South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Deputy Director - Transformation

The closing date is 10 December 2025

Job summary

The Deputy Director - Transformation will lead the development and implementation of the Trust's Transformation programmes, with relevant SRO and MDT input, in support of key strategic priorities agreed by the Executive and Board. They will hold overall responsibility for designing, developing, and implementing transformation infrastructure and processes to support delivery and evaluation of Trust wide transformation programmes. They will regularly deputise for the Chief Strategy Officer. This will require a sophisticated ability to define and solve complex problems, planning across all areas of the programme, and the ability to influence and deliver successfully in a complex, multi-organisational and multi-professional networked model.

The role requires someone who brings experience and credibility in major transformation, programme delivery, and organisational development and design, with a personality that engages a wide group of different staff members and stakeholders in the improvement agenda.

Main duties of the job

Key Result areas:

Working with the Executive team to shape the vision for Trust wide transformation and development of associated framework, policies and processes.

Definition, development and implementation of the Trust's strategy deployment and day to day delivery of the Trust's transformation programmes.

Senior lead for a portfolio of major change projects where the complexity and/or cross organisational impact requires senior and experienced leadership to ensure delivery.

Deputising for the Chief Strategy Officer

Providing best practice change management, strategic portfolio management, and transformation subject matter expertise to enable the continued implementation of the Trust's prioritised transformation programmes.

Define and build the transformation capability of the organisation, working with operational, clinical and QI colleagues as required.

About us

The Strategy & Transformation team plays a key role in facilitating development and delivery of the Trust's strategic goals and ensuring we working in partnership with internal and external stakeholders to achieve them.

Details

Date posted

24 November 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 9

Salary

£117,645 to £134,103 a year per annum inclusive of HCAS

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

334-NCL-7628248-MU

Job locations

Maudsley Hospital

London

SE5 8AB


Job description

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Delivery and Transformation

  • Define, develop and deliver a trust-wide transformation strategy, ensuring alignment between strategy, transformation and improvement portfolios
  • On behalf of the Chief Strategy Officer, lead the development and implementation of the Trusts Transformation programmes, with relevant MDT input, supporting key strategic priorities agreed by the Executive and Board.
  • Develop an underpinning theory of change for organisational sustainability, based on a strategic analysis of current and future state, performance data, and break down the requirement change into a manageable portfolio.
  • Lead agreed programmes where the complexity and/or cross organisational impact require senior and experienced leadership to ensure delivery, working alongside other Executive deputies.
  • Develop and implement appropriate governance, strategic portfolio management, measurement systems and reporting across the organisational priority programmes.
  • Establish and maintain a strategy deployment and assurance framework for the Trust to ensure its strategy is successfully implemented, reviewed and revised on an annual basis.
  • Increase the Trusts change management capability and maturity and ensure this is aligned to and integrated with the Trusts Organisational Development Programmes.
  • Work efficiently and collaboratively with all levels of the organisation to overcome barriers to acceptance of new ways of working.
  • With Clinical and Operational colleagues, contribute to the scoping, design and development of organisational models and management systems which enable strengthened ways of working between corporate teams and borough based operating units, including a centralised framework to balance consistency on minimum standards and localfreedoms.
  • Work with all Directorates to improve alignment between Trust wide transformation and local priorities,
  • Represent the Trusts at local / national / public meetings / events as required, acting independently, decisively and effectively in sensitive, difficult or political situations which may require delivering difficult messages and continuous information,
  • Establish and lead a network of organisational change agents including all transformation resource, and with directorate leaders to define best practice, transformation policies and processes, and a clear support offer for the organisation,
  • Constructively challenge ways of working and engage, motivate and influence other senior managers and clinicians to realign their practice where necessary, with a particular focus on transformational change.
  • To manage and implement information resources to support the documentation, recording and management of transformation schemes which are in line with a continuous learning culture.

