Deputy Director of Data and Technology
Job summary
The New Hospital Programme is more than building hospitals, it's a once in a generation opportunity to shape the future of healthcare in England. We're delivering over 40 new hospitals that will be modern, sustainable and built around the needs of patients and staff. We're looking for people who care about purpose, who thrive in complex environments and who want to help deliver change at scale for future generations.
Main duties of the job
We are seeking an experienced Deputy Director of Data & Technology to provide strategic and operational leadership for data, digital and technology services across the NHP.
In this senior leadership role, you will focus on driving the development and delivery of innovative digital solutions that support programme objectives. You will oversee the full lifecycle of technology solutions, from identifying opportunities and designing approaches through to implementation, optimisation and continuous improvement.
Working closely with colleagues across the programme, including Information Management and PMO teams, you will ensure effective resource planning, governance, regulatory compliance and delivery of high-quality technology services. You will also play a key role in fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous learning, ensuring the programme remains at the forefront of emerging technologies and best practice.
We are looking for someone with:
- Significant leadership experience in data, digital or technology delivery within complex organisations.
- Experience developing and implementing technology strategies
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams, managing budgets
- Knowledge of governance, regulatory requirements and digital best practice.
- A passion for innovation and staying ahead of emerging technology trends.
About us
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms -- enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025,the Government announcedthat NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
For more information on the NHP programme
Due to ongoing organisational change and developments, aspects of this role may be subject to change.
By applying for this position, you acknowledge and understand that NHS England is currently undergoing a consultation process to finalise its structure, which may impact this role.
Person Specification
Qualifications
- Educated to Masters level or equivalent level or equivalent experience of working at a senior level in specialist area (such as Computing, Scientific, Mathematical, Engineering, Statistical or related field).
- Experience of project and Programme management techniques and tools such as Prince 2 or Managing Successful Projects
- Relevant professional qualification as determined by the Professional Group (for example TOGAF)
- Relevant business or management training e.g., through MBA or equivalent
Knowledge
- Knowledge and experience working directly with key national health and care organisations
- Substantial industry experience within an Information Technology domain maintaining in-depth knowledge of specific technical specialisms and provides expert advice regarding their application
- Can manage specialist technical consultancy. The specialism can be any aspect of information or communication technology, technique, method, product, or application area
- Proven Board level experience of leading and delivering complex change and strategy development programmes in a politically, sensitive and complex environment
- Significant management experience at senior level in the NHS or other public healthcare related industry
- Strong leadership qualities, including the ability to inspire, motivate, and mentor a team of AI professionals
- Strong understanding of data privacy, security, and ethical considerations in AI. This is crucial for ensuring responsible AI development and deployment within a sensitive healthcare context
- Knowledge of Health and Care technology landscape, in particular the systems and services delivered by NHS England
- Deep understanding of machine learning algorithms, techniques, and best practices within healthcare. This includes familiarity with a range of ML approaches (supervised/unsupervised learning, deep learning, etc.) and their applications in healthcare.
- Familiarity with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and MLOps tools. This should encompass experience with cloud-based ML services and tools for deploying, monitoring, and managing AI models in production.
Skills
- Strong external communications skills in a politically sensitive environment with knowledge of and experience in handling media relations.
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as require
- Significant ability to analyse numerical and written data, assess options and draw appropriate initiatives
- Development of large architectures for highly complex and complicated systems
- Proven record of successful delivery of technical architecture services in a large and complex organisation
- Proven record of managing relationship with large technology vendors and suppliers to ensure solutions and architectures align with the organisation goals and objectives.
- Development and management of technical governance processes relevant to the entire organisation
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.
Employer details
Employer name
NHS England
Address
Any NHSE Office
Nationally
SE1 8UG
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/