Deputy Director

NHS England; Greater London; On-site; GBP 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

NHS England's Cancer Programme seeks to improve cancer outcomes by shaping national policy, driving delivery of the National Cancer Plan, and coordinating across clinical partners, regions and charities. The Deputy Director – Policy and Strategy will oversee policy development and oversee early implementation of plan commitments.

The role requires strong leadership, stakeholder engagement and a proven track record translating policy into practical delivery in complex environments.

Responsibilities

• The development of new interventions to accelerate the recent progress in the early diagnosis of cancer.
• The development and delivery of cancer manuals, to improve consistency in access to the latest cancer treatment across the country;
• Delivering our latest cancer innovation open call programme, and the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which is supporting the trialling of the next generation of cancer treatments;
• Support to people living with and beyond cancer, including in partnership with neighbourhood health services, and through the delivery of new digitally enabled patient reported outcome measures (ePROMs).
• Delivery of the programme to pilot e-safety netting for FIT in primary care.

Job description

Are you passionate about improving the lives of people with cancer? Do you want to ensure more people survive cancer than ever before? Working in NHS England’s Cancer Programme, that’s exactly what you’ll do.

We deliver system-facing leadership and support for the delivery of NHS-wide priorities for cancer covering operational performance, improving survival and wider support for people with cancer. We work with people affected by cancer, clinicians, charities, Regions, Cancer Alliances and providers, on performance and delivery that transforms services for people across the country.

As Deputy Director – Policy and Strategy within the NHS Cancer Programme, you will have responsibility for overseeing the delivery of the National Cancer Plan as a whole, as well as taking forward the policy development and early implementation of specific commitments in the Plan in relation to cancer early diagnosis and survival, innovation and the wider support to people with cancer.

The Cancer Programme Team takes its responsibility to promote equality and diversity seriously. We respect colleagues from different backgrounds and embrace different cultural preferences in everything we do.

The job title advertised is a generic title for the purposes of advertising, the successful candidate will be hired with the job title of Deputy Director Policy and Strategy

f you have excellent leadership, strategy, delivery and stakeholder skills, enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and have a strong commitment to diversity and equality, we would love to hear from you.

We’re looking for someone with a successful track record in developing and delivering national policy in complex policy and operating environments. The successful candidate will have highly-developed skills in bringing stakeholders together and in the translation of policy into practice and delivering through others.

You Will Be Responsible For

• The development of new interventions to accelerate the recent progress in the early diagnosis of cancer.
• The development and delivery of cancer manuals, to improve consistency in access to the latest cancer treatment across the country;
• Delivering our latest cancer innovation open call programme, and the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which is supporting the trialling of the next generation of cancer treatments;
• Support to people living with and beyond cancer, including in partnership with neighbourhood health services, and through the delivery of new digitally enabled patient reported outcome measures (ePROMs).
• Delivery of the programme to pilot e-safety netting for FIT in primary care.

NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.

Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.

In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.

If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.

Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.

Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.

We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Richard Brown Job title: PMO Manager Email address: [e-mail]