Head of ICT Function (Infrastructure Operations) | NHS England
| Posting date: | 26 September 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £96,822.52 - £111,657.22 Salary range includes RRP at 6%. (Excluding London Weighting) |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 26 October 2025 |
| Location: | Leeds/ London/Exeter, LS1 4AP |
| Company: | NHS England |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | 7458099/990-TD-IT-15106-E |
Summary
Infrastructure Services
The purpose of Infrastructure services is to ensure our services and systems are hosted effectively, securely and efficiently.
The function of Infrastructure services brings all network and hosting infrastructure into a single team which will provide a multi-skilled 24/7 Infra Operations team organised by function and focussed on supporting continual improvement.
The teams are divided into four core areas providing technical and service management expertise:
• hosting
• cloud centre of excellence
• connectivity
• central capabilities
Services are delivered to internal customers and NHS organisations.
The Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) team at NHS England enables the NHS to make the best use of cloud technologies in pursuit of our collective objectives for improving the provision of health and care systems.
NHS England is driving an innovative Cloud First strategy that works to optimise the strategic digital hosting environment, reduce complexity, and implement high degrees of automation to enable more agile application delivery across its organisation and the wider NHS.
The Head of Cloud Technology role reports to the Head of Cloud COE and leads the cloud engineering pillar within the team, responsible for defining and implementing technical landing zones, guardrails and optimised environments to the internal and external organisations. This is a senior management role which will lead and expand the current functions resources, talent and service capabilities.
This role is instrumental in helping the NHS deliver on the governments Cloud First policy, bringing expertise in the strategy, design, orchestration, development, and implementation of large-scale projects in the cloud. The ideal candidate is enthusiastic about all things public cloud. Experience with hands on implementation on platforms including at least one of: Microsoft Azure and/or Amazon Web Services.
Industry knowledge is key, as well as knowledge in building an engineering organisation. The role requires a talented technologist with experience architecting and defining engineering processes and best practices to both enhance our public cloud development and ensure success in migrating applications and services to the cloud.
Our work supports the NHS to deliver high quality services for patients and best value for taxpayers.
Our staff have expertise across hundreds of specialisms – for example, clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, computer science, software engineering, education and training, and commercial – so we can design and deliver quality NHS services effectively.
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 our people can make a difference and achieve their potential
• 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
Earlier this year the Government announced that 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. The purpose of this change is to create a smaller, more strategic centre which will reduce duplication and eliminate waste.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
You can find further details about the role, organisational structure, recruitment profile, expected outcomes and benefits information in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Please note that this is a fixed term contract as this is a short term vacancy.
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
The post of Head of ICT Function has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts an additional monthly RRP payment equal to 6% per annum.
Please be aware that RRP is non-contractual and subject to review.
To meet National Security Vetting requirements, SC clearances require 5 years continuous UK residency. In certain cases, this can be reduced to three years continuous UK residency, with additional overseas checks for the previous two years.
Candidates who were posted abroad for service with HM Government, Armed Forces or within a UK government role - will still be considered.
Please make sure you meet these requirements before applying for this role. You don’t need to have security clearance level already, however, failure to achieve the requirements for security clearance level after offer, will result in the job offer being withdrawn.’
For further advice please check https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels#security-check-sc.’
For further information on National Security Vetting please check National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK, information on the Security Vetting and Clearances Intranet page or contact england.securityvetting@nhs.net.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS willbe offered on asecondmentbasis only, agreementshouldbeobtainedfromtheiremployerpriortosubmittingtheapplication.
This advert closes on Sunday 12 Oct 2025