Head of Data Quality & Establishment Control
Job summary
The Head of Data Quality & Establishment Control is the Trust's senior strategic lead for the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), People systems, workforce establishment control, ESR workstructures and workforcesystems data quality.
The postholder will provide strategic leadership, governance and assurance for the Trust's workforce systems architecture, ensuring that ESR and associated People systems provide a secure, reliable and authoritative source of workforce and establishment information.Working at corporate level across the People Directorate, Finance, Payroll, Recruitment, Digital, Business Intelligence and operational services, the postholder will lead the development and operation of an effective Trust-wide Establishment Control framework. This will ensure that funded workforce establishments held within financial systems are appropriately aligned to positions and whole-time equivalent establishment held within ESR, enabling reliable vacancy, workforce and financial reporting and supporting the Trust's financial sustainability.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will have strategic responsibility for the design and governance of the Trust's ESR organisational structures and hierarchies, ensuring that workstructures support effective workforce management, financial reporting, recruitment, payroll, workforce planning, management information, self-service and downstream workforce systems.
They will establish and lead a Trust-wide workforce systems data quality and assurance framework, setting standards, controls, measures and improvement priorities to maximise confidence in workforce information and ensure compliance with national workforce data standards.
A key requirement of the role will be preparing the Trust for national developments in workforce technology, including the transition from ESR to the NHS PeoplePortal / Future NHS Workforce Solution, ensuring that King's is appropriately prepared in respect of data, processes, workstructures, integration, governance and organisational change.
The post holder will also deputise for the Head of People Systems, Data and Payroll
About us
The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. In June 2026, we launched our new strategy for 2026-31. Our vision is to transform healthcare, and we have agreed six strategic ambitions to help us improve care for patients, and the working lives of our staff.
Our six strategic ambitions are delivering high-quality patient care; creating a great place to work; leading pioneering research, innovation and education; building strong and successful partnerships; providing timely and efficient care; and ensuring long-term financial sustainability.
We have also agreed four new organisational values - Caring, Collaborative, Inclusive, Innovative - and these underpin everything we do, and how our teams interact with the patients under our care.
We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.
King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Be the senior Trust lead for ESR, ensuring effective governance, optimisation and strategic use of the system across the organisation.
- Provide expert leadership on ESR functionality and its relationship with workforce, payroll, recruitment, learning, rostering, finance and other corporate systems.
- Ensure appropriate arrangements are in place for the management of ESR releases, upgrades, elective changes, testing and implementation, with risks and dependencies clearly understood and managed.
- Ensure that significant system configuration changes are subject to appropriate impact assessment,testing, approval, documentation and change control.
- Provide strategic leadership and corporate ownership of the Trusts Establishment Control framework, ensuring robust integration between workforce and financial controls.
- Develop and maintain a clear Trust-wide Establishment Control policy and associated processes, setting out responsibilities, approval routes, controls, service standards and escalation arrangements.
- Work in close partnership with senior Finance, Recruitment, Payroll, Workforce and operationalcolleagues to ensure that funded workforce establishments are accurately reflected within ESR.
- Provide strategic oversight and governance of ESR workstructures and organisational hierarchies across the Trust.
- Ensure organisational structures within ESR are designed and maintained in a way that supports accurate workforce and financial reporting and aligns, wherever appropriate, with the Trustsorganisational and financial structures.
- Establish Trust-wide standards for the creation and maintenance of organisations, positions, jobs, grades, locations, cost centre mappings and associated structural information within ESR.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
- Educated to degree level or equivalent level of knowledge and experience relevant to workforce systems, workforce information, HR technology, informatics or a related field
- Chartered Member of the CIPD (or willingness to gain this registration within 12 months of appointment)
- Masters level qualification or equivalent knowledge and experience
Knowledge and Experience
- Substantial senior experience of leading workforce, People or HR systems within a large and complex organisation
- Significant Project Management experience with a track record of bring innovations to operational reality
- Highly developed specialist knowledge of the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), including its role within core NHS workforce processes
- Experience of identifying and resolving significant ESR/workforce data-quality issues through structured improvement programmes
- Strong understanding of the relationship between ESR, Finance, Payroll, Recruitment, Rostering and other workforce systems
- PRINCE2 or equivalent project management qualification
- Experience of working with NHSBSA ESR teams, ESR regional networks or ESR Special Interest Groups
Skills and Competencies
- Ability to understand, manipulate and analyse electronic HR data and present appropriately.
- Proficient in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and familiar with the concepts of relational databases.
- Experience of communicating with a wide range of people on complex issues and/or in complex situations.
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.
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.
Employer details
Employer name
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Jennie Lee House
Denmark Hill
SE5 8AD
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.kch.nhs.uk/