Job vacancy: Deputy Programme Director, NHS Business Services Authority, National

Job summary

Main area: Project Management
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 8d
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 914-BSA7729770-B

Employer: NHS Business Services Authority
Employer type: NHS
Site: Park Row
Town: National
Salary: £94,356 - £108,814 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 25/06/2026 23:59

Deputy Programme Director

NHS AfC: Band 8d

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

In this role, you will be accountable for:

Establishing robust governance and assurance, managing risks and issues, and ensuring readiness for change.
Managing multiple stakeholder groups in complex environments, build consensus across diverse stakeholders, and develop strategic relationships with internal and external suppliers, with the support of the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO).
Building and leading high-performing, multidisciplinary programme teams, ensuring delivery to time, cost, and quality.
Ensuring strategic alignment of the transformation programme, to both NHSBSA and the wider NHS strategies and plans (ensuring technology, commercial, and people aspects are considered).
Developing Business Cases, (as per HM Treasury’s five case model) and securing approvals from Programme Board, SRO, DHSC, Cabinet Office, and HM Treasury.
Managing a significant Transformation Programme budget, ensuring that the Programme is delivered within the agreed budgetary commitments, in line with the agreed delegated authority and tolerances set, whilst delivering taxpayer value.
Representing the NHSBSA and the programme working with senior stakeholders to identify, escalate and resolve issues and mitigate significant risks to delivery.
Establishing proportionate and effective governance in line with NHSBSA and wider system standards, engaging with and influencing a range of strategic stakeholders providing regular updates to Cabinet Office, NISTA, DHSC and NHS sponsors, commissioners and users ensuring alignment to the NHSBSA portfolio management framework and other best practice guidelines.
Overseeing the procurement and implementation of products and solutions which replace the existing legacy platform(s), in line with national, regional and local commercial strategies, ensuring value for the taxpayer.
Providing strategic leadership to monitor and maximise benefit delivery.
Ensuring smooth transition to live service and implementation of new solutions, replacing legacy platforms where applicable
Ensuring the programme management office function, can deliver accordingly with the necessary skills and capabilities to meet the programmes internal and external demands and delivers in accordance with portfolio and programme management frameworks and ‘best practice’ using digital tools and data insights to inform decisions and track delivery.
Ensuring quality assurance of dependency management and alignment with business governance.
Embedding sustainability and social value into programme design, procurement and delivery.
Working in partnership with Directors and colleagues across the business to ensure the full engagement of all colleagues in their area and support in the delivery of the NHSBSA’s portfolio management purpose and vision.
Providing professional leadership to all programme team colleagues at all levels throughout the NHSBSA, lead and oversee the day-to-day performance of staff in line with NHSBSA HR processes ensuring the active adoption of the GROW appraisal system and compliance with all mandatory training as specified by the organisation.
Role modelling NHSBSA CARE values and behaviours, ensuring compliance with health and safety, financial stewardship, and equality standards.

The role will be appointed on a permanent basis and is being recruited to primarily support a specific workstream within the Future NHS Workforce Solution Transformation Programme, which is scheduled to run until 2030.

Person specification

Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

A high degree of political astuteness
Highly developed people management skills
Highly developed analytical and problem-solving skills, capable of interpreting and evaluating complex, mufti-faceted information, ability to summarise complex information

Desirable criteria

An awareness of the NHSBSA’s strategy, business plans and major programmes of work

Experience

Essential criteria

Extensive experience in leadership roles which have required development of a vision that drives forward the programmes work and its future
Experience of working with the National Infrastructure and Systems Transformation Agency or equivalent assurance function either as a recipient of a review or as a review panel member.

Desirable criteria

Coaching and mentoring at management level
SC Security Cleared

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Educated to UK Government Major Project Leadership Academy (MPLA) / Masters level in relevant subject or equivalent levels of experience of working at very senior programme leadership level
Leadership qualification

Desirable criteria

APM Chartered Professional
NISTA accredited assurance reviewer
Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) – Advanced Practitioner
Change Management Practitioner
Project Leadership Programme (PLP)
PRINCE 2 – Practitioner
Management of Risk (MoR) – Practitioner

Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

Can and does apply project delivery knowledge and techniques to set projects up for success, reduce ambiguity and ensure successful delivery
Strong commercial awareness
Able to understand the value of and exploit commercial advice
The ability to manage change in a constructive manner
Strong leadership skills, including an ability to motivate and inspire teams to be successful and become high performing
The ability to manage multi-faceted project plans
Managing complexity and changing priorities through creative problem-solving
Ability to manage varied and complex relationships to facilitate change and improvement

Experience

Essential criteria

Extensive breadth and depth of major project delivery experience, having led multiple programmes across all project phases a number of times, and performed a variety of project leadership roles
Proven evidence of successful delivery in terms of complexity of what has been delivered and the scale of challenge
Significant experience of performing at high level over a sustained period of time, in a large organisation which has a complex operating environment, where there is uncertainty and continual change
Significant experience of leading organisational change and creating a legacy beyond a particular programme or project
Significant experience of building productive and collaborative working relationships with internal and external senior stakeholders in order to arrive at mutually acceptable solutions to business issues

Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

Ability to think strategically and respond quickly to complex changing circumstances and high-pressure situations, maintaining a clear view of overall project priorities
Comfortable making decisions and setting direction without having the full picture and can refocus as details emerge
Credible and persuasive, commanding the confidence of senior stakeholders
Displays professional courage with the confidence and authority to articulate, challenge, explain and justify decisions to senior stakeholders
Remaining resilient in the face of extraordinary pressure
Sophisticated appreciation of how to work effectively at the public/private interface with strong commercial nous and understanding
Ability to influence, persuade and motivate others
Building and maintaining constructive working relationships with appropriate stakeholders/contacts
Working collaboratively

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience of motivating, enabling and empowering teams to deliver
First class experience of modelling exemplary leadership skills and behaviours, communicating an organisational purpose and leading highly engaged teams

The NHSBSA is passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive organisation, which is a great place to work and truly reflects the diversity of our customers. We welcome applications from talented people of diverse characteristics including age, disability, gender identity and expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any marginalised group. We also welcome applications from all those in the Armed Forces Community.

At the NHSBSA we pride ourselves on being a Disability Confident Leader, Stonewall Top 100 employer and we’ve recently been awarded the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion Gold Standard benchmark.

We offer an invitation to the first stage of the selection process for people with disabilities that wish to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme, and for members of the Armed Forces Community, where all of the essential criteria in the person specification are met.

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