Culture.

This is an incredibly exciting time to join our 250-strong team here at PML as we prepare to embark on a new chapter in our organisational history, perfectly-placed to take advantage of the UK governments renewed focus on community-focused healthcare.

The right candidate would take the lead of our high-performing ten-person People & Culture team as they put the final pieces of our Pay and Grading framework in place and move on to implementing a comprehensive Organisational Development & People Strategy that will better support the evolving needs of both our staff and our organisation as a whole.

A role that is equal parts strategic and tactical, you would oversee both the design and implementation of organisation-wide people strategies while also acting as hands-on knowledge leader on all matters related to human resources. It would suit a skilled senior P&C/HR Director with extensive leadership experience at board level and deep knowledge of organisational design and development.

Main duties of the job If youd like to learn more, please get in touch and our current Director of People & Culture and CEO would be delighted to discuss how you can help chart PMLs course into the future.

Key Information

This vacancy is for 22.5 hours per week.

Panel Interviews – 1 hour 30 minutes – Between 30/03/2026 – 10/04/2026

Final interview – 1 hour – Week commencing 13/04/2026

Role Purpose

To provide strategic leadership in the development and delivery of a comprehensive people and organisational development strategy which supports the vision of delivering high quality, community-based healthcare through a strong network of local clinicians working collaboratively to improve patient outcomes. This role is an Executive Director position and also a member of the Board. As a Board member, the role will provide strategic independent, commercially grounded insight on workforce strategy, leadership capability, organisational health, governance and culture.

About us PML is a successful not-for-profit, GP-led organisation providing various NHS community and primary care clinical services to patients across Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. We have evolved as a NHS healthcare provider since 2004 and in the last few years have grown significantly, now employing around 300 staff with a turnover of circa £16m. PML holds GMS contracts, as well as being a GP Federation representing circa 50 GP practices covering approximately 650,000 patients.

We welcome applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds and circumstances and people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010

Job responsibilities Strategic Leadership & Organisational Direction

• Shapes and drives the organisations long term strategy and priorities.
• Contributes fully to Executive Team discussions, influencing organisational vision, culture and strategic decisions.
• Leads directorate level strategic plans, ensuring alignment with corporate aims.
• Anticipates future trends, risks, opportunities and system level developments.
• Ensures strategic decisions reflect the organisations values and Leadership Code of Conduct.

Operational Leadership & Performance

• Holds end to end accountability for operational delivery and service performance within their directorate.
• Ensures services are safe, effective, efficient and financially sustainable.
• Leads transformation, service redesign and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Establishes governance, performance standards and assurance mechanisms.
• Ensures operational practice aligns with organisational values and professional conduct standards.
• Decision Making & Authority
• Acts as the final decision making authority within their directorate, including on highly sensitive, complex or high risk matters.
• Applies expert judgement, evidence, and risk analysis to support final decisions.
• Contributes to cross organisational decisions as part of collective Executive accountability.
• Balances competing priorities, service pressures and organisational risks.
• Ensures decisions are transparent, ethical and aligned to the Leadership Code of Conduct.
• Provides visible, inclusive and values led leadership, modelling the organisations Leadership Code of Conduct at all times.
• Sets clear expectations for behaviour, professionalism and conduct, ensuring teams understand and uphold organisational values.
• Leads senior managers and professional teams, ensuring accountability, high performance and a positive working culture.
• Champions wellbeing, inclusion, learning and staff development, supporting talent pipelines and succession planning.
• Builds a culture of openness, trust and psychological safety, encouraging staff to speak up and contribute ideas.
• Intervenes early and appropriately where standards of behaviour or performance are not met, ensuring consistency and fairness.
• Ensures decision making and communication demonstrate integrity, transparency and ethical leadership.

Financial Governance & Resource Management

• Holds delegated responsibility for directorate budgets, resource planning and financial management.
• Ensures robust internal controls, value for money and financial sustainability.
• Leads business cases, investment decisions and financial risk assessments.
• Ensures efficient use of people, systems and assets to support organisational objectives.

Stakeholder, Partnership & External Leadership

• Represents the organisation at senior internal and external forums.
• Develops influential, collaborative relationships across the system.
• Communicates strategic priorities and performance effectively with key stakeholders.
• Negotiates and manages sensitive or high impact external issues with professionalism and integrity.
• Ensures strong governance, assurance and regulatory compliance within their directorate.
• Identifies, assesses and mitigates organisational risks, escalating as appropriate.
• Ensures policies, statutory responsibilities and professional standards are met.
• Supports organisational audits, regulatory inspections and improvement plans.

Person Specification

Qualifications – Essential

• Degree level education or equivalent senior level experience
• Evidence of ongoing professional development
• Strong understanding of governance, leadership and organisational responsibilities
• Relevant professional qualification (sector specific, where applicable)
• Formal leadership, management or executive level training

Experience – Essential

• Significant senior leadership experience at directorate, divisional or organisational level
• Proven track record of leading complex services, programmes or operational areas
• Experience developing and delivering strategy in a multidisciplinary environment
• Ability to make high risk, high impact decisions
• Experience managing senior managers and professional teams
• Experience in financial oversight, risk management and resource planning
• Experience working as part of an Executive Team
• Experience interacting with Boards, committees or regulatory bodies
• Experience operating within a regulated sector
• Leading cross organisational transformation or systemwide initiatives
• Experience representing an organisation at regional or national level
• Strong understanding of strategic planning and organisational performance
• Knowledge of governance, risk management and regulatory responsibilities
• Understanding of people leadership, culture, workforce planning and organisational development
• Deep understanding of values based leadership and conduct
• Understanding of broader sector specific challenges and external landscape
• Advanced knowledge of quality, assurance or compliance frameworks
• Understanding of digital transformation and data driven decision making
• Knowledge of change methodologies or formal improvement frameworks
• Strategic thinking and ability to set long term direction
• Strong operational leadership and delivery capability
• Excellent decision making, judgement and risk assessment
• Strong communication, negotiation and influencing skills
• Ability to build collaborative relationships internally and externally
• Ability to lead and develop senior teams
• Demonstrates behaviours aligned to organisational values and Leadership Code of Conduct
• Coaching or mentoring capability for senior leaders
• Facilitation or organisational development skills
• Experience supporting organisational culture change
• High level presentation or media facing experience
• Experience in cross sector partnership working
• Experience leading multiagency or systemwide programmes
• Integrity, professionalism and sound ethical judgement
• Confidence, resilience and ability to work under pressure
• Inclusive, visible and values driven leadership style . click apply for full job details