Are you a dynamic and visionary clinical leader ready to shape the future of mental health care?

Are you ready to join an award-winning, industry-leading organisation where quality is at the heart of everything we do — and excellence is more than just a word, it's our culture? With just under 300 medical professionals on our team, we’re setting the standard for care.

Cygnet Health Care is seeking an exceptional Divisional Medical Director (DMD) to take on a pivotal executive leadership role. As the most senior medical leader within your division, you will drive the strategic direction, uphold the highest professional standards, and lead a high-performing medical workforce dedicated to delivering safe, effective, and person-centred care.

This is a unique opportunity to collaborate at the highest level across multidisciplinary teams, influence organisational priorities, and champion a culture of innovation, learning, and continuous improvement.

Cygnet distinguishes itself through a unique combination of scale, specialism, and personalisation of care. Our 13,000 staff support 8,300 individuals and with a portfolio of over 150 services, we offer care across a range of services from acute, PICU, Eating Disorders and CAMHS. We have a strong reputation for quality, inclusion, and staff satisfaction. We stand apart through our ability to deliver exceptional, high-acuity care at scale, underpinned by deep clinical understanding, sector-leading quality ratings, and an unwavering focus on person-centred practice.

We keep our focus on maintaining high-quality standards across all our services, consistently achieving sector-leading regulatory ratings across the UK. 81% of services evaluated earned a Good or Outstanding rating by regulators, outperforming the national average. Cygnet has 17% higher CQC Good or Outstanding ratings than the rest of the mental health independent sector and 95% of our hospitals are rated Good or Outstanding by our internal quality assessment team. Our collaboration with 360 commissioning bodies, has not only allowed us to support integrated pathways of care, but has also helped shape local and regional strategies for individuals with complex needs.

Cygnet has also been recognised externally, with recent wins at the HealthInvestor Awards including Specialist Care Provider of the Year and has also been recognised by the Carers Trust, with 20 of our services being awarded Triangle of Care accreditation.

Reporting directly to the Group Clinical Director, this is a full-time position responsible for strategic leadership of our Health Care South region (Including Greater London, South East, South West, South Wales and West Midlands). This is a remote role but will include travel to sites within this region 2 – 3 days per week, so access to a car & UK driving licence is essential.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic and Clinical Leadership

• Provide strategic clinical leadership across the division, setting high standards for medical practice and professional conduct.
• Ensure alignment with national clinical policy and statutory requirements, championing evidence-based care, prevention, early intervention, and integrated models of service delivery.
• Promote a strong culture of patient safety, learning, and openness in line with Just Culture principles.

Clinical Governance and Quality Improvement

• Oversee clinical governance frameworks to ensure safe, effective, and person-centered care.
• Lead on clinical quality improvement, audit, and innovation initiatives, ensuring high standards of care are maintained and continuously enhanced.
• Promote adherence to policies relating to safeguarding, medicines optimisation, infection prevention and control, and controlled drug safety.

Medical Workforce Leadership

• Lead on all aspects of clinical workforce planning, including recruitment, retention, role redesign, and succession planning.
• Ensure a high-performing and appropriately skilled clinical workforce through oversight of appraisal, revalidation, CPD, and professional development.
• Embed a culture of reflective practice, supervision, and 360-degree feedback within medical leadership.

Operational Excellence and Resource Stewardship

• Work closely with the respective Managing Directors and regional clinical directors to ensure high-quality and high-value service delivery.
• Ensure clinical productivity and resource utilisation are optimised, with clear outcome measures and benchmarking in place.
• Contribute to the achievement of the overall financial goals of the division.