Job vacancy: Head of ICT Function (Infrastructure Operations), NHS England, Leeds/ London/Exeter

Job summary

Main area: Infrastructure Services
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 8d
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Colleagues are expected to spend at least 40% of their time working in-person)
Job ref: 990-TDD-TS-EC756-E

Employer: NHS England
Employer type: NHS
Site: Wellington Place/Wellington House/ Hexagon House
Town: Leeds/ London/Exeter
Salary: £96,822.52 - £111,657.22 Per annum Includes a RRP payment of 6% Excluding London Weighting
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 17/03/2026 23:59

Head of ICT Function (Infrastructure Operations)

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, organisational structure, recruitment profile, expected outcomes and benefits information in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

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 security clearance level already, however, failure to achieve the requirements for security clearance level 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.’

For further information on National Security Vetting please check National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK, information on the Security Vetting and Clearances Intranet page or contact [email protected].

Person specification

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

Extensive knowledge of managing the operations required to support system hosting environments
Experience with infrastructure solutions and platforms, including VMWare, AWS, and Azure
Strong understanding of Financial Management principles, and controls
Deeply curious with a strong desire to continuously learn, improve and understand the technology driving the industry and how it can unlock value for our customers

Skills

Essential criteria

Proven ability and experience of demonstrating strong credible, professional leadership skills including the provision of clear direction, developing strategic goals and objectives, motivating and inspiring others to overcome obstacles of delivery, and providing a culture of empowerment, accountability and recognition.
Experienced in identifying and documenting both functional and non-functional requirements for a large-scale solutions, functional changes, and transformation projects.
Demonstrable evidence of leading review meetings for contracts and suppliers and liaising with supplier senior technical staff and establishing supplier respect for NHS England technical staff
Highly analytical with a structured and methodical approach to problem solving and able to translate and interpret large amounts of data

Qualifications

Essential criteria

ITIL V3 or V4 Foundation
Significant evidence of continued professional development

Interpersonal Skills

Essential criteria

Proven ability to capture and disseminate technical and business information

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Essential criteria

Proven ability to act as a role model and seeks out opportunities to promote equality and diversity to the team and stakeholders

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.

Please note that we cannot offer visa sponsorship for any of our vacancies.

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 can be accessed directly on the application page when you select to apply.

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.

NHS England