Commissioning Manager (Mental Health, Learning Disability, ADHD)

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board; Maidstone; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board in Maidstone is seeking a senior Adult Mental Health commissioning leader to plan, deliver and evaluate services for adults with mental health needs across the system. You will lead strategy, engage senior stakeholders, and drive performance improvements in autism and ADHD care as part of the ICB.

The role requires extensive NHS experience, governance expertise, and the ability to operate across organisational boundaries.

Qualifications

• Masters level degree or equivalent senior level experience.
• Post qualifying and continuing professional development.
• Experience with governance and assurance frameworks.
• Experience working in NHS, public sector or regulated environments.
• Experience working across organisational boundaries.
• Ability to negotiate with senior stakeholders on difficult issues.
• Commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for commissioning and performance of a defined portfolio of MH services in line with ICB and national strategies and policies.
• Leads on development of defined areas of the strategy, needs assessments, commissioning policies, commissioning intentions and planning processes in those defined areas, working across the MHLDA team.
• Ensures the services being commissioned in the defined portfolio meet the needs of KM, working closely with a wide range of colleagues to ensure integration.
• Manages the budget and contracts for a significant defined portfolio of MH services, ensuring PSR-compliance, delivering VFM and managing performance of providers against the contract.
• Owner of some strategic relationships with Local Government leads and other key partners on MH, formulating and delivering against a joint commissioning strategy.
• Ensures delivery of defined ICB Statutory duties on MH
• Responsible for supporting defined parts of the planning cycle and assurance of progress and outcomes
• Works across the wider team to share and manage workload across the team flexibly.

Skills

Senior leadership

NHS experience

Stakeholder negotiation

Governance & assurance

Equality & inclusion

Cross-organisational collaboration

Education

Masters degree or equivalent

Job description

Main area Mental Health, Learning Disability, Autism and ADHD Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 095-8331622-TS-A

Employer NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board Employer type NHS Site Gail House Town Maidstone Salary £57,528 - £64,750 pro rata, per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 20/11/2026 23:59

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Job overview

The Adult Mental Health Commissioning Manager is a senior commissioning role responsible for supporting the planning, delivery, and performance management of adult mental health services across the Integrated Care System. Working under the direction of the Adult Mental Health Senior Programme Manager/Director, the post holder leads defined areas of commissioning activity including all age autism and ADHD , contributing to service improvement, transformation, and delivery of national and local mental health priorities.

The role provides expert commissioning support, translating national mental health policy and local strategies into operational commissioning plans, managing provider relationships and contracts, and supporting service redesign to improve access, quality, and outcomes for adults with mental health needs. The post holder plays a key role in using data and insight to monitor performance, address unwarranted variation, reduce inequalities, and ensure effective delivery of adult mental health priorities in line with the ICB’s objectives, values, and statutory responsibilities.

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for commissioning and performance of a defined portfolio of MH services in line with ICB and national strategies and policies and using an MDT approach
• Leads on development of defined areas of the strategy, needs assessments, commissioning policies, commissioning intentions and planning processes in those defined areas, working across the MHLDA team
• Ensures the services being commissioned in the defined portfolio meet the needs of in KM, working closely with a wide range of colleagues to ensure integration.
• Manages the budget and contracts for a significant defined portfolio of MH services, ensuring PSR-compliance, delivering VFM and managing performance of providers against the contract.
• Owner of some strategic relationships with Local Government leads and other key partners on MH, formulating and delivering against a joint commissioning strategy.
• Ensures delivery of defined ICB Statutory duties on MH
• Responsible for supporting defined parts of the planning cycle and assurance of progress and outcomes
• Works across the wider team to share and manage workload across the team flexibly.

Working for our organisation

We are committed to a culture that supports all staff at NHS Kent and Medway to be the best version of themselves.

Our ability to improve outcomes for our population depends on how effectively clinical, operational, financial and strategic professionals work together to make informed commissioning decisions. That’s why our workforce works a minimum of two days-a-week on-site, with the expectation that all one-to-ones are held face-to-face and that colleagues will regularly visit the services we are commissioning to understand more about them.

We believe regular on-site working supports stronger collaboration, faster problem-solving, peer learning, visible leadership and the integration of colleagues into our organisation. We also know that culture is built through shared experiences and day-to-day interactions.

We are a flexible working friendly organisation; we aim to support you to work flexibly in a way that will suit you and us.

We work with staff to agree objectives through regular supervision, annual appraisal and access to training opportunities.

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity. In order to reflect the diversity of our population, we positively encourage applications from all areas of the community regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this.

Person specification

Qualifications and Experience

• Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area.
• Evidence of post qualifying and continuing professional development.
• Experience of operating within governance and assurance frameworks
• Experience working within NHS, public sector or a regulated environment
• Experience of working across organisational or systems boundaries
• Must be able to provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information, negotiate with senior stakeholders on difficult and controversial issues, and present complex and sensitive information to large and influential groups.
• Needs to have a thorough understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships both in terms of day-to-day working practices, but also in relation to management systems for the south east
• Negotiate on difficult and controversial issues including performance and change