Job vacancy: Deputy Director Delivery Strategy, NHS England, Nationally

Job summary

Main area: Delivery Strategy
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 9
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 990-NHP-18549-I-E

Employer: NHS England
Employer type: NHS
Site: This role can be based in any NHSE Office. You will be expected to attend the office for 40% of your time.
Town: Nationally
Salary: £109,179 - £125,637 per annum (exclusive of London Weighting)
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 18/01/2026 23:59

Deputy Director Delivery Strategy

NHS AfC: Band 9

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.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Educated to Masters or equivalent level, or equivalent experience of working at a senior level in a relevant specialist area
Qualification in Business Case development such as Better Business Cases qualification or equivalent direct experience
Evidence of post-qualifying and continuing professional development

Desirable criteria

Additional management qualification or specialist qualification at post graduate level, or equivalent experience (e.g., Project/Programme Management, Business Administration, Public Policy)
Project or programme management qualification (e.g., PRINCE2, MSP, APM).

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Proven senior leadership experience in a large-scale, complex programme or project delivery environment, preferably within public sector infrastructure
Extensive, demonstrable experience in the end-to-end business case process (SOC, OBC, FBC), with a strong understanding of HM Treasury Green Book guidance.
Deep knowledge and practical experience of establishing and leading Continuous Improvement and Knowledge Management systems
Significant experience in strategic planning and the development of long-term implementation strategies for a major portfolio
A proven track record of engaging and influencing senior stakeholders

Desirable criteria

Direct experience within the health sector, or major government capital projects
Specific experience in the setup and mobilisation of new projects or schemes within larger programmes
Experience of working within or closely with the NHS, understanding the structure and operational pressures of NHS Trusts

Skills

Essential criteria

Ability to think conceptually and develop a compelling, coherent long-term strategy that aligns with programme-wide goals
Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to empower, motivate, and drive consistency across a complex landscape. A confident and credible client-side representative
Strong analytical skills to interpret complex data, assess scheme readiness, and identify systematic issues to drive improvement
Skilled in building trusted partnerships and co-creating solutions with diverse internal and external teams
Highly resilient, with the ability to operate effectively in a high-pressure, politically sensitive environment and adapt to ambiguity

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