Programme Director - Transforming Devon Programme

We are seeking a highly skilled and visionary Programme Director to lead and drive strategic transformation within the NHS in Devon. This pivotal role offers the chance to work at the heart of the NHS's long-term objectives, ensuring the successful integration of clinical, operational, and technological innovations aimed at improving patient outcomes and organisational performance.

As Programme Director, you will be accountable for overseeing high-profile, multi-year healthcare programmes that align with NHS priorities, ensuring effective delivery of large-scale system-wide improvements.

Key responsibilities include providing expert leadership to a cross-functional team, managing budgets and resources, ensuring robust governance frameworks, and driving a culture of continuous improvement. You will oversee all aspects of programme delivery, from setting strategic direction to mitigating risks and delivering on KPIs, while maintaining a strong focus on patient-centred care.

This role is ideal for an experienced leader with a proven track record in managing complex programmes, building relationships with diverse stakeholders, and driving innovation in a healthcare setting. You will play an instrumental role in shaping the future of healthcare delivery, ensuring compliance with national standards, and fostering a collaborative culture of innovation and change.

Main duties of the job

This role is responsible for leading and directing a high-profile, multi-year healthcare programmes aligned with NHS strategic objectives, ensuring the successful delivery of transformational changes that improve patient outcomes, enhance service efficiency, and contribute to organisational sustainability.

You will build and sustain collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders, including NHS executives, clinical leaders, commissioners, service users, and external partners, ensuring all parties are engaged and aligned.

You will oversee the management of budgets, resources, and timelines for all programme initiatives, ensuring cost-effective delivery while maintaining high standards of quality. Ensure the financial sustainability of the programme by identifying potential cost savings, managing budget risks, and working with finance teams to track and report on expenditure.

You will proactively identify, assess, and mitigate programme risks and issues, ensuring that risk management strategies are developed and implemented. Work with senior leaders and project teams to resolve challenges and make informed decisions that ensure programme delivery on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards.

About us

As an Integrated Care System (ICS), we recognise now more than ever that we can only provide the care that people really need by working together. Together for Devon therefore represents a partnership where health and care services work together with local communities to improve peoples health, wellbeing and care. It aims to transform health and care services so they are clinically, socially and financially sustainable.

Our vision is simple: equal chances for everyone in Devon to lead long, happy and healthy lives. To achieve this, we have set out six ambitions for the next five years that will help us transform services including: Effective and efficient care, embedding the Integrated Care Model, the Devon deal (a citizen-led approach to health and care), Children and young people, Digital Devon and ensuring Equality.

About NHS Devon

As part of the Devon ICS, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board is responsible for the majority of county's NHS budget, and develops a plan to improve peoples health, deliver high-quality care and better value for money. The organisation is led by a diverse board, with an aim to improve peoples lives in Devon wherever they live, to reduce health inequalities and make sure we can deliver these services for the long term.

Job responsibilities

The Programme Director will play a pivotal role in driving the strategic transformation and operational excellence of complex, multi-year programmes that align with the NHSs long-term objectives, ensuring the successful integration of clinical, operational, and technological innovations to improve patient outcomes and organisational performance.

As the strategic lead for the programme, the post holder will be accountable for ensuring that all programme initiatives are aligned with broader healthcare policy, regulatory frameworks, and the NHS's vision for service delivery. The Programme Manager will work closely with executive teams, commissioners, clinical leaders, and partner organisations to define, execute, and sustain transformative changes across the healthcare system. This role will be instrumental in delivering large-scale system-wide improvements, balancing strategic imperatives with operational realities, and navigating complex stakeholder landscapes.

The Programme Manager will also provide expert leadership to a cross-functional team, setting the direction for programme design and delivery, driving financial performance, ensuring effective governance, and championing a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across all programme workstreams.

The role is responsible for dealing with, or advising on, highly confidential information and explaining highly complex, highly sensitive and potentially unwelcome information to a wide range of audiences while overcoming significant barriers to resistance.

Alongside other members of the ICB, the role will work to develop digitally enabled transformation.

Main responsibilities

Lead and direct high-profile, multi-year healthcare programmes aligned with NHS strategic objectives, ensuring the successful delivery of transformational changes that improve patient outcomes, enhance service efficiency, and contribute to organisational sustainability. Develop long-term programme strategies and plans that drive systemic improvements and innovation across services.

Establish and maintain robust programme governance frameworks, ensuring transparent decision-making, clear roles, accountability, and a focus on delivery of key performance indicators (KPIs) and programme milestones. Regularly report to senior leadership, boards, and stakeholders on progress, challenges, and risk mitigation strategies.

Build and sustain collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders, including NHS executives, clinical leaders, commissioners, service users, and external partners, ensuring all parties are engaged and aligned. Manage stakeholder expectations and facilitate effective communication, ensuring stakeholder buy-in and support throughout the programme lifecycle.

