New Entrant Retention Lead (WCA)

Salary: £45,500 + up to 10% performance bonus paid quarterly and competitive benefits package

Location: Remote with occasional travel

The New Entrant Retention Lead is accountable for improving retention and early‑career success of newly appointed healthcare practitioners within a highly regulated healthcare environment. 

Working in partnership with operational and clinical managers, Recruitment, Learning & Development, and Clinical Governance, the role leads early‑career retention activity to reduce attrition, improve the new entrant experience, and strengthen management capability. 

The postholder acts as a specialist advisor and owner of early‑career retention, using insight, data, and practical interventions to support individuals and managers during the highest‑risk stages of employment, while ensuring full alignment with clinical governance, contractual, and regulatory requirements. 

What you'll do:

• Lead the design and delivery of an end‑to‑end new entrant retention framework spanning pre‑start, onboarding, training, and early independent practice.  

• Identify early attrition risk points for newly qualified and transitioning healthcare practitioners, and implement targeted, evidence‑based retention interventions.  

• Act as a senior partner to managers, enabling them to effectively identify disengagement risk, hold retention‑focused conversations, and balance performance, wellbeing, and governance requirements.  

• Develop and embed practical manager toolkits, guidance, prompts, and training to support retention of early‑career practitioners.  

• Provide expert coaching and advice to managers on managing confidence dips, complexity, and professional identity transition in early practice.  

• Lead and coordinate targeted retention interventions for high‑risk individuals and cohorts, working collaboratively with L&D and Clinical Excellence to influence onboarding quality, training delivery, supervision, and feedback models.  

• Ensure reasonable adjustments, pastoral support, and wellbeing resources are embedded, accessible, and consistently applied.  

• Ensure all retention activity aligns with clinical governance, contractual obligations, professional standards, and regulatory requirements.  

• Work with Clinical Governance teams to incorporate learning from complaints, incidents, and early performance concerns into retention improvements.  

• Own early‑career retention insight and reporting, including tracking attrition trends, monitoring intervention impact, and highlighting emerging risks for senior and operational leaders.  

• Lead continuous improvement activity across the end‑to‑end new entrant journey to improve retention outcomes and practitioner experience. 
   

What we're looking for:

• Significant experience working within healthcare, clinical, or similarly regulated environments.
• Strong understanding of early-career challenges faced by newly qualified and transitioning healthcare practitioners.
• Proven ability to influence, support, and coach managers without formal line management authority.
• Demonstrated experience using workforce data, insight, or trend analysis to drive practical, measurable improvement.
• High level of confidence operating within complex governance, quality, and compliance frameworks.
• Excellent coaching, influencing, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build credibility at all levels of the organisation.

Desirable Criteria

• Professional clinically based background or substantial experience working in close partnership with clinical professionals.
• Experience in roles focused on retention, wellbeing, workforce transformation, organisational development, or early-career support.
• Knowledge of healthcare education pathways, training models, and professional or regulatory frameworks.

Please note that this vacancy may close earlier than the advertised closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received.