Head of Patient Services Operations

Based in Dublin

About the Job:

Reporting to the CEO, this is a brand-new role required as a result of growth in demand for our services and a vision to expand and develop new (non-medical) services to our community.

About us

Founded in 1978, the IKA is passionate about and dedicated to meeting the needs of kidney patients, their families and carers. Kidney disease affects all age groups, both men and women. The reality of kidney disease is that it may impinge on many strands of a person’s life including health, employment, education, social life and relationships, physical fitness and general well-being. As the only organisation representing the views of Irish kidney patients, the IKA continually lobbies on their behalf. By joining with other organisations, the IKA also helps in furthering the aims of all patients with chronic illness and improving their quality of life. The patient remains at the centre of the IKA — the patient’s needs are paramount.

About the role:

Contract type: 5 days a week, Permanent Contract

Location: Irish Kidney Association, Donor House, Block 43A, Park West, D12 P5V6. Working from Home for part of the week will be available, once probation completed.

About the Job:

This is a brand-new role required as a result of a growth in services and a vision to expand services even further.

How can You Make a Difference?

Through its services, branch network and the good will of supporters, the IKA helps patients and families throughout the country.

Demand for our service continues to increase and we now wish to recruit a professional and visionary leader who will help us meet these demands.

We continue to innovate with new services such as online peer support and a residential support centre introduced in 2024 in Munster with our centre in Dublin scheduled to re-open in Spring 2026. The person appointed will lead on expanding services to help even more patients.

The Role Job description

This newly created role of Head of Patient Service Operations will be a key operational leader in the association reporting to the CEO. Demand for IKA services continues to grow and as new services are expanded e.g. peer support, a leader is needed to ensure we can continue to deliver and meet patient needs. The overall goals of this post are to lead, inspire and empower the Associations Services Team to deliver excellence in services, and to achieve an exciting programme of service growth and innovation for people affected by kidney disease.

The Head of Patient Services Operations will lead the delivery of high-quality, patient-centric services, and ensure an integrated, personalised and meaningful experience for everyone who uses the Association's services and supports. The Head of Patient Service Operations will be responsible for creating capacity and collaboration across all service teams, allowing for growth of the associations 's reach and impact to meet the growing need for our services and supports, in a considered and sustainable manner. They will lead a team of four full time managers who have ten part time staff reporting to them based in Dublin and Cork.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Operational excellence

• Provide leadership and operational direction for the Association's supports and services, for people affected by kidney disease
• Develop an annual Services operational plan, in collaboration with the CEO, to ensure delivery of the Services aspects of the Association's overall strategic plan, to include budgets and strict timescales
• Scrutinise our operational processes and enable operational excellence and optimisation across all our delivery
• Build on the existing culture of collaboration and continual improvement across our services and support delivery
• Make effective use of operational data and measures, to derive insight and improve our service delivery
• Ensure the Association's services are informed by deeper understanding of our patients and families, with regular evaluation and benchmarking against best practice and key performance indicators
• Provide support and input to the technology enablement of our services, supports and experience, and lead digital transformation of our services
• Ensure excellence in governance, financial management and compliance across all existing and new services and partnerships, e.g HSE, including compliance with internal and external policies and protocols
• Develop and improve on current policies and procedures, in collaboration with cross functional teams
• Deliver regular impact reporting to illustrate the impact of our supports and services on people affected by kidney disease
• Approve payments as needed.

Sustainable Growth and Reach

• Optimise existing services and supports to enable growth
• Enable and instil innovation and ensure our services and supports are responsive to the changing needs of people affected by kidney disease
• Lead and inform the development and transformation of our ways of working in line with technology development
• Continually collect and analyse data and feedback to identify opportunities for improvement and ensure high quality service delivery
• Ongoing management of key partnerships and the identification of opportunities to grow our reach and impact
• Work effectively with Advocacy, Awareness, and Fundraising and, to support the branding and public awareness of our work and increase our reach
• Plan, drive and deliver the development of new ways to reach patients and their families through new services and new channels to achieve expansion of our reach and impact

Patient and Family Experience

• Ensure a patient-centred culture across all our services and supports
• Set goals and objectives to improve the experience of people who use our services and supports
• Continually research and derive insights into behaviour and preferences, and use this to identify and deliver improvements
• Design and lead the implementation of feedback mechanisms to understand the experience of people who engage with the Association and how we can improve our services based on this feedback.

Leadership and people management

• Build, inspire and lead a high-performing team to support the delivery of these goals.
• Motivate team members and volunteers across the organisation to meet the Association's goals and objectives, improve and succeed
• Work effectively with the broader leadership teams to ensure service operational delivery in line with the Association's overall strategy
• Work collaboratively across the organisation to build a streamlined experience across all services. e.g holidays, counselling, peer support, patient support and office management
• Champion and enhance our patient-centred culture, making sure everyone working in our services and supports teams understands and feel the positive difference they make for people affected by kidney disease.

The Person

The successful candidate will:

• Be a goal oriented and target-driven operational leader with strong acumen.
• Have proven capability in operational excellence and growing service capacities and capabilities.
• Be an excellent communicator, able to distil information and present clearly and with impact, in written and verbal form.
• Be an excellent people leader and motivator, with a high degree of emotional intelligence and empathy, possessing the ability to lead and motivate diverse people.
• Have excellent relationship building skills.
• Be a highly effective problem solver, deriving insight from data to make evidence-based decisions and solutions.
• Above all, purpose driven, with a strong commitment to the Association 's mission and a desire to improve the lives of people affected by kidney disease.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Significant management experience, culminating in recent comparable leadership experience serving in operations, business development, transformation, customer experience or similar roles.
• Degree level qualification in a relevant field, with demonstrated commitment to ongoing learning in areas such as: operational excellence, customer/patient experience, transformation, change management, leadership or another relevant areas.
• Demonstrated ability to review and improve current services in line with service needs.
• Proven ability to rapidly create substantial growth in reach and take-up of services.
• Experience is measured by quality rather than time.
• Maintain confidentiality at all times, and compliance with the Data Protection Act is an essential requirement.

Desirable

• Demonstrated capability in developing and rapidly scaling new services and channels to meet needs.
• Experience in leading change
• Knowledge of the Irish healthcare environment
• Working with volunteers

Benefits to working with Irish Kidney Association:

• 23 days annual leave
• Opportunity for working from home
• 5% employer contribution to your pension
• Paid Sick Leave Policy
• Despite the IKA’s high profile we are a small, friendly and sociable team who are looking forward to working with a new colleague who will help us support patients and their families.

Salary: From €55k to €65k depending on experience.

Recruitment Process

1. Submit your CV with a cover letter tailored to this position to recruitment@ika.ie with subject line “head of patient service operations”
2. Closing date for applications is 21st of September
3. Applications reviewed and shortlisting will apply.
4. Two Interviews the 2nd of which will involve a short presentation
5. Psychometric Personality test of those shortlisted (results made available to candidates prior to interview)

IKA is an equal opportunities employer who is dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every element in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.