NHS Partnerships Operations Lead Job at United Kingdom Full Time

The MissionNHS Trusts cannot recruit the clinicians they need without housing them. The existing supply of key-worker accommodation is fragmented, ageing, and built around a funding model that no longer fits how Trusts hire.We are launching a new institutional platform to change that. Architected by an entrepreneurial real estate platform developer and backed by private equity, the platform will purchase operational key-worker housing, invest in modernising the homes and improving service quality and standards, and reshape housing allocation processes to work more effectively with the NHS.An initial £100m+ deployment runway has been earmarked alongside our capital partner for the next 18 to 24 months. With seed transactions identified and in process. The operating brand is still to be defined, by design, because the founding team will help shape it.”Sat in the seat. Managed the nominations. Lived the housing shortfall. We need someone who knows what good looks like for a clinician arriving on a 12-month rotation, or a nurse entering the NHS workforce for the first time.”Role DescriptionAs founding Head of Operations & NHS Partnerships, you will own how our buildings perform and how our tenants experience them, and serve as the platform’s principal voice with NHS Trust accommodation, HR, recruitment, and Estates teams.On the asset side, you will oversee day-to-day operations, including our in-house property managers, partners, planned and reactive works, occupancy and voids, supplier performance, and the welcome experience for every front-line key worker who moves into one of our schemes.On the NHS side, you will own relationships with various NHS Trusts and broader public-sector teams, ensuring our product continues to serve their workforce as it evolves.You will report directly to the founder, with no intermediaries on strategy or NHS-facing decisions. You will be one of the first three operating hires, and you will have a meaningful influence on the brand, the product roadmap, and the operating culture from day one.What You Will Bring- Time served inside the NHS. You have worked in a UK NHS Trust accommodation, staff housing, key-worker housing, international recruitment, or Estates role. This is non-negotiable; adjacent or sector-tourist backgrounds will not be progressed.- Asset and property management depth. You have run or held a senior role within an operational residential estate. You know how buildings, residents, suppliers, and reporting actually work day-to-day, not just on paper.- Resident-experience orientation. You instinctively think about what arriving residents need, and have experience in onboarding and welcome processes.- Nominations fluency. You have direct experience with the structures Trusts use to access, pay for, and allocate staff accommodation, and you know where the existing models break.- A builder’s instinct. You have a track record of setting things up, with adequate support, up rather than maintaining inherited infrastructure. You are comfortable working with ambiguity and shaping a process from a blank page.- Commercial confidence. You are comfortable with private-sector pace, board-grade reporting, and a platform where operational performance directly drives the investment case.Bonus Points- Experience in a Trust international recruitment or relocation function, with a working understanding of overseas clinician onboarding.- Exposure to Registered Provider structures, regulatory frameworks (RSH), and the interplay between PRS, RP, and NHS-leased models.- Experience contributing to or specifying digital tools (listings platforms, CRM, scheduling software, workflow products) used by NHS or housing teams.- Active engagement with sector networks such as the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, AHE, or comparable Trust accommodation forums.What We Offer- A founding seat at a brand-new institutional platform with a clear, capitalised runway.- Direct line to the founder, with no intermediaries on strategy or NHS-facing decisions.- Competitive base salary, performance bonus, and meaningful equity in the platform.- Real influence over the operating brand, product roadmap, and operating culture from day one.- A platform thesis designed to last 20+ years, not to ride a single cycle.- Hybrid working from London, with regular travel to operational sites and Trust partners across the UK.