Programme Director

NHS Scotland; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Flexible working

Learning and development opportunities

Job summary

Public Services Delivery Scotland is recruiting a Programme Director to lead portfolio of sustainability data, analytics, AI and innovation to provide strategic direction, professional leadership and delivery of data products and services, focused on sustainability and the circular economy.

The successful candidate will be accountable for defining a clear vision and strategy, setting priorities, making investment decisions, establishing meaningful measures of success and ensuring sustainability

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience with accountability for high-quality data services within a portfolio.
• Experience of portfolio management, setting strategic direction and translating vision into measurable outcomes, priorities and plans.
• Experience using data as evidence to generate insight and performance information to inform decisions and drive improvement.
• Experience in influencing senior stakeholders across NHS Scotland and Scottish Government boundaries.
• Ability to work across organisational boundaries with subject matter experts, NHS organisations and external partners.
• Experience developing people, building capability and creating high-performing teams.
• Experience in building consensus across organisations with different priorities.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead successfully in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Demonstrate honesty, integrity, care and compassion when dealing with others, using tact and persuasion.
• Ability to work on own initiative, organise and prioritise workloads to meet deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio of sustainability data, analytics, AI and innovation to provide strategic direction and delivery of data products and services.
• Define a clear vision and strategy, set priorities and investment decisions with meaningful measures of success.
• Lead a team to deliver sustainability data services and build future capability within the organisation.
• Play a key role in the senior management team to strengthen professional practice.
• Influence senior stakeholders across NHS Scotland and public sector partners.

Skills

Senior leadership

Portfolio management

Data as evidence

Stakeholder influencing

Cross‑organisation collaboration

People development

Consensus building

Strategic planning

Integrity and compassion

Initiative and prioritisation

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Job description

This post is a 12 Month Fixed Term / Secondment position. As per the Fixed Term Contacts Policy - Where individuals with continuous service within the NHS apply for fixed-term contract roles, PSD Scotland reserves the right to refuse any such appointment.

On 1 April 2026, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) became one national organisation, focused on continuity today and a stronger, more connected service for tomorrow.

As part of this transformation, NSS and NES have joined to form a new organisation: Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland). This new organisation will play a pivotal role in supporting the renewal and ensuring the long-term sustainability of health and care services across Scotland.

About the Organisation:

PSD Scotland unites expertise from NES and NSS in a way that will allow us to accelerate national programmes to support the NHS to deliver better care, now and in the future.

We support staff with education and training, provide the tools and data that improve services, and run vital national functions such as procurement, logistics and blood, tissue and cell services.

The Post:

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of sustainable data delivery within PSD Scotland. We are recruiting a Programme Director to lead portfolio of sustainability data, analytics, AI and innovation to provide strategic direction, professional leadership and delivery of data products and services, focused on sustainability and the circular economy.

The successful candidate will be accountable for defining a clear vision and strategy, setting priorities, making investment decisions, establishing meaningful measures of success and ensuring sustainability data services deliver insight and value.

As an expert in the successful delivery of data services within a sustainability portfolio, innovation, AI and the circular economy, you lead a team to achieve effective operational plans.

You will also play a key role in the senior management team in the Office of the Chief Information Officer, strengthening professional practice and helping build the future capability of the organisation.

Portfolio Area includes:

Shaping Sustainability Policy

• Developing data-driven circular economy models in NHS Scotland facilities
• Creating and documenting data use cases
• Producing evidence to support policy review
• Influencing business cases and investment decisions
• Assessing requirements across the sustainability portfolio
• Supporting the strategic priorities and work programme for NHS Scotland’s circular economy

Leading innovation in the sustainability portfolio

• CivTech projects including advising on AI architecture and data validation
• EU Horizon REHEAL activities
• AI, analytics and sustainability technologies
• Supporting delivery of REHEAL Living Labs

Effectively using AI and data within NHSS sustainability delivery

• Assessing current data and AI challenges
• Identifying opportunities to reduce waste and improve resource stewardship
• Identifying single-use materials and potential interventions
• Developing proof-of-concept analytical models
• Supporting the NSS Sustainability Data Quality Strategy
• Bridging the gap between sustainability policy and advanced analytics capability

The Candidate:

Post holder will have experience in the following areas:

• Senior leadership experience with accountability for high-quality data services within a portfolio.
• Experience of portfolio management, setting strategic direction and translating vision into measurable outcomes, priorities and plans.
• Experience using data as evidence, to generate insight and performance information to inform decisions and drive improvement.
• Experience in influencing senior stakeholders across NHS Scotland, and Scottish Government boundaries.
• Working across organisational boundaries with subject matter experts, NHS organisations, Scottish Government teams and external partners.
• Experience developing people, building capability and creating high-performing teams.
• Experience in building consensus across organisations with different priorities.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead successfully in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Demonstrate honesty, integrity, care and compassion when dealing with others, using tact and persuasion skills when necessary.
• Ability to work on own initiative, to organise and prioritise own workloads, to meet strict deadlines.

Location and Working Pattern:

The post will be based at Gyle Square, Edinburgh or Delta House, Glasgow.
Currently hybrid working.
Monday-Friday, 36 hours per week.

PSD Scotland is a remote-friendly employer with colleagues based throughout Scotland. We support hybrid and office-based working arrangements where possible and welcome discussions about alternative working patterns during the application process.

It is a condition of this employment that you must live and remain a resident within the UK and have entitlement to work in the UK for the post in which you will be employed.

Benefits:

Our benefits package includes pension scheme, comprehensive range of work life balance policies, occupational health services, learning resource centres and discounted leisure, financial and shopping benefits. HR Benefits Brochure.

Inclusion:

Public Services Delivery Scotland is a national organisation and, as an anchor institution, it is our ambition to be a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone feels welcome. We recognise that flexible working creates an inclusive workplace where employees can thrive and feel confident about their ability to balance their personal and professional responsibilities. This is supported through Once for Scotland flexible working policies. PSD Scotland has made a long‑term commitment to staff health and well‑being and offers many learning and development opportunities to support and improve our approaches to diversity, inclusion and mental health in the workplace. There are a number of equality staff networks in place which all staff are welcome to join. We are also an equal opportunities employer and as such aim to guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies. As an accredited Disability Confident Leader, it is the aim of PSD Scotland to offer a fully accessible and inclusive recruitment service that supports applicants on their candidate journey. If you are interested in any reasonable adjustments, please contact the Recruitment Team on [e-mail]
Further information:
For an informal discussion on the post, please contact Jenni Harrison, Programme Director, at [e-mail].
Closing date for completed applications is Friday 16th October 2026.

Please note that the majority of correspondence is sent by e‑mail only, so please check your e‑mail regularly (including junk folders).
We are an equal opportunities employer and as committed participant in the disability confident scheme, guarantees to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies however, where exceptionally high application volumes make this impracticable, a fair and proportionate shortlisting approach will be applied in line with Disability Confident guidance.