About this role
Job summary This is a rare opportunity to lead one of ELFT's most complex and rewarding portfolios. As Service Director for Specialist Services, you will provide operational leadership across CAMHS, Trust-wide Talking Therapies, and Pathway 2 Recovery (our drug and alcohol services), working in tandem with Clinical Directors to shape services that reach children, young people, families and adults across two integrated care systems, Central East ICB and North East London ICB. This isn't a role about running three services in parallel. It's about seeing the connections between them the child who needs CAMHS support today may need Talking Therapies or Pathway 2 Recovery in years to come, and the families and communities we serve don't experience these as separate systems. Spanning two ICSs also means you'll need to be comfortable working across different local geographies, partners and priorities, while keeping one coherent, ambitious offer for the people who use our services. You will report to the Chief Operating Officer and sit within our senior operational leadership alongside our senior Clinical leadership, with accountability for delivery, financial sustainability, workforce, quality and partnership working across the Directorate. Alongside your Clinical Directors, you will be expected not just to oversee these services, but to actively lead their advancement, shaping how they grow, improve and adapt to a changing health and care landscape.
Main duties of the job What you'll be doing
Providing operational leadership for CAMHS, Talking Therapies and Pathway 2 Recovery, working alongside Clinical Directors to both deliver and actively advance these services safe, high-quality, and person-centred Leading delivery of the Directorate's contribution to the Trust's Integrated Business Plan, and its Financial Viability plan as part of our wider Going Further Going Together (GFGT) programme Building and sustaining strong relationships across Central East ICB and North East London ICB, Local Authorities, the Provider Collaborative and other system partners and helping shape how Specialist Services connects into neighbourhood working under the NHS 10 Year Health Plan Developing a cohesive, high-performing Directorate Management Team and instilling a culture where staff feel genuinely cared for, and are supported to do their best work as part of our Staff Experience Programme Embedding Quality Improvement as the everyday way Specialist Services identifies problems and makes care better Championing equity and inclusion ensuring services are genuinely accessible and responsive to the diverse communities we serve, and that this is visible in how the Directorate operates, not just in policy Holding the Directorate's Risk Register, clinical governance systems and performance reporting to a high standard, including CQC and other assurance requirements
About us Our strategy and the NHS 10 Year Health Plan ELFT's strategy is built around care that is rooted in communities, co-produced with the people who use it, and continuously improved. As the NHS moves further into neighbourhood working under the 10-Year Health Plan, shifting care closer to home, joining up prevention and treatment, and building services around local populations rather than institutions Specialist Services has a central role to play. You will help lead that shift for CAMHS, Talking Therapies and Pathway 2 Recovery: building stronger connections into neighbourhood teams and primary care, and ensuring specialist care is genuinely part of an integrated, community-facing system rather than sitting apart from it. ELFT's strengths and what we'll ask you to build on ELFT is nationally recognised for the strength of our co-production work genuinely involving service users, carers and communities in shaping the services they rely on and for our Quality Improvement culture, which gives every level of the organisation the tools and permission to make care better. We say this with real pride, known for the kindness, care and compassion of our staff. That culture doesn't happen by accident; it's led and modelled every day.
Job description Job responsibilities About youService Director who will not simply inherit these strengths but actively advance them working with Clinical Directors to deepen co-production practice, embed QI as the way Specialist Services solves problems, and protect and grow a working culture where staff feel genuinely cared for, so that they can extend that same care to the people we serve. You'll bring senior leadership experience in a large, complex, multi-disciplinary organisation, with a track record of delivering major service change and managing substantial budgets. You'll understand the statutory landscape around mental health, children's services, and drug and alcohol treatment, and you'll know how to build the kind of partnerships that make integrated care a reality rather than an aspiration. Just as importantly, you'll lead with integrity and relational skill. You'll be someone who can hold a room in a system partnership meeting and also sit with a Directorate team going through a difficult change with the same authenticity in both. You'll have a genuine, demonstrable commitment to equity, particularly for communities who have historically been underserved or over-represented in these services, and you'll understand that inclusive leadership is something you practise daily, not something you announce. If you're looking for a substantive Service Director role that will stretch and prepare you for further senior leadership, I would love to hear from you. Why ELFT ELFT is one of the country's leading mental health and community trusts, known for our quality improvement culture, our commitment to equity, and our belief that leadership is best done in genuine partnership with the people who use our services. We invest in our leaders through coaching, structured development programmes, and a culture that values honest reflection over performative confidence. For an informal discussion about the role, please contactEdwinNdlovuChief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO. Closing date: 5 August 2026, Interview date: 27 August 2026
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Qualified to degree level or equivalent Post-Graduate management qualification or equivalent
Experience Essential
Proven experience in delivering major service and organisational change. Demonstrable experience of business planning processes in large organisations Experience of financial management including the setting and effective control of substantial budgets Experience of working successfully at a senior level in a complex multi-disciplinary organisation, contributing to both corporate and departmental goals Experience of partnership working with a range of internal and external bodies / statutory and non-statutory agencies Detailed knowledge of legislation and the statutory responsibilities of health and social care agencies in the provision of mental health services. Knowledge of national trends and developments as they relate to Mental Health and Social Care
Managerial: team Leadership Essential
Possession of High Order leadership skills, able to generate a clear sense of direction for the service and its employees Successful at building (selecting, training and developing) effective teams as well as leading them Ability to effectively resolve conflict. Ability to deal effectively and constructively with performance and conduct issues.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name East London NHS Foundation Trust
Address London
9 Alie Street
London
E1 8DE
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.elft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)