Job Title: Executive Director of Professional Practice
Directorate: Professional Practice
Department: Executive Team
Grade: Director Level
Standard/Premium: Standard
Reports to: Chief Executive and Registrar
Team Management: Yes
DBS Status: Enhanced check
Role purpose
To lead the delivery of the professional vision for nursing and midwifery regulation in the UK, promoting confidence in these vital professions while ensuring robust public protection. As the NMC’s most senior registrant and ambassador, this role involves building and maintaining positive relationships with key partners including UK Chief Nursing Officers, Chief Midwifery Officers, their teams, and representative bodies.
Working collaboratively with professionals, partners and the public, the role determines appropriate policies, standards and Code of Conduct that underpin both entry onto the register and ongoing registration maintenance.
To provide visible leadership and direction to all teams in the Professional Practice directorate, delivering strong engagement with colleagues and effective, supportive performance management with the directorate leadership team.
The position provides strategic leadership and direction to the Professional Practice directorate in alignment with NMC values and behaviours, while serving as a professional role model and leader for all registrant colleagues across the organisation.
As a member of the Executive Board, the role carries collective responsibility for delivering the NMC strategy, managing financial and statutory obligations, providing organisational leadership, and promoting an inclusive culture that celebrates diversity and actively tackles discrimination.
Key Accountabilities
- Develop the strategic vision for nursing and midwifery regulation that promotes confidence in the professions and protects the public and further develop a standards and education framework that realises that vision.
- To provide leadership to all teams including the registration and revalidation team and maintain the integrity of our register. The NMC processes new registrations and revalidation applications, ensuring that registrants meet the required standards to remain on the register.
- Lead the development and implementation of evidence and outcome-based standards to regulate the registration and practice of nursing and midwifery professionals and protect the public.
- Strengthen and deliver an effective education regulation strategy for nursing and midwifery professionals and ensure the delivery of education quality assurance through implementation with partners.
- Lead work to maintain the integrity of the register through oversight and direction of the registration and revalidation teams.
- Lead the debate on the future role of the register, ensuring alignment between this and the education programmes necessary to support the outcome required.
- Secure a strong evidence base for Council and executive decision making through robust research and intelligence, and analysis of the environment in which we operate.
- Strengthen relations at a local level through the further development of the Employer Link Service to establish and NMC-local presence across health and social care.
- Provide appropriate support to the Chief Executive and Registrar on all aspects of nursing and midwifery education and its accreditation.
- To provide visible leadership and direction to teams in the Professional Practice directorate, delivering strong engagement with colleagues and effective, supportive performance management with the directorate leadership team.
- To lead effective business planning and budgeting, aligned with the NMC strategic plan, and ensure delivery against budgets, Key Performance Indicators, and timescales.
- To further develop robust monitoring of effective risk management for all aspects of the directorate’s operations.
- To keep abreast of legislation, guidance, and other changes, ensure that Council and Executive Board are advised, and lead any operational changes that result.
Shared Executive Responsibilities
- As a member of the Executive Board, act as a role model, sharing collective responsibility for making the NMC an inclusive, values driven and supportive organisation.
- To contribute to the implementation of the NMC strategy and contribute to the development of a high performing executive.
- To play an active role in the corporate governance of the NMC, supporting the Chair and Council in good decision making and effective accountability.
- To engage with external stakeholders, acting as an ambassador for the NMC, and building effective relationships and influencing across the health and social care sector.
- To take the lead engagement role on behalf of the Executive Board for specific stakeholder groups as agreed, sharing this responsibility with senior members of the Professional Practice leadership team.
People Management
- Provide strong leadership and direction and keep performance improvement under review and ensure that performance targets are met.
- Facilitate and support teams to enable them to achieve the department or directorate’s objectives.
- Provide consistent performance management by providing regular feedback, conducting formal reviews, and identifying and addressing business-focussed training and development needs.
- Manage issues relating to conduct and capability, ensuring that such issues are dealt with in a focussed and timely manner.