Lead Delivery Manager

NHS England; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 92,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Competitive salary

Job summary

NHS England is seeking experienced Delivery Managers to lead a portfolio of AI-enabled, data-led digital products and services. You will manage multidisciplinary teams to deliver value from discovery to live operation, using agile and lean practices.

The role requires strong delivery leadership, stakeholder collaboration and risk management to ensure safe, compliant, and value-driven outcomes across health and care systems.

Qualifications

• Master’s level or equivalent qualification or delivery experience.
• Proven experience delivering agile and lean delivery in multidisciplinary teams.
• Knowledge of AI-enabled and data-driven transformation.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery across a portfolio of AI-enabled, data-led and digital products or services from discovery through to live operation.
• Enable multidisciplinary teams to deliver value using agile, lean and user-centred ways of working.
• Work with product, clinical, operational, technical and supplier stakeholders to turn priorities into clear delivery plans and roadmaps.
• Manage delivery plans, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, blockers and performance reporting.
• Support products and services through governance, assurance and approval processes.
• Ensure appropriate consideration of clinical safety, information governance, cyber security, accessibility, responsible AI, adoption and live-service support.

Skills

Planning & organising

Impediment removal

Stakeholder management

Education

Master’s level or equivalent

Job description

You can search for job vacancies at NHS England using the search below or by visitingNHS Jobs .

We are 1.3 million strong
We are from all walks of life
We are the NHS

And you could be too.

The NHS offers many different roles, in different settings, with different ways of working, within hundreds of organisations.

This creates a unique opportunity for people who want a varied, flexible and challenging career within a world-class culture.

You can search for job vacancies at NHS England using the search below or by visitingNHS Jobs .

If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, you can explore over 350 careers, compare specific opportunities and take the find a career quiz on theHealth Careers website .

Anyone working in any part of the NHS should feel part of a team where we bring out the very best in one another – inspiring each and every person and unleashing potential.

Main area Digital Services Delivery Group - Delivery Grade NHS AfC: Band 8c Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working

37.5 hours per week Job ref 990-TDD-D&A-EC3999-EC372-E

Site Any NHSE site Town National Salary £79,504 - £91,609 per annum (exclusive of London weighting) Salary period Yearly Closing 31/08/2026 23:59

We support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you and your colleagues. 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.

Job overview

The 10 Year Health Plan delivers one of the most seismic shifts in the history of the health service. It sets out how the NHS must change to create a truly modern health service, designed to meet the needs of our changing population. The Lead Delivery Managers will provide senior delivery leadership across a portfolio of complex AI-enabled, data-led and digital transformation products and services that will bring about that change. The post holders will lead multidisciplinary teams to deliver safe, useful and sustainable solutions that support operational improvement, clinical workflow transformation, better decision-making and improved outcomes across health and care. The roles will involve managing delivery from discovery and feasibility through development, testing, pilot, adoption, scale and transition into live operation. The post holders will work with product, clinical, operational, technical, data, engineering, user-centred design, assurance, information governance, cyber, commercial, supplier and frontline teams to ensure delivery is user-centred, safe, compliant and focused on measurable benefits.

Main duties of the job

• Lead delivery across a portfolio of AI-enabled, data-led and digital products or services from discovery through to live operation.
• Enable multidisciplinary teams to deliver value using agile, lean and user-centred ways of working.
• Work with product, clinical, operational, technical and supplier stakeholders to turn priorities and user needs into clear delivery plans, roadmaps and success measures.
• Manage delivery plans, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, blockers and performance reporting across multiple workstreams.
• Support products and services through governance, assurance and approval processes.
• Ensure appropriate consideration of clinical safety, information governance, cyber security, accessibility, responsible AI, adoption and live-service support.
• Manage delivery risks associated with AI-enabled and data-led products, including data readiness, model performance, user trust, monitoring and operational readiness.
• Coordinate stakeholders across health and care organisations, suppliers and partner teams to support implementation, adoption and continuous improvement.
• Build and sustain effective multidisciplinary teams, adapting team structures and ways of working to meet delivery needs.

Working for our organisation

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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holders will bring strong agile and lean delivery expertise, experience managing complex delivery across multiple teams or workstreams, and sufficient AI, data and digital literacy to understand the delivery implications of data readiness, responsible AI, clinical safety, governance, adoption, monitoring and live-service support. They will create the conditions for specialist teams to deliver responsibly, transparently and at pace in a complex regulated environment. Other duties will include;

• Coaching and supporting Delivery Managers and teams to improve agile maturity, delivery confidence and consistency of practice.
• Building strong relationships with suppliers and stakeholders, ensuring delivery remains aligned to agreed priorities and outcomes.
• Communicating complex information clearly to technical and non-technical audiences through reports, governance updates and presentations.
• Supporting benefits realisation, transitioning into live service and continuous improvement.
• Leading lasting improvement in agile, lean and user-centred delivery practice across teams and partner organisations.

You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, and person specification in the attached Job Description and assignment briefs. We are looking for candidates who can evidence the essential criteria. Please ensure your supporting statement includes demonstratable evidence and specific examples on how you meet the criteria for each of the key skills specified. It would be advantageous if candidates also have one or more of the desirable knowledge and experience. This will be used in both the shortlisting and interview processes.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Educated to master’s level or equivalent qualification/delivery experience.

Skills

• Planning and organising a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances.
• Removing impediments and blockers that get in the way of delivery. Actively addressing complex risks, issues and dependencies, including those where no clear ownership exists and often identifying innovative ways to unblock issues. Ability to make and justify contentious and risky decisions related to delivery.
• Managing a broad range of diverse stakeholders, understanding their needs, managing expectations and building consensus. Ability to facilitate discussions about high risk and complexity within constrained timescales

Experience

• Extensive experience of applying agile values and principles (from the agile manifesto) and lean thinking into practice to enable a multi-disciplinary user-centred development team and/or team of teams, to successfully deliver value through digital features or a product or service
• Proven experience delivering change and continuous improvement initiatives supported by technology, with a strong understanding of wider transformation activities, risk management and maintaining service

Knowledge

• Knowledge and experience of delivering AI-enabled and data-driven transformation, translating opportunities into clear plans, outcomes and sustainable services.
• Knowledge and experience of governing, assuring and managing risks associated with AI-enabled products, ensuring safe, compliant and effective adoption in a regulated environment.
• Practitioner-level understanding of operational and clinical workflows across care settings, with the ability to identify process optimisation opportunities and articulate a compelling case for change, including risks, benefits and strategic outcomes.

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. 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 ensure all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process. This includes considering 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 how you meet the requirements of the role. While we appreciate you may have had some support with your application (for example, using AI technology or guidance from a trusted individual), it’s important all the information you provide in it reflects your own knowledge, skills and experience and we trust that you apply on that basis.

If you’re applying for this role on a secondment basis, please get agreement from your current line manager before you apply.

We don’t accept applications via recruitment agencies, and we cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.

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.

NHS Business Services Authority is responsible for processing your application; our privacy can be accessed directly on the application page when you select to apply.

If you are appointed to a post, your information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

If you have a query about your application, please contact the recruitment team: [e-mail] or 0300 330 1369.

NHS England

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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