Delivery Lead
The closing date is 14 June 2026
Are you passionate about transforming cancer care and making a real impact for patients? The Northern Cancer Alliance is seeking a dynamic Delivery Lead (AFC Band 7) to drive innovation and value for money in planning, commissioning, and service provision. Based at Northumbria House, Cobalt, or North Ormesby Health Village, you'll collaborate with partners to design and improve services, manage Alliance projects, and champion the interests of patients and the public as part of a forward‑thinking team.
This role requires strong project management skills, the ability to build relationships across organisations, and a background in management studies or equivalent experience. You will implement best practices, oversee budgets and ensure compliance with standards while leading strategic initiatives within a complex healthcare environment. If you’re ready to make a difference and drive change in cancer pathways, this is the role for you.
This is a hybrid role, combining home working with attendance at our base sites (Northumbria House at Cobalt or North Ormesby Health Village), as well as provider and service partner sites across the North East and North Cumbria. The post holder will be expected to work flexibly, balancing home working with in‑person engagement as required to support delivery of the programme.
Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.
Main duties of the job
The role supports the Cancer Alliance business in driving transformation as well as value for money in planning, commissioning and service provision. The role is designed to build a combination of subject matter expertise and technical skills to develop a strong service delivery. The role will work with partners in service design and improvement.
As a Delivery Lead, the post holder will work as part of a dynamic team in delivering an effective service supporting managers and staff across the Northern Cancer Alliance to improve pathways of care for cancer patients.
The post-holder will support the Programme Manager and the team to ensure that their work stream of projects are planned and managed effectively and take the lead in assisting in their successful delivery:
* Manage the Alliance projects as allocated, including developing and managing the project plan, progress and reporting risk and issue management.
* Liaise with appropriate functions and teams across the Alliance as required.
* Develop and implement a content management system to ensure information is properly managed and best practice is shared across the Alliance.
* Act as a champion for patients and their interests and involve the public and patients in the policy development and decision‑making of the Cancer Alliance.
About us
The Northern Cancer Alliance (NCA) represents an integration of all stakeholders in cancer services for its population of 3.1 million people. The NCA consists of statutory and non‑statutory bodies but is not a statutory organisation in its own right.
The NCA adopts a whole‑population, whole‑pathway approach to addressing the ambitions of the Long Term Plan for Cancer. Working across its geographical footprint to transform services and care, reducing variation in the availability of good care and the outcomes of treatment while aiming to deliver continuous improvement in patient experience, and reductions in inequality of access.
The NCA recognises the value of meaningful public involvement and acknowledges the interdependency between patient safety, clinical effectiveness and the patient experience within cancer care and treatment services. The Alliance is fully committed to the involvement of the public in all aspects of its work and embedding a culture wherein involvement is part of "usual business".
In order to deliver its ambitions, the NCA Team will be distributed across its footprint and encompass a central core Alliance team to drive forward the development and delivery of the Delivery Plan, along with resources within local ICB footprint areas to drive delivery at a local level.
Job responsibilities
This Delivery Lead role within the Northern Cancer Alliance is responsible for leading and managing a portfolio of projects to support the delivery of cancer service transformation and improvement. The post holder works closely with programme managers, teams and system partners to plan, coordinate and deliver projects effectively, ensuring risks, issues, performance and finances are actively monitored and managed. The role involves building strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, providing expert advice, analysing performance data, and presenting complex information to support decision‑making. It also contributes to strategic and operational planning, ensuring alignment with wider organisational priorities and improving cancer care pathways.
A key element of the role is championing patient and public involvement, addressing health inequalities, and ensuring patient experience informs service development. In addition, the Delivery Lead supports budget oversight, policy and service development, team leadership, and governance requirements, while working with a high level of autonomy to manage competing priorities and deliver outcomes in a complex and changing environment.
Qualifications
* Educated to Post‑graduate degree level in a relevant subject such as Management Studies or equivalent level qualification or significant experience of working at a similar level in a specialist area.
* Further training or significant experience in project management, financial management or supporting management processes.
Experience & Knowledge
* Experience of managing a number of projects.
* Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment.
* An understanding of cancer services and/or population health management.
* Experience of monitoring budgets and business planning processes. Understanding of the public sector.
* Comprehensive knowledge of project principles, techniques and tools, such as Prince 2 Foundation and Microsoft Project.
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.
Address
Northumbria House Park or North Ormesby Health Village
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
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