Associate Director for Product and User Centred Design

Full-Time Leeds, London Or Exeter Closes: 2022-11-06

Ever wished you could be the difference in how critical digital products and services upon which the NHS and patients’ depend, are designed and delivered?

NHS Digital is the national digital, data and technology delivery partner for the NHS and social care system. We create powerful tools and services that support NHS staff at work, help people get the best care, and use the nation’s health data to drive research and improve services. The scope of the products and services we provide is vast, from building and running the core IT and data infrastructure, platforms and live services on which the NHS and social care system relies, through to designing and developing digital products that help NHS and care staff do their work and that put people in control of their health and care.

During the pandemic, NHS Digital played a crucial role, working around the clock to deliver products, services, data and insight, used by key decision makers to tackle the pandemic and is now supporting the NHS in planning and building for recovery. With the recent merger announced between NHS Digital and NHS England, and with a new Executive Director of Product Delivery and strategic vision, we are entering an exciting phase in our development as a trusted delivery partner to the NHS and all those who rely on the unparalleled breadth and depth of the critical services it provides. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that makes a very real and positive contribution to the NHS, every day and on a national scale.

About the role

This is a unique, once in a generation opportunity to transform the design and delivery of digital products and services for the NHS, from shaping policy as a subject matter expert, to ensuring that patients’ and user needs are placed at the heart of service design by development and delivery teams. Reporting to the Executive Director of Product Delivery, as Associate Director for Product & User Centred Design, you’ll lead large, mixed capability team, charting and navigating the path to position NHS Digital as the exemplar for the NHS in product management and great service design, delivering on the strategy of digital health care for our users enabled through outstanding product experiences.

As a key member of the Senior Leadership Team within our Product Delivery Directorate and Head of Profession, you’ll:

Drive and sustain the shift from traditional programme delivery to a product led mindset, leading product management, design, user research and content across the Product Delivery Directorate, making this expertise available to the wider organisation.
Set and maintain stretching standards and principles for innovative, end to end, user centred service design across NHS Digital’s extensive product portfolio.
Be a visible, compelling role model for exemplary Product Management and User Centred Design within NHS Digital, NHS England and the wider health and care system.
Empower, grow and mature the capability and diversity of a large, multi-disciplinary team and wider professional community, including capabilities in Product Management, User Research, Content and Design.
Collaborate and partner with a wide range of internal and external senior stakeholders to drive clarity, alignment of vision and consistency of approach to meet NHS Digital’s strategic objectives.
Instill a vibrant, open, agile culture and approach, delivering impactful, measurable outcomes through the quality of the work you inspire and produce.
About the person

As a recognised subject matter expert working within the public or commercial sector, to ensure we meet and go beyond the expectations of our users, you’ll:

Have successfully defined, embedded and matured a Product Management and User Centred Design philosophy, systems approach and vision and agile ways of working in an organisation of significant complexity.
Have led and inspired multi-disciplinary teams to deliver outstanding results in times of challenge and change, through being an empathetic, first-class communicator and leader.
Have the conviction, energy and experience to shape and cultivate the development and capability of your team and the wider Product Management and Service Design community, across a complex matrix based organisation.
Possess excellent, well-rounded leadership attributes as an exceptional practitioner and thought leader, able to bring clear, fresh thinking and ideas to meet complex product and service challenges, with proven experience of building trust and credibility with a diverse, senior stakeholder community.
Have created an appetite for continuous improvement whilst setting and meeting high standards that deliver tangible outcomes for users, measured by results and user feedback.
Be comfortable dealing with ambiguity, interpreting a complex range of often conflicting requirements, to deliver truly exceptional service design and customer journeys for digital products that meet the needs of a diverse and rapidly growing range of users.
This significant leadership role of unrivalled opportunity, challenge and substance, provides a unique platform for the Associate Director for Product Management & User Centred Design to transform the services we deliver to the NHS and our staff, and to visibly improve the patient experience and life outcomes for all those we are proud to serve.

 

 

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