Chief executive officer

We’re looking for a new chief executive officer to lead our organisation in our next chapter

Hello, we’re Kaleidoscope. We are a consultancy of a different kind. We bring people together to create change that works, and over the past decade we’ve helped hundreds of organisations do harder things than they thought possible. We’re employee-owned, and committed to being the kind of organisation we help others become. That’s not a tagline. It shapes how we work every day.

Our founder is moving on this summer and we’re looking for the person to lead our next chapter – someone who understands why how you build matters as much as what you build

What we do

We’re an award-winning social enterprise consultancy. We work with NHS trusts, integrated care systems, national bodies and other health and care organisations to help them not only change, but make change that works.

We work with clients in the public, private and voluntary sectors in health and aligned areas. We work in three main areas: strategy (helping organisations define what they want to do), organisational design, (working with organisations to deliver their objectives) and impact & insights (being clear what has happened as a result and what we have learned). What connects all of our work is the belief that the best change happens with people, not to them. We build the evidence, the relationships, and the capability to make improvement last.

We’re currently working with a wider group of organisations than ever before on more and more complex questions and outcomes. Clients include NHS England, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, South East London Integrated Care System, Macmillan Cancer Support, the Scottish Government, and many others.

About the role

This is not a caretaker role. Over the past decade we’ve built something genuinely special: a kind, commercially serious, employee-owned consultancy doing good work in health and care.

The chief executive holds overall accountability for Kaleidoscope – its strategic direction, financial health, client relationships, and organisational culture. You’ll work alongside a talented, committed team, in a self-managing organisation, to build our consultancy business in line with our purpose and values.

In practice, the role means:

• Strategic leadership. Setting direction with the board and the wider team, making difficult choices, ensuring the organisation stays true to its purpose while remaining commercially strong.
• Financial stewardship. Taking responsibility for P&L, resource allocation, and long-term financial sustainability. We’re a consultancy: income, pipeline, and commercial discipline matter.
• External relationships and business development. Maintaining and growing relationships with clients, partners, and commissioners. Being a credible, visible presence in the health and care sector.
• Internal leadership and culture. Kaleidoscope operates on Teal/self-managing principles – distributed decision-making, high autonomy, shared accountability. The chief executive shapes the conditions for this to work, not by controlling, but by exemplifying.
• Governance. Working effectively with the board, ensuring appropriate accountability, and fulfilling the duties of the role in an employee-owned organisation.

More information about Kaleidoscope and the role is available here.

What we’re looking for

You’ll know health, care and the public sector – not just as a sector to work in, but one you care about. You’ll be comfortable with the commercial realities of running a consultancy: P&L, resource allocation, business development. And you’ll have the kind of presence and credibility that makes clients want to work with you and colleagues want to follow you.

More specifically, you’ll bring:

• A commitment to Kaleidoscope’s purpose – to build a future that is kind, connected and joyful – and the personal values to make that real in practice.
• Substantial senior leadership experience in consultancy working in one or more of our key service areas
• Deep understanding of the health and care sector, with a real understanding of how NHS and public sector organisations work.
• The credibility and presence to lead client relationships at the most senior level (Executives and Board), with the network and track record to demonstrate it.
• A strong commercial mindset, comfortable with the realities of running a small consultancy, and able to hold commercial sustainability alongside social purpose.
• Prior Executive experience or demonstrable readiness to step into Executive leadership, with a clear understanding of your responsibilities as a Company Director.
• A commitment to developing high performing teams through coaching, and a developmental leadership style.

If you have experience of leading in complex, distributed, or self-managing organisations or employee owned organisations – or a clear-eyed understanding of what either requires then that’s a bonus. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly encourage applications from people who are underrepresented in senior health and care leadership.

What we offer

• Salary of £95,000 to £106,000 (within our Band 5 salary range, with annual review)
• 28 to 48 days planned leave including bank holidays (minimum 28, up to 48 at your discretion)
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Employee pension scheme and salary sacrifice programmes
• Personal learning budget
• Cycle to work and electric vehicle schemes
• Employee counselling sessions
• A genuinely different place to work

Salary transparency is a core commitment at Kaleidoscope. Your salary, and any changes to it, are visible to everyone in the organisation.

How to apply

To apply, you will need to complete a short application form which includes:

1. Your answer to the following 2 questions (no more than 1 side of A4 per question):
   – Kaleidoscope place kindness at our core. Can you describe a moment in your leadership when being genuinely kind to someone – a colleague, a client, or a member of your team – required something of you: courage, honesty, or a difficult conversation. What did you do, and what did it take?
   – We’re transparent about how the past couple of years have been tough for consultancies like ours. This next phase of Kaleidoscope will be about building on what we’ve achieved whilst being deliberate about the ways in which we need to change and evolve in response to a challenging context. What do you see as the distinctive challenges and opportunities of this moment for a values-led consultancy in health and care – and, drawing on your own leadership experience, what gives you confidence you’re the right person to lead this next phase?
2. A summary of relevant experience that speaks to what we’ve outlined above (no more than two sides of A4). It doesn’t have to be a traditional CV- but can be if that is your preference.
3. Confirmation that you have the right to work in the UK and contact details for us to get in touch with you.

The deadline for applications is 8am on Friday, 12 June 2026. Stakeholder panels / interviews will take place in the week commencing 29 June 2026.

Questions?

There will be an Ask Me Anything session at midday (12.00pm BST) on Thursday 21 May, open to anyone considering applying. To sign up, please email hello@kscopehealth.org.uk and put ‘Recruitment – chief executive officer’ as the subject.

For questions before applying, please email us at hello@kscopehealth.org.uk and put ‘Recruitment – chief executive officer’ as the subject line.

Diversity, equality and inclusion

Kaleidoscope Health and Care is committed to promoting equality and eliminating unlawful discrimination, in line with the Equality Act 2010 and Kaleidoscope’s diversity and inclusion policy.

We would be grateful if you could complete our diversity and equality monitoring form to help us understand if we are succeeding in involving a diverse range of different people in our work and to change our approaches and practices if some people are underrepresented.

Thanks very much – we hope to hear from you.