Job vacancy: Assistant Director of Programmes, NHS England, Leeds / Exeter / London

Job summary

Main area: Cyber Operations
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 8d
Contract: Fixed term: 12 months (until 31 October 2026 - Secondment only for current NHS Employees)
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 990-TD-CY-15016-E

Employer: NHS England
Employer type: NHS
Site: NHSE Office in Leeds / Exeter / London
Town: Leeds / Exeter / London
Salary: £91,342 - £105,337 per annum (exclusive of London Weighting)
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 16/09/2025 23:59

Assistant Director of Programmes

NHS AfC: Band 8d

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.

Detailed job description and main 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.

Please ensure your supporting statement includes demonstratable evidence and specific examples on how you meet the criteria for each of the key skills specified. This will be used in both the shortlisting and interview processes

Important: Please be aware there are residency requirements you need to meet:

All NHS England Cyber Security personnel must hold Security Clearance level as a minimum. To meet National Security Vetting requirements, SC clearances require 5 years continuous UK residency. In certain cases, this can be reduced to three years continuous UK residency, with additional overseas checks for the previous two years. Candidates who were posted abroad for service with HM Government, Armed Forces or within a UK government role - will still be considered.

Please make sure you meet these requirements before applying for this role. You don’t need to have SC already, however, failure to achieve the requirements for SC after offer will result in the job offer being withdrawn. For further advice please check https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels#security-check-sc

Please note that the reason for the fixed term of this contract is short term vacancy

Secondments

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.

Person specification

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Demonstrates experience of scoping, designing, costing and managing complex projects and programmes including the development of key performance indicators and milestones, managing conflicts, ensuring that interdependencies are managed effectively and that risks are mitigated appropriately to deliver within agreed timescales and budgets.
Demonstrates considerable experience of effectively delivering business change initiatives within the health and care system to facilitate adoption and take up of products and services across the health and care system in order to realise mutual benefits.

Desirable criteria

Demonstrates experience of writing and delivering high-level programme reports for programme boards assessing progress against milestones, status, resource requirements, issues, risks and dependencies, making recommendations on mitigation and management of risk where a range of options may exist.

Skills and Experience

Essential criteria

Demonstrates ability to communicate, engage and build successful relationships with key internal and external partners including influencing and negotiating on difficult and contentious issues which are critical in securing the strategic objectives of the programme.

Desirable criteria

Demonstrates excellent communication and presentation skills communicating at times complex, sensitive and contentious information to a wide range of potentially hostile/antagonistic audiences.

Qualifications

Essential criteria

To have one or more of the below programme /project management qualifications or equivalent level of experience: • Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner • Managing Successful Programmes Advanced Practitioner • P3O Practitioner • APM Registered Project Professional.

Our commitments to you

We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better patient outcomes. We strive to ensure our people feel trusted, valued and empowered. We’re passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow and excel, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that. We welcome your talent and enthusiasm irrespective of age, disability, neuro-divergence, sex, gender identity and gender expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability and/or who are neuro-divergent.

We welcome applications from disabled candidates. If you meet all the essential criteria, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. Whilst we appreciate that you may have had support with your application (e.g., using AI technology or guidance from a trusted individual), it’s important that the information contained within your application reflects your own knowledge, skill, and experience and we trust that you apply on that basis.

If applying for this role on a secondment basis, please make sure you have obtained prior agreement from your current line manager to apply for this position.

Please note that we currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.

To comply with the HM Government Functional Standard GovS 007, and specifically the Personnel Security Standards 2024, individuals employed or contracted by NHS England may be required to undergo a Baseline Personnel Security Standards check, dependent on the role.

The NHS Business Services Authority is responsible for the processing of your application; a privacy notice is attached to advise you on how we will process your personal data.

If you have applied via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. If you are appointed to a post, information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through NHS Jobs, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any emails sent to us via NHS Jobs. If you have a query relating to your application, please contact the recruitment team on [email protected] or 0300 330 1369. You can view our Privacy Notice here.

NHS England