Job overview
The Associate Director of Operations for the specialist care group will work alongside an Associate Medical Director and an Associate Director of Nursing and Quality as a Trio to deliver safe and effective services.
The Trio work closely with the leads for psychological professions and allied health professionals.
The specialist care group covers services for:
1. Children & Adolescent
Inpatient & Community
2. Early intervention services
3. University services
4. Addictions & Homelessness
5. Deaf Mental Health
6. Neurodiversity and LD
7. Talking therapies
8. Military Veterans
9. Specialist psychology
10. Eating disorders
11. Perinatal
Main duties of the job
The Associate Director of Operations holds responsibility for the operational management and leadership of a designated portfolio. Key duties include ensuring financial stability and robust performance management to meet national and local targets, while supporting the Trust’s strategic and business plans. The role involves contributing to continuous improvement, service development across Greater Manchester, and deputising for the Chief Operating Officer where required.
Strategic responsibilities focus on implementing service redesigns, developing business cases, and identifying opportunities for new or expanded services in line with Trust priorities. The postholder also leads or contributes to service reviews and major projects, utilising specialist knowledge and analytical skills.
The role requires effective communication and positive collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring policies and procedures are followed, and representing the Trust at external forums. The Associate Director is also responsible for promoting service user, carer, and staff involvement in service development, and for ensuring strong on-call and escalation arrangements.
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification
Staff benefits
12. Pay Enhancements
13. 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
14. Excellent pension
15. Cycle to work scheme
16. Salary sacrifice car scheme
17. Wellbeing programme
18. fuelGenie Fuel Cards (for applicable roles)
Person specification
Essential
Essential criteria
19. A relevant health or social care qualification at degree level or relevant/ equivalent experience.
20. Significant track record of employment at a senior operational level delivering mental health services
21. Considerable experience in operational leadership roles
22. Evidence of leading service change with colleagues
Desirable criteria
23. Experience of working in partnerships with other organisations to deliver services with a wide range of Stakeholder working partnerships
Essential
Essential criteria
24. Significant track record of employment at a senior operational level delivering mental health services
Desirable criteria
25. Clear commitment to delivering quality user focused services
26. Demonstrates a drive and passion to deliver to a standard of excellence adopting a continuous learning approach
Essential
Essential criteria
27. Up to date knowledge of current health agenda locally and nationally
28. Sound knowledge of clinical governance and effective systems
29. a leadership style which supports the development of positive relationships and effective team work
Desirable criteria
30. Knowledge and/or experience of policy development at national level
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.
We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click .
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it.
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.