Grade E3: £75,183 per annum

Contracted Hours: Full-time 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: Homebased with travel as required

Closing Date: Sunday 28 June 2026 at 11.59pm

Interview Date: 28 & 29 July 2026 – Interviews will be Face to Face at our Newcastle Upon Tyne Office

Make a difference

Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. If you’re looking for a new role in Hospitals, Secondary and Specialist Care that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose then you’ve found it! As a Deputy Director for Hospitals, Secondary and Specialist Care, you’ll lead how we regulate services across the North region, so people receive safe, effective and compassionate care when it matters most.

Picture this

You’re leading teams across your region, using insight, feedback and evidence to improve how care is delivered and regulated. You bring people together to improve performance, respond to risk, act quickly when it matters, and focus on what will make the biggest difference to people’s lives.

Your experience might include:

• Led a cross-system response to a high-risk provider, using data and sector expertise to guide regulatory decisions and ensure timely action to protect people using services.

• Commissioned and led a programme of co-production work with partners and people who use services to shape improvement in care quality across a region.

• Used creative measures to inspire and motivate a team to improve its performance.

The role

You’ll play an important part in delivering our mission. In this role, you’ll:

• Deliver regulatory activity and manage risk: Lead teams to deliver inspections, decisions and enforcement activity, using data and insight to respond to risks and improve outcomes for people.

• Lead and develop high-performing teams: Lead and manage Operational Managers and wider teams to deliver organisational priorities, supporting performance, development and a culture of fairness and inclusion.

• Build strong partnerships: Work with colleagues, providers and system partners to share insight, influence change and improve care across your region and nationally.

Show us

We will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• Experience leading large, complex operational services in health, social care, NHS or similar regulatory environment, including responsibility for performance, risk and outcomes.

• Knowledge of regulation, operational and government policy, along with significant sector expertise in Hospitals, Secondary and Specialist Care.

• Experience leading change or improvement programmes in complex environments, using data and insight to guide decisions and deliver measurable impact.

• Experience in managing diverse teams and examples of how you have successfully engaged stakeholders at senior levels to deliver innovation to ensure people using services receive improved care.

Bring your experience to a role in CQC that really makes a difference.

You can read the full details of the role in the following Job Description and Candidate Information Pack:

Job Description

Candidate Information Pack

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV and Supporting Statement (no more than 750-words) via the Recruitment System.

Your Supporting Statement should cover the following:

- How your previous experience makes you suitable for this role?
- What strengths will you bring to the role?

Compliance

To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps

If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether you are shortlisted.

If you’d like to have an informal chat about the role you can contact – Roger James, Director of Hospitals: roger.james@cqc.org.uk For general enquiries, please email recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

The Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all
We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.

We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk. Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for interview or within your role these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.
We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this.

We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any:

• Age
• Sex
• Gender identity or expression
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Ethnicity
• Disability

Values and vision
We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture.
Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.
Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Integrity – doing the right thing.
Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.
We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI
AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.