Job summary
- Main area
- Directors
- Grade
- Medical Leader Level 2
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job ref
- 990-EOE-19770-E
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Victoria House
- Town
- Cambridge
- Salary
- £135,000 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 10/02/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 04/03/2026
Employer heading
Medical Director Specialised Commissioning
Medical Leader Level 2
Our Organisation
The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.
As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.
As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
We are an accredited Living Wage Employer which means that every colleague working for our organisation and third-party contractors will earn a real Living Wage. We are one of over 15,000 organisations, who voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage.
Job overview
The NHS England, East of England, Medical Directorate wishes to appoint a Medical Director for Commissioning and System Improvement. This is a key leadership role in the regional health system. In conjunction with other leaders, from across the professional spectrum, the key responsibility of the post is the delivery of high-quality clinical services for the population of the East of England. This job comprises one part-time role covering Commissioning, Specialised Services, Health and Justice, and one part-time role covering Medical Director, System Improvement (Approx 0.5WTE per role, negotiable)
The NHSE, East of England regional team supports local Integrated Care Systems (ICS) who play a major leadership role in the geographies they serve. Our role is to assure the care provided, support system transformation and to secure ongoing improvement in clinical outcomes and patient experience.
The post holder will be accountable to the Regional Medical Director (RMD) who is also the Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO). The post holder will provide professional and clinical leadership to regional and local networks of clinicians. They will support local health systems to achieve improvements in care and in collaboration with the regional Nursing team and other Directorates will provide assurance of the safety and quality of services.
Main duties of the job
We are seeking an exceptional candidate who is medically qualified with a current licence to practice. The successful candidate will demonstrate proven senior level, leadership experience working as a board director or equivalent within an NHS organisation. They will also have a track record demonstrating the delivery of quality improvement projects or programmes.
Main duties of the job
- This job comprises one part-time role covering Commissioning, Specialised Services, Health and Justice, and one part-time role covering Medical Director, System Improvement (Approx 0.5WTE per role, negotiable)
- Providing system leadership and clinical improvement advice to support local healthcare system resilience, with a focus on patient safety and high-quality care.
- Engage with clinical leaders across commissioning organisations in the region, to ensure a whole pathway approach to optimising overall clinical outcomes and resource use.
- Engage with clinical leaders across providers in the region to improve outcomes through collaboration and through ensuring providers understand commissioning requirements and can inform future commissioning priorities.
- Work closely with the Strategic Clinical Networks, the Senate and Operational Delivery Networks across the region to ensure that their resources and clinical leadership capacity are appropriately used to support and inform direct commissioning.
Working for our organisation
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.
We lead the NHS in England by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where people can develop and make a difference
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money
Earlier this year, the Government announced that NHS England will gradually merge with the Department of Health and Social Care, to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and waste.
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-person.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Main duties of the job continued:
- To ensure appropriate public health advice is sought in respect of direct commissioning.
- Provide clinical leadership for a range of other relevant functions and support the quality improvement of health and healthcare, including research and development, innovation and evidence-based practice.
- Support the RMD/CCIO and Regional Chief Nurse in the delivery of regional quality surveillance and assurance for NHS healthcare providers and the independent sector.
- Support the RMD/CCIO in working with the regional Chief Operating Officer in the oversight, planning and delivery of regional planned and unplanned care.
- Provide professional and clinical leadership including addressing professional performance issues including complaints, untoward incidents and poor performance, whilst promoting whole system working.
- Work collaboratively with the multi professional members of the medical directorate.
- Provide support to the Regional Gold on call rota.
- Provide medical oversight for ICS through Regional System Co-ordination functions.
- Supporting the region effectively with specific areas of work requiring a secondary care perspective and clinical leadership.
- Supporting effective system leadership across the region within secondary care and supporting the development of clinical leadership skills.
You can find further details about the job, organisational structure, recruitment profile, expected outcomes and benefits information in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Full GMC registration
Experience
Essential criteria
- Proven senior level experience working as a board director or equivalent within an NHS organisation and have a track record of delivery of quality improvement projects or programmes.
- Experience of interfacing with external agencies at a senior level and expert knowledge of the commissioning and provision of healthcare.
- Experience of contributing to the development, articulation, and implementation of a comprehensive medium/long-term strategy.
- Knowledge and experience of commissioning of healthcare services within the current NHS context.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Evidence of effective clinical leadership within secondary care or equivalent community/independent sector environments.
- Evidence of effective prior teamworking in clinical commissioning.
- Good understanding of health system dynamics and policy with knowledge of quality in healthcare.
- Experience of providing mentorship and professional development of others at a senior level.
Values and Behaviours
Essential criteria
- A demonstrable interest in health and social care and a strong desire to achieve the best sustainable outcomes for our population.
- Current evidence and thinking on practices which reduce health inequality, improve patient access and the safety of care.
- Demonstrable experience of effective use of public health data to improve outcomes of care.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Edward Morris
- Job title
- Regional Medical Director & CCIO
- Email address
- [email protected]
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