Oversee the management of budgets, resources, and timelines for all programme initiatives, ensuring cost-effective delivery while maintaining high standards of quality. Ensure the financial sustainability of the programme by identifying potential cost savings, managing budget risks, and working with finance teams to track and report on expenditure.

Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate programme risks and issues, ensuring that risk management strategies are developed and implemented. Work with senior leaders and project teams to resolve challenges and make informed decisions that ensure programme delivery on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards.

Develop and implement systems for monitoring and measuring programme performance, setting clear targets and using data-driven approaches to track progress. Ensure regular, high-quality reporting to governance bodies and senior management on programme outcomes, lessons learned, and next steps. Provide detailed analysis and recommendations for programme refinement and improvements.

Provide visionary leadership to a multi-disciplinary team of project managers, clinical leads, operational staff, and external consultants, ensuring alignment with programme goals. Promote a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement, driving high performance, team engagement, and professional development.

Champion continuous improvement initiatives, fostering an organisational culture that embraces change and innovation. Identify emerging trends, new technologies, and evidence-based practices, integrating them into programme delivery. Lead the implementation of best practices in project and programme management to optimise service delivery and patient care.

Lead the change management process associated with new systems, processes, or services, ensuring that changes are smoothly integrated into existing NHS operations. Provide support and guidance to clinical and operational teams to facilitate the adoption of changes, and mitigate resistance to change through effective communication, training, and engagement.

Ensure that all programme activities comply with relevant NHS policies, regulatory requirements, and national healthcare standards, including patient safety, clinical governance, data protection, and health and safety. Maintain a strong focus on patient-centred care, ensuring that all programme initiatives enhance service delivery and patient experience while adhering to legal and ethical standards.

As a senior role, the incumbent may be required to take part in ICB on-call arrangements.

This role description provides an overview of anticipated tasks and responsibilities it may subject to adaption and evolution as the ICB develops further.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Masters degree level education or equivalent level of specialist knowledge and experience relevant to this role.
• Evidence of relevant continuing professional development.

Experience

• Substantial experience of very senior manager or Director level leadership within a health or social care organisation.
• Substantial experience of providing strategic leadership in this area including managing highly sensitive situations with stakeholders, particularly in a political environment.
• Substantial experience of managing relationships with the media and political stakeholders.
• Experience of leading and delivering large scale complex transformational programmes, preferably across multiple organisations and within the health or social care sector.
• Experience of leading strategic policy development, performance improvement, operational planning and strategic commissioning or similar.
• Experience of formulating long term strategic plans, involving uncertainty, impact on organisation, developing business plans, strategies for area of activity and making major contribution to policies and strategy
• Experience of providing strategic leadership, mentorship, and professional development at a very senior level with demonstrable outcomes.
• Substantial experience at Director level, providing strategic direction working in a collaborative and facilitative way to support systems providers to come together, understand needs, value, and risk and to design and deliver care accordingly, as a key part of the Devon operating plan model.
• Substantial experience at Director level, having an influential role with accountability for the development and delivery of the strategic plan/s of the ICB, as well as accountability for resource allocation ensuring its effectively deployed, reviewing effectiveness of initiatives and making necessary changes to large scale programmes of work.
• Substantial experience at Director level, working as a strategic collaborative leader and role model to promote efficiency and effectiveness in own area of influence and across the whole system in the development and delivery of the ICB plan.
• Experience of managing budgets for services.
• Experience of line managing of senior leaders across a range of areas and teams, with major areas of activity.
• Experience of being accountable for a major area of activity, with the autonomy to act independently
• oExperience dealing with, or advising on, highly confidential information and explaining highly complex, highly sensitive and potentially unwelcome information to a wide range of audiences while overcoming significant barriers to resistance.

Autonomy

• Personally committed to upholding the NHS principles and values as set out in the NHS Constitution, the Joint Forward Plan, the NHS People Plan, Nolan Principles and Fit and Proper Persons regime, along with an ability to reflect them in their leadership role and the culture of NHS Devon.
• Demonstrates a compassionate leadership style with a track record of improvements to equality, diversity, inclusion, and social justice.
• Lives by the values of openness and integrity and has created cultures where this thrives.
• Committed to continuing professional development.
• Extensive knowledge of the health, care and local government landscape and an understanding of the resourcing implications related to the social determinants of public health.
• Current evidence and thinking on practices which reduce health inequality, improve patient access, safety and ensure organisations are 'Well-led.
• Sound knowledge of health and care financial planning and budgeting at a Director and/or system level.
• Additional in-depth professional knowledge in a number of disciplines related to the role with experience of staff management acquired through training and experience over extended period.

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.