Managing Consultant - Solutions Architect

NHS South, Central and West; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization dedicated to transforming health and care services. As a Solutions Architect, you will lead technical projects and foster relationships with key stakeholders to drive impactful change. This role is perfect for those who thrive in dynamic environments and are passionate about making a difference in healthcare. With a focus on collaboration and innovation, you will play a pivotal role in delivering quality services and supporting the continuous improvement of health outcomes. If you are ready to take on a challenging yet rewarding position, this opportunity awaits you!

Benefits

Career Development Manager

Flexible Working Hours

Professional Development Opportunities

Inclusive Work Environment

Qualifications

• Educated to master's level or equivalent with senior-level experience.
• Demonstrable leadership in significant transformation programmes.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership to architecture projects for clients.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and lead discussions on risks.

Skills

Stakeholder Management

Negotiation Skills

Analytical Skills

Presentation Skills

Project Management

Problem Solving

Financial Management

IT Skills

Leadership

Change Management

Education

Master's Degree or Equivalent Experience

Post-qualifying Professional Development

Membership in Relevant Professional Body

Tools

MS Office

Prince 2

Managing Successful Programmes

Job description

NHS South Central and West Commissioning Support Unit

South Central and West (SCW) is a leading provider of transformation and consultancy services across health and social care at a national, regional, and local level. The Transformation team provides high-quality, expert support to NHS organisations and partners to manage, analyse and improve performance, transforming the way services are provided for local populations.

Our customers include NHS England, ICSs/ICBs, provider trusts, general practices, and numerous social care, community care, and voluntary sector organisations.

If you are passionate about transforming health and care and have the desire to become part of our team, we have an exciting opportunity for you to join us.

The primary aim of the Solutions Architect is to provide technical leadership to solutions architecture projects/assignments for one or more clients, or a single more complex area. The Solutions Architect will build relationships with senior stakeholders, be proactive in identifying opportunities, support multiple architecture projects or programmes, and find emerging technologies and approaches.

This role can be delivered in a flexible hybrid way with any travel, site visits, or meetings arranged by agreement on a very occasional basis.

Main duties of the job

1. Able to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information where highly developed negotiating and influencing skills are required.
2. Able to negotiate on difficult and controversial issues including performance and change with a range of stakeholders.
3. Able to give formal presentations to large groups of stakeholders using a range of presentation tools.
4. Able to manage stakeholder expectations and host, or mediate discussions about risk, complexities and programme/project constraints.
5. Strong stakeholder management skills at all levels, creatively combining formal and informal communication channels to achieve desired results.
6. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to support evidence-based change, including being able to systematically follow, review and analyse data.
7. An innovative and strategic thinker, able to define and identify required data to support successful implementation of business change activities.
8. Advanced IT and keyboard skills on a range of systems including MS Office and other software systems.
9. Ability to make decisions autonomously on difficult issues, working to tight and often changing timescales and within financial constraints.
10. Able to plan and prioritise own work effectively across a range of complex activities and direct the activities of others, changing plans as required.

About us

This role sits within the Transformation Directorate, which has approximately 250 people working across a range of professional disciplines within the transformation and consultancy space. The post holder will be allocated a Career Development Manager to support them pastorally and to support them on their career journey, and they will report into an Assignment Manager for each project they are assigned to.

The post holder will play an essential part in the effective delivery of impactful projects and consultancy assignments across health and care. We are an inclusive and diverse team, and collaboration is at the heart of how we work. The team has grown rapidly over the last couple of years in response to increasing customer demand and due to the committed and hard-working nature of the team, for which personal development is important.

The post holder will share the ethos and values of SCW and will be able to bring the skills, experience, and subject matter expertise they have developed in their career to support the team to deliver quality services.

This role will involve travel across the South of England and potentially further afield.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the job description and person specification for further details and information regarding this role.

Person Specification

Values & Behaviours

• Aspirational
• Insightful
• Respectful

Education

• Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in a specialist area; equivalent experience needs to be demonstrable leadership/delivery of significant transformation programmes.
• Evidence of post-qualifying and continuing professional development.
• Member of a relevant professional body.

Knowledge & Experience

• Demonstrable success in the planning and delivery of complex, multi-stakeholder significant transformation programmes.
• Minimum of five years' experience of managing and motivating a team and reviewing the performance of individuals.
• Comprehensive experience of the use of project principles, techniques, and tools such as Prince 2 and programme management principles using Managing Successful Programmes.
• Demonstrable ability to manage budgets, involved in budget setting, bid building, achieving financial targets, and working knowledge of financial processes.
• Demonstrable senior management level experience within a health and care setting; this can be within the Public Sector or a Commercial Environment.
• Minimum of five years' experience of leading significant transformation programmes of work; this can include products and projects as well as programmes of work.
• A thorough understanding of the health and social care environment and roles and responsibilities within it.
• Experienced in leading/delivery of procurements for new programmes of work/new services.
• Experienced in the delivery of business cases to support investment in complex programmes.

Skills & Capabilities

• Must be able to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information, negotiate with senior stakeholders/customers and external technology suppliers on difficult and controversial issues, and present complex and sensitive information to large and influential groups/customers.
• Negotiate on difficult and controversial issues including performance and change, contractual or financial matters.
• Problem-solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands.
• Must be able to prioritise own work effectively and be able to direct activities of others.
• Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues, working to tight and often changing timescales and within financial constraints. Emotionally resilient, able to work in a pressured environment and deliver difficult messages to colleagues and customers.
• Understanding of and commitment to equality and diversity of opportunity and good working relationships.
• Responsible for deciding on the approach needed to implement policy and change across national and local health and care organisations. They will advise customers and senior stakeholders on how to implement the change and manage delivery programmes to meet the objectives. They will lead and develop procedures to implement complex change across multiple systems and for national programmes which have a significant impact for the public and ensure compliance with the required policies (national and local).
• Demonstrates a strong desire to improve performance and make a difference by focusing on goals.
• Demonstrates capability to plan over short, medium, and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
• Has strong domain knowledge of the requirements that need to be undertaken to deliver service redesign and transformational change.
• Provides and receives highly complex information and has to represent this and communicate for the appropriate stakeholder audience. This includes internal and external stakeholders across a range of health and care organisations at national and local level. Information can be sensitive and/or contentious and needs to be understood and re-presented by using the most appropriate communication channels and formats. The postholder needs to have excellent presentation skills and be able to present to large audience groups. They will need to field and manage questions in relation to new strategies and when imparting highly contentious information to implement a major change. Delivery of information will need to be managed sensitively and appropriately depending on the change to be implemented. There is a need to manage complex relationships which require mature negotiation and diplomacy skills across all stakeholders. The postholder will need excellent writing skills and be able to produce strategy and policy documentation and guidance documents suitable for a range of stakeholders.

Employer name

NHS South Central and West Commissioning Support Unit