About Kent Surrey Sussex AHSN (KSS AHSN)

We are currently recruiting for two Non-Executive Directors to join our Board. These are remunerated roles with a time commitment of approximately 2 days per month.  We aim to appoint to both roles by March 2022, which will ensure continuity of our Board governance. 

Kent Surrey Sussex AHSN (KSS AHSN) is one of 15 AHSNs set up by NHS England in 2013 and relicensed from April 2018 to operate as the key innovation arm of the NHS.    

Our work is all about “transforming lives through innovation”.  We aim to improve the health and wellbeing of all citizens within our communities and contribute to a vibrant local economy.

Covering an area with a population of 4.8 million people, and a health and social care workforce of over 200,000 people, we seek to understand the needs of our health system and be well placed to broker innovative solutions. We develop projects, programmes and initiatives that reflect the diversity of our region and healthcare challenges. 

We want to attract candidates who can provide assurance and oversight of the work we do within Kent, Surrey and Sussex, as well as ensure that all parts of our diverse community are heard and represented in supporting the plans of our strategic partnerships.

About you

You will need to be passionate, possess the ability to be a strategic board level leader and be a strong team player. 

It is critical that our candidates will have strong connections with one or more of our ICS partnerships or have strong academic or commercial alliances across the broader health sector.  Digital systems experience would also be attractive.  

 You will have a background in, or experience of;

• working at, or close to, Board level

• commerciality and business development; in the context of building dynamic alliances within industry and not from an aspect of monetisation  

• partnership building and social entrepreneurship

• operational delivery.

We are also keen to hear from those who can bring disruptive innovation approaches, from a non-health background, which will contribute to new and different ways of thinking. 

As full voting member of the Board of Directors at KSS AHSN, you will combine your Non-Executive Director responsibilities to ensure effective governance with securing a long-term vision and strategy for KSS AHSN.    

Along with our other Non-Executive Directors, you will work closely with the Chair to provide the necessary support, guidance and challenge to the KSS AHSN Executive Management Group.

You must demonstrate a commitment to maintaining a healthy organisational culture and environment built on KSS AHSN’s values and behaviours of striving for excellence; acting with integrity; valuing people and working collaboratively to promote system-level leadership.

We value and promote diversity and strongly encourage applications from people across groups that are underrepresented in our decision making, including those from ethnic minority groups and those with disabilities.   We believe that the best leadership teams are those that reflect and are rooted in the communities they serve.  To support that, our recruitment processes are inclusive and seek to ensure that appointments are made after a fair and open process so that the best people, from the widest possible pool of diverse candidates, are appointed.  Most importantly, we recognise that skills and experience can be lived as well as learnt.

How to Apply

It is strongly advised that all applicants review the full  candidate pack ahead of applying.   

You can begin the application process by clicking on the button above. Here you will answer some eligibility questions and also some work-based sample questions, which will relate to your skills and experience.  After the recruitment closes, your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers. 

You will also be required to upload a copy of your CV, which will only be made available to our reviewers following the initial sift process.

The closing date for applications is; Tuesday, 1st February 2022.

The entire selection process is anticipated to take place between Monday 14th February through to Wednesday 2nd March 2022.

Values and Behaviours

Our values and behaviours are important to us.  We have developed a clear vision for the direction of the company.  In conjuction with our staff, we have developed a values and behaviours framework, in order to underpin our vision, applicants and employees will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to these values and behaviours, which will be assessed through the recruitment, selection and appraisal processes.

Diversity and Equal Opportunities

We are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

It is the desire of KSS AHSN to broaden diversity within its current workforce and to ensure that all new, existing and prospective employees are treated fairly through the principles of equal treatment and promotion of diversity. 

Along with all 15 AHSN’s in the AHSN Network, we are signed up to a series of pledges  to further underpin our diversity and innovation agenda.