Associate Director of Infrastructure & Cyber Security

Go back Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Associate Director of Infrastructure & Cyber Security

The closing date is 19 January 2026

The post holder will, under the direction of the Director of Digital, be responsible for all services activities relating to the IT Infrastructure and Information Security, including the Service Desk, Data and Voice networks and the Server estate. This will include the management of all technical staff and to work with all external suppliers engaged on those activities.The postholder will be the Digital and Information Security technical lead for IM&T across the Trust, ensuring that the Trust has a secure, flexible, resilient infrastructure that has the capacity to enable the delivery of trusted, reliable IT services to the right people in the right places at the right times. This will include ensuring the effective planning and co-ordination of Digital and Data projects, delivered to agreed service levels by trained, skilled and motivated staff.The postholder will be responsible for advising the Trust on the most appropriate implementation for new technology strategies and assess emerging technologies for their value and validity to the Trusts business, providing recommendations to the Trust on actions to be taken in response.

The list below is to outline the main duties involved; however, this is subject to change and will vary within the given role. We ask all employees to be flexible in their role, to always ensure we are delivering Safe, Kind and Effective care.

Main duties of the job

• Be responsible for ensuring that a high-quality, seamless IT technical service is delivered to the Trust incorporating technical support for systems, data and voice services. Act as the lead person for decision making and implementation of any actions regarding the running of the Trust's infrastructure service.
• Oversee the delivery of an effective DIGITAL Service desk and set of comprehensive and proactive DIGITAL support services.
• Liaise with end users, third parties and technology partners in order to resolve highly complex IT issues as a major part of the role, on an ongoing basis.
• Actively promote electronic working at all levels within the organisation to support the Trust's organisational development and service modernisation plans.
• Ensure that any Informatics work undertaken supports and does not adversely impact the availability of business critical systems. Ensure that the any risks or incidents or appropriately assessed and managed and that any serious implications are reported appropriately.
• Develop and implements policies, procedures, SOP's and services relating to the IT Infrastructure which impact across the whole Trust.
• Provide expert and specialist IT security and technical input to the development and delivery of the Trust's DIGITAL Strategy.

About us

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds.
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility.
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.

The Trust employs over 5916 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 411,000. This includes 361,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.

Job responsibilities

See Job Description for further details.

Recruitment selection processes are based on competence (see Person specification) and values.

Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costswill be deducted from their salary over the first three months of employment.

You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee of £16per year applies.

New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.

Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.

Good luck with your application.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

• Highly developed communication skills with the ability to communicate on highly complex and highly contentious matters.
• Ability to provide and receive, convey and present highly complex, sensitive and / or contentious information to large groups, responding openly to questions to ensure full understanding and engagement
• Relevant experience in a management role in same or similar environment ie. broad and complex IT infrastructure and telecommunications environment including a Service Desk
• Project Management experience through the full lifecycle of major IT Projects. This should be underpinned by thorough knowledge of Software Development methodologies.
• Significant experience within similar role ideally within the NHS or other public sector

Qualifications

• Masters in IT or related field, or equivalent knowledge gained through extensive years' senior technical experience
• ITIL Service Management Foundation Certificate or equivalent knowledge gained through experience
• Relevant Information Security Training Accreditation e.g. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) or equivalent
• Project Management Methodologies - Prince 2 / Agile

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.

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust