Deputy Chief Operating Officer

Our vision is to deliver outstanding emergency and urgent care whenever and wherever needed for everyone in London, 24/7, 365 days a year. We are the busiest emergency ambulance service in the UK serving one of the world’s most dynamic and diverse cities. We provide emergency and urgent healthcare that is free to patients at the time they receive it.

We are the only NHS provider trust to serve the whole of London and the nine million people who live in, work in or visit the city. We cover an area of 620sq miles and have more than 8,000 people who work or volunteer for us – rising to 10,000 when including bank staff and students.

We answer around two million 999 calls a year and our crews attend more than 3000 emergencies a day. Our 24-hour 111 integrated urgent care services London answer around two million calls a year.

We play a leading role in integrating access to emergency and urgent care in the capital and are striving to ensure patients receive the right response, in the right place, at the right time

Our main role is to respond to emergency 999 calls, providing medical care to patients across the capital, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Other services we offer include providing pre-arranged patient transport and finding hospital beds. Working with the police and the fire service, we are prepared for dealing with large-scale or major incidents in the capital.

Job overview

Very Senior Manager (VSM) London Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Location: Waterloo, London

London Ambulance Service is one of the busiest ambulance services in the world, serving more than nine million people across the capital. We are looking for an exceptional leader to join our Trust Operations senior leadership team as Deputy Chief Operating Officer.

This is a high-profile role at the heart of one of the NHS's most complex and demanding operational environments. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer, you will act as their principal deputy, providing the critical link between strategic ambition and operational delivery. You will help lead performance, planning, resilience and improvement across Trust Operations while also building and maintaining strong relationships with partners across London's health and care system.

Please note that informal discussions with the recruiting manager will not take place prior to longlisting. Candidates selected for longlisting will be invited to discuss the role in more detail before shortlisting decisions are made.

We welcome applications from all communities and are committed to building a diverse workforce that reflects the population we serve.

Assessments & Interviews will take place w/c 2nd November 2026

Main duties of the job

As Deputy COO, you will provide visible and inspiring leadership across the organisation. You will work alongside operational leaders to drive performance, improve patient outcomes and ensure that the Trust remains focused on delivering safe, compassionate and high-quality care. You will also play a key role in major incident management, emergency preparedness, workforce planning, organisational improvement and system-wide transformation.

We are looking for an experienced senior leader with a proven track record of delivering results in a large, complex healthcare or public service organisation. You will bring substantial experience of operational leadership, performance improvement, partnership working and leading through change. You must demonstrate the ability to influence at the most senior levels, build credibility quickly and make sound decisions in fast-paced, high-pressure environments.

The successful candidate will be a visible and values-led leader who champions inclusion, collaboration and psychological safety. You will have the confidence to provide constructive challenge, the ability to engage effectively with a wide range of stakeholders and a commitment to developing a culture where people can perform at their best.

This is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of ambulance services in London and contribute to improving outcomes for patients across the capital.

Working for our organisation

Our strategy 2023-2028 outlines how we plan to achieve this, and is centred upon three missions focused on:

• Our care– delivering outstanding emergency and urgent care whenever and wherever needed.
• Our organisation– being an increasingly inclusive, well-led and highly skilled organisation people are proud to work for.
• Our London– using our unique pan-London position to contribute to improving the health of the capital.

To achieve these three missions we have set ourselves 50 commitments to deliver over the next five years. In developing these ambitious commitments, we have engaged extensively both inside our organisation, with our partners and with our patients, and we have analysed population trends and horizon scanned the future.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Essential requirements include:

• Significant senior leadership experience within an NHS provider or similarly complex organisation.
• Extensive experience leading large-scale operational services and delivering performance against key standards and targets.
• Experience of working across organisational boundaries with partners, regulators and stakeholders.
• Strong strategic, operational and financial leadership skills.
• Experience of leading major change programmes and service improvement initiatives.
• Ability to work as part of the Trust's Executive/Strategic On-Call rota.

Why join us?

• Help shape the strategic direction of one of the UK's largest ambulance services.
• Lead significant operational improvement and transformation programmes.
• Influence system-wide planning and delivery across London's urgent and emergency care system.
• Work alongside a dedicated team committed to providing outstanding care to patients every day.

This vacancy is open to both internal and external candidates. In line with the Trust's organisational change policies and its commitment to supporting colleagues affected by organisational change, preferential consideration will be given to applicants who are formally at risk of redundancy and who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Person specification

Qualifications

• A recognised ambulance clinical response qualification and evidence of ongoing professional development relevant to the clinical grade or commitment to achieving this within 12 months.
• A full UK driving licence with no more than 3 penalty points with a recognised emergency driving qualification or commitment to achieving this within 12 months
• Educated to Master’s level or equivalent experience in a relevant field (e.g. Healthcare leadership, management, or clinical discipline).
• Evidence of continued professional development at a senior leadership level.
• Evidence of senior leadership development (e.g. NHS Leadership Academy programmes or equivalent).

Experience

• Significant senior leadership experience within an NHS provider organisation, operating at or near Board/VSM level.
• Extensive experience of leading large-scale operational services, including urgent and emergency care, with demonstrable delivery of performance against national standards and KPIs.
• Significant experience of system leadership, working with ICs partners, NHS England, emergency services and other stakeholders to improve outcomes
• Experience of workforce planning at scale, aligning workforce models to activity, performance and financial parameters
• Proven experience of translating strategy into operational delivery, including development and delivery of operating plans and service improvement programmes
• Experience of leading and managing performance frameworks, driving improvement in complex, high-pressure environments
• Experience of leading major incident response and/or operating within EPRR frameworks, including multi-agency working.
• Experience of managing substantial budgets and delivering productivity and efficiency improvements.
• Experience of leading organisational change and transformation across multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience of operating at a senior level in governance, risk management, and assurance, including engagement with regulators

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust is a member of the Business Disability Forum and is a Disability Confident Committed Employer.

In addition to the basic salary for all Agenda for Change posts, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust in line with the NHS Agenda for Change provides 15% or 20% High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) dependant on the location of your role. The supplement is subject to minimum and maximum payment.

High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) for part time employee will be based on the part time salary.

Please note, the selection processes at London Ambulance Service are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right skills and values, please be advised that the use of AI in applications is monitored. We remain vigilant against candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills, and you will be required to declare on your application if AI has been used before submitting your application.

Correspondence regarding an application will be done via email to all job applicants. Please ensure you provide a current e-mail address on the job application form and please check your email inbox regularly.

If you are successful at interview and offered employment, your personal details will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Pre-employment checks will be required for all applicants who are issued with a conditional offer of employment. This includes Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) checks as required for the post and registration with the DBS update service. Documents presented for the purpose of Identity Checks will be verified for authenticity via an ID Scanner. The security features to be checked include machine readable zone, ultra violet image and infra-red image.

The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust reserves the right to close adverts before the published closing date due to high volumes of applications received.

If you do not hear back from us within four weeks of the advert closing date, please assume that you have not been successful at the shortlisting stage.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.