NHS England

Head of Software Engineering

The closing date is 05 March 2026

Job summary

Digital delivery is central to the NHS's 10-year plan to transform healthcare. Modern, scalable digital services are key to improving patient outcomes, reducing pressure on clinical teams, and enabling more personalised care.We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced engineering leader to join our Digital Citizen Portfolio as Head of Software Engineering. The successful candidate will lead engineering for the NHS App and contribute across the wider national digital channels, including the NHS.uk website - one of the most widely used sources of trusted health information in the UK.

The NHS App and NHS.uk will be pivotal in delivering the NHS 10-year plan. Used millions of times every day, the App increasingly empowers people to manage their own health, access prevention services, and support those they care for. It is becoming the complete digital front door to the NHS, enabling booking, medications management and access to medical records. The NHS App is built natively in Swift and Kotlin, and our wider tech stack includes Azure, Terraform and C# powering high-scale national services.

Main duties of the job

As Head of Software Engineering you will:

Provide technical leadership for national-scale, highly available mobile apps and distributed systems, following NHS England's engineering principles
Partner with internal teams and external suppliers to shape the architecture and design of modern mobile apps and backend systems
Ensure strong resilience, performance, and cost-effectiveness across our live services
Champion service security, safeguarding the large volumes of sensitive data we manage
Build and lead high-performing, multi-team engineering groups (100+ engineers), fostering collaboration and continuous improvement through
Agile, Lean and DevOps practices
Mentor and coach engineering talent at all levels
Collaborate with peers to solve complex engineering challenges and raise organisation-wide engineering standards, including through communities of practice
Shape engineering strategy, particularly in mobile development standards and capability growth
Communicate complex and highly technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences
Act as a senior technical authority for system design, delivery and operations, including engagement with external partners

About us

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.

We lead the NHS in England by:

Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities
Making the NHS a great place to work, where people can develop and make a difference
Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
Delivering value for money

In 2025, the Government announced that NHS England will gradually merge with the Department of Health and Social Care, to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and waste.

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-person.

Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.

Date posted

19 February 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8d

Salary

£118,744 to £136,938 a year includes a RRP payment of 30% (exclusive of London Weighting)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Job share, Flexible working

Reference number

990-TDD-P&P-18876-E-A

Job locations

Any NHS England Office

Nationally

LS1 4AP

Job description

Job responsibilities

Applicants should demonstrate experience in:

Deep native mobile expertise strong grounding in iOS and/or Android architecture, native capabilities, security, biometrics and appstore compliance
Implementing security and resilience techniques at system level
Engineering highly available systems
Providing senior technical leadership for critical services

It would be advantageous to have experience of:

Working on mobile products delivered across multiple engineering teams
Hands on fullstack engineering, including cloud infrastructure
Coaching and developing engineers
Managing senior and nontechnical stakeholders
Agile delivery

At interview, we will also explore the following competencies:

INFLUENCE: Uses evidence to make decisions and build alignment

KNOWLEDGE: Grows and shares expertise; understands evolving user needs

BUSINESS SKILLS: Shapes strategy, introduces new technologies, and optimises resources

COMPLEXITY: Synthesises complex information and communicates it effectively

AUTONOMY: Empowers others, develops talent, and drives accountability

You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of Consultant Systems Engineer and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role

The post of Consultant Systems Engineer has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts anadditional monthly RRP payment equal to 30% per annum.

Please be aware that RRP is none contractual and subject to review.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Applicants should demonstrate experience in:

Deep native mobile expertise strong grounding in iOS and/or Android architecture, native capabilities, security, biometrics and appstore compliance
Implementing security and resilience techniques at system level
Engineering highly available systems
Providing senior technical leadership for critical services

It would be advantageous to have experience of:

Working on mobile products delivered across multiple engineering teams
Hands on fullstack engineering, including cloud infrastructure
Coaching and developing engineers
Managing senior and nontechnical stakeholders
Agile delivery

At interview, we will also explore the following competencies:

INFLUENCE: Uses evidence to make decisions and build alignment

KNOWLEDGE: Grows and shares expertise; understands evolving user needs

BUSINESS SKILLS: Shapes strategy, introduces new technologies, and optimises resources

COMPLEXITY: Synthesises complex information and communicates it effectively

AUTONOMY: Empowers others, develops talent, and drives accountability

Please be aware that RRP is none contractual and subject to review.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Masters or equivalent qualification, computer, scientific or mathematical subject preferred, or equivalent experience.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Deep native mobile expertise - Strong technical grounding in iOS and/or Android architecture, native capabilities, security, biometrics, and app store compliance.
Implementing system security & resilience techniques / controls / practices

Experience

Essential

Working on highly available systems
Providing technical leadership for key systems

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Masters or equivalent qualification, computer, scientific or mathematical subject preferred, or equivalent experience.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Deep native mobile expertise - Strong technical grounding in iOS and/or Android architecture, native capabilities, security, biometrics, and app store compliance.
Implementing system security & resilience techniques / controls / practices

Experience

Essential

Working on highly available systems
Providing technical leadership for key systems

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.

Employer details

Employer name

NHS England

Address

Any NHS England Office

Nationally

LS1 4AP

Employer's website

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

NHS England

Address

Any NHS England Office

Nationally

LS1 4AP

Employer's website

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/ (Opens in a new tab)