Head of Continual Service Improvement

Head of Continual Service Improvement The closing date is 29 June 2026

This is a unique and high impact leadership opportunity to shape how digital services are delivered across Nottinghamshire Health Informatics Service and our wider health and care partners. As Head of Continual Service Improvement, you will lead the development and delivery of a strategic improvement agenda that drives high quality, efficient and user focused services.

Working at the heart of a large, multi ICS shared service, you will partner with clinical, operational and digital leaders to redesign services, embed a culture of continuous improvement, and ensure measurable outcomes that enhance user experience and support better patient care. You will play a visible senior leadership role, using data, insight and structured improvement approaches to remove barriers, deliver change and build capability across the organisation.

NHIS offers a rare opportunity to make a system wide impact. Supporting over 28,000 users across more than 420 sites, we are a key enabler of digital transformation across the Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Cluster. You will be joining a collaborative, forward thinking organisation with a strong commitment to innovation, partnership working and delivering tangible benefits for staff, services and patients.

If you are an experienced senior leader in service improvement and transformation, this role offers the platform to influence at scale, shape strategic direction, and make a meaningful difference to health and care outcomes.

Responsibilities Your key responsibilities include:

• Leading the development and delivery of a strategic continual service improvement agenda across the cluster.
• Partnering with clinical, operational and digital leaders to redesign services and embed continuous improvement practices.
• Using data, insight and structured improvement approaches to remove barriers, deliver change and build capability across the organisation.
• Ensuring measurable outcomes that enhance user experience and support better patient care.

About us We are an award winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.

We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and aim to treat every patient as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. We expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are a clinically led organisation.

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as "outstanding" for care and our King's Mill Hospital as the only "outstanding" NHS run hospital in the East Midlands.

Visa sponsorship Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. Please refer to the shortage occupation list. Skilled Worker visa: eligible healthcare and education jobs - GOV.UK. Home Office guidance has changed as of 9th April. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.

Employment terms Contractual requirements include flexibility outside normal office hours, ability to travel, clean driving licence and use of own car.

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level (or equivalent experience) in a relevant discipline (e.g. improvement, service management, digital/IM&T, transformation, business or related).
• Recognised advanced improvement qualification (e.g. Lean Six Sigma Black Belt) or equivalent.
• ITIL (or equivalent service management) qualification and/or demonstrable expertise in service management best practice.
• Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (or equivalent advanced improvement qualification).
• Relevant leadership/management qualification and/or formal training in change leadership, programme governance or transformation delivery.
• Master's level qualification (or equivalent experience) in a relevant area (e.g. improvement, transformation, leadership, digital/IM&T or business).

Experience

• Extensive experience as senior manager.
• Significant senior leadership experience within an IM&T and/or digitally enabled service environment, operating at pace and under scrutiny.
• Extensive experience leading continual service improvement, transformation and/or service redesign across complex services and stakeholders.
• Experience of managing complex programmes and projects with multiple stakeholders, including governance, risks, dependencies and benefits realisation.
• Experience of specifying and supporting the delivery of digital tools and technology enabled change to improve services.
• Strategy development and implementation.
• Experience managing service relationships, service level expectations and supplier/customer engagement to deliver agreed outcomes.
• Experience managing complex and sensitive programmes and projects that require significant clinical and executive engagement for success.
• Experience managing significant revenue and/or capital budgets and assuring financial performance across a portfolio of work.
• Researching, analysing and presenting information to Executives and Board members.
• Successfully managing a diverse team.
• Strong digital literacy, including advanced use of Microsoft applications and reporting/visualisation tools (e.g. Power BI) to support insight and decision making.
• Experience contributing to service continuity planning and risk controls for critical digital services.
• Ability to communicate with a diverse group of professionals to very large groups.
• Ability to motivate staff, colleagues and stakeholders to achieve the project outcomes.
• NHS or public sector experience.
• Significant appreciation, knowledge and experience of good IT practice across the acute sector.
• Experience of major system procurement.
• Significant knowledge of Health Care IT.

Knowledge

• Proven ability to build and sustain effective relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and contractors.
• Expert knowledge of continual service improvement and service management best practice, including how to embed standards, governance and measurable outcomes.
• Highly developed analytical, problem solving and root cause analysis skills, using qualitative and quantitative evidence to prioritise action.
• Ability to handle highly complex, sensitive and sometimes contentious issues, maintaining professionalism and focus on outcomes.
• Ability to influence, negotiate and build consensus at all levels, including across organisational boundaries where there is no direct line authority.
• Ability to make sound, evidence led decisions on service improvement priorities, risks, dependencies and delivery approaches.
• Strong understanding of digital and data enabled service delivery within health and care, and how IM&T services support safe, reliable operations and transformation.
• Good working knowledge of Information Governance, confidentiality and data protection requirements, and how these apply to reporting and improvement activity.
• Ability to understand, apply and promote best practice in service management and continual improvement, including governance, measurement and benefits realisation.
• Ability to produce clear strategic papers, business cases and performance reports, and present recommendations to senior leaders and external stakeholders.
• High level facilitation skills, including leading workshops, co design sessions and complex stakeholder discussions.
• Ability to anticipate the impact of internal and external decisions on service delivery, including risks, dependencies and service continuity, and to plan mitigating actions.
• Understanding of cyber security and information security considerations within digital service improvement and change.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, able to tailor messages and influence decisions with a wide range of audiences.
• Strong problem solving skills combined with the ability to maintain concentration in a fast paced environment, making timely decisions and facilitating delivery across multiple workstreams.
• Demonstrable leadership and coaching skills, able to motivate others and build improvement capability.
• Ability to apply risk management and assurance within a complex IM&T environment, ensuring change is delivered safely and sustainably.
• Experience using service management and reporting tools (e.g. Ivanti ITSM, Power BI) to monitor performance, identify trends and support improvement delivery.
• Experience working with enterprise architecture and/or operating model design to support strategic change and standardisation.

Skills

• Strategic continual service improvement leadership.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship building.
• Advanced analytical and problem solving skills.
• Ability to influence, negotiate and build consensus.
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Leadership, coaching and staff development capability.
• Strong planning, governance and benefits realisation skills. . click apply for full job details