Deputy director – primary care and community services, south region (london)

Executive Level 3 – £75,183 per annum

Contracted Hours: Full time, 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: Homebased, with travel as required

Closing Date: Wednesday 10 June 2026 at 11:59pm

Interviews will be held in July 2026 face to face in our London Office (date tbc)

Make a difference

Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. If you’re looking for a new role in Operations - Primary Care and Community Services, that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose, then you’ve found it! As a Deputy Director, you’ll help shape the future of primary care and community services by driving improvement and ensuring people receive safe, effective and compassionate care.

Picture this

Imagine leading a team that makes a real difference every day - where your decisions influence care standards for thousands of people.

As a Deputy Director in the Primary Care and Community Services inspectorate, you could be:

• Leading a strategic programme to improve access and quality in GP practices, urgent care centres and community services working with providers to deliver measurable change.
• Responding to emerging risks by guiding regulatory decisions that protect people and uphold CQC standards.

The role

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

• Lead and inspire teams: Build high-performing, inclusive teams that deliver regulatory priorities and drive improvement in primary and community care.
• Shape sector strategy: Use your expertise to influence policy and operational approaches, ensuring better outcomes for people and communities.
• Manage regulatory activity: Oversee complex decisions and enforcement actions, ensuring risks are managed and standards upheld.

Show Us

We’ll be looking for the following specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• Proven leadership experience: Leading diverse teams and driving change effectively in complex, fast-moving environments.
• Regulatory and sector expertise: Strong understanding of primary care and community services regulation, policy, and operational delivery, with experience applying this knowledge to influence outcomes.
• Stakeholder engagement: Proven ability to build partnerships and influence at senior levels to deliver improvement and innovation.

The Benefits

• 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!

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.

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.

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.