Programme design, delivery and management

  • Lead responsibility for strategic portfolio management to match key strategic programmes to the underpinning theory of change, and translate into a coherent and well planned portfolio of change initiaitives.
  • Oversee delivery of all transformation work streams, maintaining quality and working collaboratively with local leaders and other programme teams.
  • Monitor, analyse and evaluate innovative ways of working that improve existing and future working practices across the programmes,
  • Ensure detailed implementation and resources plans to support successful delivery of the programme plans for service users, staff and services.
  • Provide robust and detailed change management leadership to drive delivery of the programme.
  • Develop robust plans to support scale up, sustainability and spread,
  • Lead consensus building and collaboration across areas relevant to programme delivery and manage conflict or opposing views whilst encouraging participation from all involved,
  • Highlight issues and challenges, proactively problem-solve, negotiate and ultimately escalate where issues arise in the development and implementation of the programme.
  • Work effectively with clinical and operational leads in reporting the work of the programme formally to the accountable officers, Executives and Boards, and through them partner NHS and other organisations.
  • Communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information on the progress of the programme (and associated projects) to key stakeholders across the Trust and wider partners.
  • Maintain an objective position and continually review feedback, research and evaluation data to iteratively inform design and delivery,

Partnership working and stakeholder management

  • Be a strong ambassador for the Trust across the full range of senior stakeholders and frontline clinicians and alliance partners.
  • Lead consensus building strategies across partner organisations, and actively cut through blocks and differing opinions to deliver change.
  • Be intellectually flexible to look beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce effective and innovative transformation in service delivery and partnerships between community and acute services.
  • Ensure relationship management strategies across the team are well designed and implemented and refreshed to reflect the rapidly changing environment.
  • Spend time with clinical and operational teams across the Trust to ensure up to date knowledge of front line reality and pressures feeds into approach to transformation.
  • Lead collaborations to devise strategic plans for transformational change in line with the needs of service users and staff. Ensure appropriate methods are used for the inclusion of service user and carer, and other perspectives.
  • Actively seek input from wider system leaders including provider collaboratives, public health, primary care, local government, voluntary and community sector, academia, other partners and local people to make real transformational differences for the local population.
  • Communicate transformation plans internally and externally enabling all stakeholders to understand them and how they can be part of shaping and delivering the outcomes and goals.
  • Ensure alignment with other relevant local programmes of work and policy initiatives,
  • Demonstrate a transformational leadership style and adopt a flexible approach to meet the competing demands of the role,

People and Financial Management

  • Management of the transformation team including line management of transformation posts within the team,
  • Act as deputy for the Chief Strategy Officer,
  • Matrix management of peers leading on programmes of work and highly expert negotiation skills to ensure the programme delivers agreed outcomes and hold individuals to account.
  • Establish and monitor financial management processes to plan income, monitor budget expenditure, provide internal cost control and implement any required action/contingency plans to meet transformation plan targets.
  • Manage the transformation team budgets,
  • Responsible for allocating the resources according to the key priorities and identifying financial solutions where required. This may include development of business cases.
  • Manage new and existing outsourcing, managed service contract planning and management,Drive the programme to secure benefits identified in benefits plan. This will include identifying and tracking financial benefits, value for money, efficiency and early identification and management of unintended benefits and dis-benefits and ensure that they operate in recurrent financial balance year on year.

Other Responsibilities

  • Travel between Trust sites and to partner sites will regularly be required to support the delivery of transformation initiatives.
  • Use judgement and personal resilience to deal with a wide variety of situations relating to service delivery, some of which will be challenging, difficult and potentially stressful.
  • To promote positive relationships between all staff involved in providing care and those providing support services and also on a culture of accessibility, open communication, mutual support and effective challenge,
  • Balance workload to meet changing demands of service and strategic priorities.
  • The Trust operates within a constantly changing environment and as such work priorities and targets may change. The Trust reserves the right to make reasonable changes to the job purpose and accountabilities.
  • Carry out such other duties that occasionally arise, which fall within the purpose of the role and efficient operation of the Trusts transformation programmes.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Delivery and Transformation

