Head of Digital Research Systems & Communications

Job details
Posting date:	05 February 2025
Salary:	£68,503 to £68,503 per year
Additional salary information:	National = £68503 London = £72602
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	19 February 2025
Location:	Leeds
Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Job type:	Temporary
Job reference:	389679/1

Apply for this job

Summary

In the Department of Health and Social Care, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you would like to work in, we would love to hear from you.

The role is based in the Science, Research and Evidence (SRE) Directorate of the Department of Health and Social Care. As well as leading on health and care research policy on behalf of the Department, the SRE Directorate supports Dr Gail Marzetti and Professor Lucy Chappell in their roles as Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and CEO of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR - https://www.nihr.ac.uk).

The postholder will play a pivotal leading role in driving digital transformation across the national health and care research system.

Through its research operational arm (the National Institute for Health and Care Research - NIHR), DHSC is implementing a new digital change programme to make the UK the best place in the world to deliver research that saves and improves lives. If you are a high performing, energetic digital professional, with expertise in both digital strategy and delivery, who wants to lead our bold, new programme of work to transform health and care research through digital, then we want to hear from you.

The post is based in the Science, Research & Evidence Directorate of DHSC, which oversees the NIHR. The postholder will shape and oversee delivery, through the NIHR, of a range of transformational digital projects which will fundamentally change and improve how the NIHR funds, delivers and communicates the outcomes of health and care research. Their work will ultimately mean that we can get life-improving research to the people who need it faster and more effectively.

The postholder will lead a core DHSC team (two digital specialists and one communications specialist) and sponsor and oversee the work of a wider, growing cross-organisational cohort of over a hundred digital and communications professionals throughout the NIHR who are delivering programmes of work to support research on the ground, across the country.

In 2025 and beyond, the digital research programme includes key projects which will:

Create a new world-leading information system which will provide Government with a real-time overview of the delivery status of thousands of clinical research studies taking place across the entirety of the NHS. This is called the ‘Research Delivery Data Intelligence’ system.
Improve the capability and functionality of the ‘Be Part of Research’ and ‘Join Dementia Research’ systems, which enable patients and the public to participate in research studies that can help change and improve their lives.
Build-up a single hub of digital expertise in the NHS Business Services Authority, under the direction of the NIHR Chief Digital Officer (CDO) which will support the work of the NIHR and the wider health and care system.
Ensure that the NIHR has robust cyber-security systems in place to protect the functioning of the health and care research system nationally.
Identify where the application of artificial intelligence into NIHR systems and processes can make health and care research more user-centred, more efficient and deliver life-improving research faster to the people who need it.

Information about the NIHR and how it is governed by DHSC can be found on the NIHR website (https://www.nihr.ac.uk/).

The postholder will also play a leading role in joining up and finding synergies with digital and data functions across the Department, including with the DHSC Chief Data Officer and the joint Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England Digital Policy Unit. The postholder will contribute to cross-Departmental working to improve the use of data and digital in the policy-making process and in advice to Ministers.

On Communications, the postholder will work closely with the DHSC Science, Research and Evidence Director and the new NIHR Director of Communications to deliver a step-change in how we can better communicate the ‘health and wealth’ benefits of the £1.6bn annual budget that the NIHR spends on research. The postholder will also work on the full public launch of the ‘Be Part of Research’ research participation service, which will boost the number and diversity of people signing up to the service; this is a really important part of delivering against Ministerial ambitions to make the UK the best place in the world for clinical trials.

The role is being offered for two years in the first instance, recognising that this is the time horizon for the change programmes across digital and communications that the postholder will be leading.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

Apply for this job

« Return to the search results