Head of Planning and PMO

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent NHS organization in Bristol seeks a Head of Planning and Programme Management Office to lead a new Programme Management Office. Candidates should possess significant management experience in the NHS and strong project management skills. The role involves ensuring project delivery, optimizing resources, and managing stakeholder relations. We offer opportunities for remote working, and the ideal candidate will have a track record of leading diverse teams in a health or life science background.

Benefits

Agile working opportunities

Opportunity for remote work

Dynamic and vibrant team environment

Qualifications

• Significant management experience in the NHS.
• Experience of leading a PMO function.
• Knowledge of change management and service improvement methods.

Responsibilities

• Design and manage a new Programme Management Office.
• Ensure effective planning, delivery, and evaluation of all projects.
• Support the senior executive team in managing all project activity.

Skills

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Highly developed motivational and influencing skills

Excellent interpersonal skills

Able to work independently and manage time

Education

APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ)

Masters degree or equivalent experience

MSP qualification

Tools

Verto

Zoho systems

Job description

Head of Planning and Programme Management Office - HIWE

The closing date is 23 January 2026

It’s never been more important to harness the potential for innovation to transform health and care services. Health Innovation Networks were established 10 years ago as the innovation arm of the NHS, both locally with our system partners and working together nationally as a HIN Network.

are appointing for a new role of Head of Planning and Programme Management Office. An experienced leader from a health or life science background, you will have a strong track record in project and programme management and associated governance together with an ability to juggle a complex and diverse portfolio.

We are a small team, and you will be close to the delivery of our work with an ability to lead and motivate a team of highly skilled innovators and improvers at the top of their game. We serve a range of organisations in the West of England health and wealth ecosystem with a geography that spans three Integrated Care Systems with a combined population of 2.5 million. At the heart of our operating model is our local innovation pipeline that drives the discovery, development and deployment of innovations responding to local system priorities. Working as key support to our executive team in this important post, you will support and play a lead role to all aspects of planning, performance and programme and project management.

Main duties of the job

Design, implement and manage a new Programme Management Office (PMO) to ensure effective planning, delivery and evaluation of all projects that make up the organisation's programmes of work linked to the Health Innovation Network's agenda for Innovation, Improvement and Patient Safety.

Additionally, design and manage processes for collecting management information to support annual business planning and the reporting of quarterly performance to NHS England and the HIN Partnership Board.

About us

Health Innovation West of England is one of 15 Health Innovations across England, established by NHS England to spread proven health innovation at pace and scale. We connect and collaborate with our local NHS and care organisations and universities, and with industry partners, the third sector, and researchers to support transformation across whole health and social care systems, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for citizens. We are an NHS organisation and employment through the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.

With headquarters in Filton, Bristol, we support agile working including the opportunity to work from home, and welcome applications from applicants seeking remote working opportunities. You will need to be able to travel to our office base or occasionally to other locations within our geography and nationally for in-person meetings and events.

We value a workforce where people's varied backgrounds and experiences bring different perspectives and fresh ideas resulting in the development and spread of transformational innovations. We therefore welcome applications from diverse communities to ensure our team is dynamic, vibrant and reflects the populations we serve.

Find out more about the Health Innovation West of England at www.healthinnowest.net or follow @healthinnowest on LinkedIn.

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for establishing, managing and developing the Programme Management Office function and supporting and coordinating the production of annual and longer-term business plans and supporting/enabling initiatives.

The role of the Head of Programme Management Office will be to ensure that the necessary planning and resource allocation processes are in place to support the senior executive team in managing all project activity within the organisation's work programme. This will ensure:

• Appropriate sponsorship and ownership of each individual project
• A robust process to determine which initiatives put before the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) should be included within the work programme
• Effective governance and reporting is in place for each project
• Correct project documentation is completed to the required standard
• Appropriate resources are made available to successfully plan and deliver each programme of work or project including appropriate human resource either from core staffing or from the flexible register
• Arrangements are in place to manage key stakeholders effectively
• Risks and issues associated with each project are managed effectively
• Progress is monitored regularly to ensure each project delivers to its specification and that adequate resources are available to support delivery (unless specifically agreed otherwise) with a clear focus on delivering the planned outputs and realising the expected benefits
• Appropriate project closure processes are designed and followed including the capture of learnings that can be used in the scoping and planning of future projects.

Evaluation arrangements are in place to monitor benefits realisation following completion of projects within the work programme.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Training

• APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ)
• Educated to Masters degree level or equivalent level in experience and further training.
• MSP qualification or equivalent

Knowledge & Experience

• Very significant management experience in the NHS
• Experience of leading a PMO function
• Lean or other business process experience in re‑engineering methodologies at managerial and/or clinical level
• Knowledge of change management and service improvement methods
• Record of achievement of delivering objectives and finding innovative solutions to problems
• Broad experience and evidence of working in partnership with NHS organisations at all levels to deliver change and modernisation
• Expert knowledge of NHS targets, definitions and service improvement methodologies
• Experience of risk, issue and project change Management
• Experience of managing major strategic initiatives with multiple project workstreams
• Experience of working across organisational boundaries and of delivering projects across multi-disciplinary sites working with multiple stakeholders
• Experience and knowledge of the national Quality Improvement agenda including policy
• An "eye" for detail and evidence of a completer/finisher approach to delivery
• Expert user of CRM and Project software, specifically Verto and Zoho systems

Specific Skills

• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Highly developed motivational, influencing and negotiating skills with proven experience of success at senior levels of organisations and across organisations including with clinicians and directors.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively at all levels with a wide variety of stakeholders
• Able to present effectively, to a wide variety of audiences in an engaging manner that makes information clear and obtains buy‑in sometimes in the face of opposition.
• Able to work independently as required, to tight deadlines and to prioritise effectively against conflicting priorities.
• Able to work as part of a team and able to lead and direct multi‑skilled teams.
• Able to set own agenda and able to provide leadership, motivation and inspiration to facilitate collaborative working across the agenda.
• Able to formulate and implement long‑term strategic programme plans which impacts on the whole organisation including developing operational frameworks.
• Experience of collecting and interpreting information to support change programmes and the ability to use Word and Excel.
• Able to identify and assess a clear pathway through a complex situation which leads to a clear output involving a number of different parties and opinions.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Depending on experience duties may be amended pending final job matching process