Delivery Lead - Adults

Dorset Council UK; Dorchester; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Dorset Council is seeking an experienced Delivery Lead for Adults to shape and deliver transformation across Adult Social Care. You’ll lead multi‑disciplinary teams, design services that are person‑centred, digitally enabled and sustainable, and balance strategic ambition with incremental delivery in a complex public sector setting.

You’ll work with NHS partners, local authorities and VCSEs, using agile, product‑led and co‑production approaches to drive measurable outcomes and lasting change.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading large-scale transformation programmes within adult social care, health or integrated care settings.
• Strong understanding of Adult Social Care operations, service delivery and strategic priorities.
• Experience of designing and delivering organisational and service change using agile, iterative or product‑led approaches.
• Experience of leading service redesign, pathway improvement and transformation programmes that deliver measurable outcomes.
• Strong programme leadership skills including governance, financial oversight, risk management and benefits realisation.

Responsibilities

• Lead a diverse portfolio of adult social care transformation and service redesign initiatives aligned to Dorset Council's priorities.
• Drive delivery through agile, iterative and product‑led approaches, enabling teams to test, learn and adapt.
• Lead discovery, service design and transformation activity to improve pathways, enhance user experience and deliver better outcomes.
• Champion co‑production, ensuring people with lived experience, carers and frontline practitioners shape the design and delivery of services.
• Support the delivery of the Adult Social Care strategy and wider transformation ambitions through innovation, digital enablement and continuous improvement.
• Develop delivery roadmaps and transformation approaches that balance long‑term strategic ambitions with incremental delivery of value.
• Lead complex programmes with governance, resources, risks, dependencies and benefits realisation.
• Use evidence and user feedback to inform decision‑making and measure impact.

Job description

Help shape the future of adult social care in Dorset.

Few transformation roles offer the opportunity to improve lives at this scale. As Delivery Lead for Adults, you'll lead some of Dorset Council's most important transformation programmes, helping to redesign services that support people to live independent, fulfilling lives while ensuring adult social care remains sustainable for the future.

Working at the heart of our Transformation Management Office, you'll drive the design and delivery of complex change across Adult Social Care. You'll work with operational teams, practitioners, senior leaders, NHS partners, voluntary and community organisations, and people with lived experience to create services that are person-centred, digitally enabled and focused on prevention.

At Dorset Council, we're delivering an ambitious transformation agenda that is reshaping how we support residents, deliver services and make best use of digital, data and technology. We're looking for an experienced and inspirational leader who can turn strategic ambition into practical delivery, bringing together people, technology and innovation to improve outcomes for adults and communities.

This role is different from traditional programme delivery. We believe the best transformation happens through continuous improvement rather than large, one-off projects. We're looking for someone who can create the conditions for testing, learning and adapting, helping services move from ideas to action and delivering value early and often. You'll use agile, product‑led and user‑centred approaches to redesign services around the needs of residents, carers and practitioners.

You’ll lead transformation spanning service redesign, commissioning, workforce modernisation, digital enablement, process improvement and integrated working across the health and care system. You’ll help ensure Dorset Council remains at the forefront of ethical, inclusive and digitally enabled care while retaining a strong focus on human relationships and lived experience.

As a key member of the Transformation Management Office Leadership Team, you’ll help shape Dorset Council's future approach to transformation, champion product thinking and continuous improvement, and build organisational capability that enables lasting change long after programmes have closed.

This is a highly visible leadership role with significant influence over the future of adult social care across Dorset. If you're motivated by improving outcomes, reducing inequalities, modernising services and delivering meaningful change for residents, we'd love to hear from you.

What You Will Do

• Lead a diverse portfolio of adult social care transformation and service redesign initiatives aligned to Dorset Council's strategic priorities.


• Drive delivery through agile, iterative and product‑led approaches, enabling teams to test, learn and adapt as programmes evolve.


• Lead discovery, service design and transformation activity to improve pathways, enhance user experience and deliver better outcomes.


• Champion co‑production, ensuring people with lived experience, carers and frontline practitioners shape the design and delivery of services.


• Support the delivery of the Adult Social Care strategy and wider transformation ambitions through innovation, digital enablement and continuous improvement.


• Develop delivery roadmaps and transformation approaches that balance long‑term strategic ambitions with incremental delivery of value.


• Lead complex programmes, managing governance, resources, risks, dependencies and benefits realisation.


• Use evidence, operational insight and user feedback to inform decision‑making and measure impact.


• Build strong relationships with Adult Social Care teams, NHS partners, VCSE organisations and other stakeholders to support integrated delivery.


• Translate policy, strategy and regulatory requirements into practical service improvements that enhance outcomes and sustainability.


• Lead, support and develop programme, project, change and transformation resources working across multiple initiatives.


• Help develop organisational capability in transformation, agile delivery, service design and continuous improvement.

About You

You’ll be an experienced transformation leader with a proven track record of delivering complex change in adult social care, health or related public sector environments.

You'll Bring

• Significant experience leading large-scale transformation programmes within adult social care, health or integrated care settings.


• Strong understanding of Adult Social Care operations, service delivery and strategic priorities.


• Experience of designing and delivering organisational and service change using agile, iterative or product‑led approaches.


• A strong understanding of service design, transformation, organisational development and digital enablement.


• Experience of leading service redesign, pathway improvement and transformation programmes that deliver measurable outcomes.


• A track record of balancing strategic vision with practical delivery and creating momentum through incremental change.


• Strong knowledge of key adult social care legislation, policy and regulatory frameworks, including the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and CQC assurance requirements.


• Experience of working collaboratively with local authority services, NHS organisations and wider system partners.


• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders, practitioners, partners and elected members.


• Experience of leading co‑production and engagement activity with people who use services and carers.


• Strong programme leadership skills including governance, financial oversight, risk management and benefits realisation.


• A collaborative, inclusive and outcomes‑focused leadership style.


• The resilience, curiosity and systems‑thinking mindset needed to navigate complexity and create lasting change.

Why join us?

You’ll be joining a progressive Transformation Management Office that is helping Dorset Council rethink how local government and social care services are designed and delivered.

You’ll have the opportunity to influence services used by thousands of residents, work alongside committed professionals and system partners, and help create an Adult Social Care system that is more preventative, more connected, more responsive and better equipped for the future.

If you’re excited by transforming adult social care, improving outcomes through innovation and delivering meaningful change at scale, we’d love to hear from you.

We support flexible and hybrid ways of working. As a key leadership role, regular attendance at our offices in Dorchester and other Dorset locations is expected. You should anticipate being office‑based and working alongside services, partners and stakeholders on a regular basis, typically at least two days per week.