  • Define, develop and deliver a trust-wide transformation strategy, ensuring alignment between strategy, transformation and improvement portfolios
  • On behalf of the Chief Strategy Officer, lead the development and implementation of the Trusts Transformation programmes, with relevant MDT input, supporting key strategic priorities agreed by the Executive and Board.
  • Develop an underpinning theory of change for organisational sustainability, based on a strategic analysis of current and future state, performance data, and break down the requirement change into a manageable portfolio.
  • Lead agreed programmes where the complexity and/or cross organisational impact require senior and experienced leadership to ensure delivery, working alongside other Executive deputies.
  • Develop and implement appropriate governance, strategic portfolio management, measurement systems and reporting across the organisational priority programmes.
  • Establish and maintain a strategy deployment and assurance framework for the Trust to ensure its strategy is successfully implemented, reviewed and revised on an annual basis.
  • Increase the Trusts change management capability and maturity and ensure this is aligned to and integrated with the Trusts Organisational Development Programmes.
  • Work efficiently and collaboratively with all levels of the organisation to overcome barriers to acceptance of new ways of working.
  • With Clinical and Operational colleagues, contribute to the scoping, design and development of organisational models and management systems which enable strengthened ways of working between corporate teams and borough based operating units, including a centralised framework to balance consistency on minimum standards and localfreedoms.
  • Work with all Directorates to improve alignment between Trust wide transformation and local priorities,
  • Represent the Trusts at local / national / public meetings / events as required, acting independently, decisively and effectively in sensitive, difficult or political situations which may require delivering difficult messages and continuous information,
  • Establish and lead a network of organisational change agents including all transformation resource, and with directorate leaders to define best practice, transformation policies and processes, and a clear support offer for the organisation,
  • Constructively challenge ways of working and engage, motivate and influence other senior managers and clinicians to realign their practice where necessary, with a particular focus on transformational change.
  • To manage and implement information resources to support the documentation, recording and management of transformation schemes which are in line with a continuous learning culture.

Programme design, delivery and management

  • Lead responsibility for strategic portfolio management to match key strategic programmes to the underpinning theory of change, and translate into a coherent and well planned portfolio of change initiaitives.
  • Oversee delivery of all transformation work streams, maintaining quality and working collaboratively with local leaders and other programme teams.
  • Monitor, analyse and evaluate innovative ways of working that improve existing and future working practices across the programmes,
  • Ensure detailed implementation and resources plans to support successful delivery of the programme plans for service users, staff and services.
  • Provide robust and detailed change management leadership to drive delivery of the programme.
  • Develop robust plans to support scale up, sustainability and spread,
  • Lead consensus building and collaboration across areas relevant to programme delivery and manage conflict or opposing views whilst encouraging participation from all involved,
  • Highlight issues and challenges, proactively problem-solve, negotiate and ultimately escalate where issues arise in the development and implementation of the programme.
  • Work effectively with clinical and operational leads in reporting the work of the programme formally to the accountable officers, Executives and Boards, and through them partner NHS and other organisations.
  • Communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information on the progress of the programme (and associated projects) to key stakeholders across the Trust and wider partners.
  • Maintain an objective position and continually review feedback, research and evaluation data to iteratively inform design and delivery,

Partnership working and stakeholder management

  • Be a strong ambassador for the Trust across the full range of senior stakeholders and frontline clinicians and alliance partners.
  • Lead consensus building strategies across partner organisations, and actively cut through blocks and differing opinions to deliver change.
  • Be intellectually flexible to look beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce effective and innovative transformation in service delivery and partnerships between community and acute services.
  • Ensure relationship management strategies across the team are well designed and implemented and refreshed to reflect the rapidly changing environment.
  • Spend time with clinical and operational teams across the Trust to ensure up to date knowledge of front line reality and pressures feeds into approach to transformation.
  • Lead collaborations to devise strategic plans for transformational change in line with the needs of service users and staff. Ensure appropriate methods are used for the inclusion of service user and carer, and other perspectives.
  • Actively seek input from wider system leaders including provider collaboratives, public health, primary care, local government, voluntary and community sector, academia, other partners and local people to make real transformational differences for the local population.
  • Communicate transformation plans internally and externally enabling all stakeholders to understand them and how they can be part of shaping and delivering the outcomes and goals.
  • Ensure alignment with other relevant local programmes of work and policy initiatives,
  • Demonstrate a transformational leadership style and adopt a flexible approach to meet the competing demands of the role,

