National Programme Director for Elective Recovery | NHS England


Company:	NHS England
Salary:	£131,301 per annum (Starting from £131,301)
Hours:	Part-time
Location:	Leeds / London, LS1 4AP
Job type:	Contract
Posting date:	5 Oct 2026
Closing date:	4 Nov 2026

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Summary

The role

Lead the national delivery of elective recovery across the NHS. NHS England is seeking an experienced, credible and resilient senior leader to drive the day-to-day delivery of the Elective Recovery Plan. Working closely with the Executive Director for Performance and Delivery, you will lead a national programme team, maintain oversight of performance, quality and safety, and support systems to deliver sustainable improvements for patients.

The opportunity

This is a high-profile national leadership role with responsibility for programme governance, planning, assurance and delivery across elective care. You will work with government, regional and local NHS leaders, clinicians, patient groups and delivery partners to address variation, tackle long waits and improve operational performance. You will also provide clear, authoritative briefings to senior stakeholders, including Ministers, on progress, risks and priorities.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and continually refine the national programme for elective recovery.

• Maintain robust oversight of performance, activity, long waits, quality and safety.

• Ensure effective governance, programme management, planning and assurance.

• Develop solutions with regional teams and integrated care systems, particularly where performance is most challenged.

• Join up interdependent programmes including finance, workforce, transformation, cancer, diagnostics, outpatients and specialised commissioning.

• Manage programme milestones, risks, budgets and reporting, providing timely advice to senior leaders.

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 announcedthat 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.

We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.

About you

You will be an accomplished senior leader with substantial experience of establishing and delivering complex programmes in elective care or a comparable NHS environment. Educated to master’s level, or able to demonstrate equivalent senior-level experience, you will bring a strong record of service transformation, team leadership and delivery at pace.

• Excellent strategic, programme and operational leadership skills.

• Confidence working with senior stakeholders across organisational boundaries.

• Strong communication and presentation skills, including handling complex or contentious issues.

• The resilience, judgement and tenacity to make decisions in a fast-moving environment.

• A commitment to developing people and building inclusive, high-performing teams.

• Experience of national NHS delivery, performance management, statistical analysis or an operational elective care role would be advantageous.

If you have the vision, credibility and delivery focus to help shape elective recovery nationally, we would welcome your application.

Please review the Person Specification in the Job Description when writing your application, please clearly demonstrate how your skills, knowledge, and experience meet the essential and desirable criteria for the role.

If you like what you have read and think you have the skills and experience, we need then don't delay, apply today! We get lots of applications for our roles and so we sometimes have to close our posts early. Don't miss out!

Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of National Programme Director and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.

You can find further details about the job, in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

Please note that the reason for the fixed term of this contract is short term vacancy.

This advert closes on Sunday 18 Oct 2026

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