Chief Finance Officer (Sponsorship Available) at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Job Summary

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive and a key member of the Board, you will play a central role in creating the financial and estates environment underpinning Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s capabilities to deliver on its vision and ambitions as the Trust starts to deliver its new Trust Strategy.

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a skilled and professional leader with the experience and ambition to drive excellence in financial management, providing visible and transformational professional leadership of financial services and planning, procurement, business intelligence and estates and facilities.

As Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is a new build hospital, significant experience of effectively managing PFI contracts is essential.

The Trust is grateful to have the support of a proactive and successful charity, and the successful candidate will provide strategic leadership to the RPH Charity team.

Job Details

• Employer: Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Job Title: Chief Finance Officer

• Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom

• Salary: £151,816 a year

• Job Type: Full-time & Part-time

• Closing Date: 02 November 2026

Main Duties of the Job

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is looking for someone who has the ability to understand complex organisational and strategic issues, identify the key issues and then communicate them in a way that’s clear for a range of different audiences.

As a naturally compassionate and inclusive leader, you will live and breathe the Trust’s values and have the vision and drive to help improve the experience of staff, creating for them a working environment that is supportive, compassionate, inclusive and equitable where their contribution is valued.

The successful candidate will continue the development of the Finance function and people within it to build on the Trust’s level 3 accreditation with One NHS Finance.

About Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the UK’s leading heart and lung hospital, delivering care to more than 50,000 patients a year in its new state-of-the-art hospital in Cambridge.

The Trust performs the most heart and/or lung transplants in the UK and carried out the UK’s first successful heart transplant in 1979.

It also offers emergency heart attack treatment, sleep centre care and is one of just five centres nationally for those in severe respiratory failure.

Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe, the Trust is at the heart of treatments of the future.

Royal Papworth became the first hospital trust in the country to be rated outstanding in all five areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission – a rating it still holds today.

The Trust holds its values of compassion, excellence and collaboration at its core, and all colleagues joining the team are expected to uphold these in their day-to-day roles and interactions.

Royal Papworth is proud of its diverse workforce and encourages people to embrace their individuality.

The Trust values difference and welcomes all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Providing they meet the minimum post criteria, applicants with disabilities will be offered an interview.

For a street view tour: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/virtual-tour

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

On this page you will find a Role Profile which provides information about the hospital and full details about the role.

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust recommends that you review this and refer to it as you complete your application.

Please include how you will meet the Trust Values:

• Compassion

• Excellence

• Collaboration

If you would like more information about the role or working at Royal Papworth Hospital, please get in touch with the contact for this role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualified Accountant (CCAB or CIMA) with significant post-qualification experience.

• Evidence of professional and personal development within the last two years.

Experience

Essential

• In-depth understanding of national NHS strategy and policy and ability to translate this into a strategy and operational outcomes.

• Familiarity with current political, legal and business developments that impact upon finance, information and risk management in the NHS.

• Substantial management experience and achievement at Executive / Board level in the NHS or other public sector.

• A strong track record in corporate financial planning, management and delivery of financial imperatives.

• Successful achievement of financial and other performance targets.

• Substantial experience of staff management and leadership.

• Leading and achieving change in business planning and performance management processes.

• Successful partnership working with other healthcare and external agencies.

• A good understanding of NHS Corporate Governance, Controls Assurance and business planning, service provision, as well as the commissioning process, patient flows, resource management and budget monitoring.

• Evidence of strategic planning and decision making.

• Evidence of ability to make significant and successful contribution at Board level in a large and complex organisation.

• Evidence of a compassionate and inclusive leadership style.

• The ability to build effective teams and partnerships.

• Evidence of ability to make significant and successful contribution at Board level in a large and complex organisation.

• Evidence of a compassionate and inclusive leadership style.

• The ability to build effective teams and partnerships.

Additional Criteria

Essential

• Please provide evidence of your commitment to uphold the Trust’s values: Compassion, Excellence, Collaboration.

• Supportive of equality and values diversity.

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).

How to Apply

If this opportunity interests you, head to the company’s official website for full details — click here to submit your application.