People and Financial Management

  • Management of the transformation team including line management of transformation posts within the team,
  • Act as deputy for the Chief Strategy Officer,
  • Matrix management of peers leading on programmes of work and highly expert negotiation skills to ensure the programme delivers agreed outcomes and hold individuals to account.
  • Establish and monitor financial management processes to plan income, monitor budget expenditure, provide internal cost control and implement any required action/contingency plans to meet transformation plan targets.
  • Manage the transformation team budgets,
  • Responsible for allocating the resources according to the key priorities and identifying financial solutions where required. This may include development of business cases.
  • Manage new and existing outsourcing, managed service contract planning and management,Drive the programme to secure benefits identified in benefits plan. This will include identifying and tracking financial benefits, value for money, efficiency and early identification and management of unintended benefits and dis-benefits and ensure that they operate in recurrent financial balance year on year.

Other Responsibilities

  • Travel between Trust sites and to partner sites will regularly be required to support the delivery of transformation initiatives.
  • Use judgement and personal resilience to deal with a wide variety of situations relating to service delivery, some of which will be challenging, difficult and potentially stressful.
  • To promote positive relationships between all staff involved in providing care and those providing support services and also on a culture of accessibility, open communication, mutual support and effective challenge,
  • Balance workload to meet changing demands of service and strategic priorities.
  • The Trust operates within a constantly changing environment and as such work priorities and targets may change. The Trust reserves the right to make reasonable changes to the job purpose and accountabilities.
  • Carry out such other duties that occasionally arise, which fall within the purpose of the role and efficient operation of the Trusts transformation programmes.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Education to Masters or equivalent level of knowledge and experience.
  • Evidence of continuing professional development

Experience

Essential

  • Extensive, comprehensive transformation experience in large complex organisations, which preferably should be in a health care or health service environment.
  • Extensive experience providing specialist advice to very senior managers, up to and including Board Directors which may materially affect strategic decision making. This will include advising a range of professionals and specialists in a range of environments.

Desirable

  • Extensive experience in leading the up-skilling and education and development of large numbers of staff in relation to transformation

Skills

Essential

  • Capable of leading substantial organisational and cultural change, being able to generate commitment to change, understand change management process and build local change management capability.
  • Highly developed problem solving skills, which triangulate across sources of data (quantitative and qualitative) and reflect organisational and system dynamics
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Education to Masters or equivalent level of knowledge and experience.
  • Evidence of continuing professional development

Experience

Essential

  • Extensive, comprehensive transformation experience in large complex organisations, which preferably should be in a health care or health service environment.
  • Extensive experience providing specialist advice to very senior managers, up to and including Board Directors which may materially affect strategic decision making. This will include advising a range of professionals and specialists in a range of environments.

Desirable

  • Extensive experience in leading the up-skilling and education and development of large numbers of staff in relation to transformation

Skills

Essential

  • Capable of leading substantial organisational and cultural change, being able to generate commitment to change, understand change management process and build local change management capability.
  • Highly developed problem solving skills, which triangulate across sources of data (quantitative and qualitative) and reflect organisational and system dynamics

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Additional information

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Maudsley Hospital

London

SE5 8AB


Employer's website

https://www.slam.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Maudsley Hospital

London

SE5 8AB


Employer's website

https://www.slam.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Chief Strategy Officer

Kate Lillywhite

kate.lillywhite@slam.nhs.uk

07900691503

Details

Date posted

24 November 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 9

Salary

£117,645 to £134,103 a year per annum inclusive of HCAS

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

334-NCL-7628248-MU

Job locations

Maudsley Hospital

London

SE5 8AB


Supporting documents

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