Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Band 8d
Closing date: 14 December 2025
This is a pivotal leadership role at the heart of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's digital transformation journey. As the Transformation Lead in Digital, you will shape and deliver the strategic vision for how digital, technology and insights can radically improve patient care, staff experience, and operational efficiency. Working closely with the Chief Digital and Information Officer and senior leaders, you'll be instrumental in translating long‑term ambitions into tangible, high‑impact programmes that modernise services and unlock value across the organisation.
You’ll lead the design and implementation of future‑ready operating models, bringing together architecture, transformation, training, and clinical informatics into a cohesive digital ecosystem. This role demands deep expertise in digital strategy, enterprise architecture, and business change – alongside the ability to inspire and mobilise teams across clinical, corporate, and technical domains.
The scope of this role spans strategic planning, innovation, and workforce development. You’ll oversee complex portfolios, manage significant budgets, and ensure robust assurance frameworks are in place to support safe, scalable, and resilient digital delivery for better patient care. Your leadership will extend beyond the Trust, representing GHFT in regional and national forums, and forging partnerships with academic, industry, and system stakeholders to accelerate innovation and shared learning.
Main duties of the job
* Utilise specialist skills in transformation of functions and services to modernise existing services
* Work collaboratively across all stakeholders in the system to ensure visibility and accountability across the digital portfolio
* Responsible for developing, agreeing and manage budgets to fund and deliver digital transformation
* Together with the strategic leadership team understand, build and develop the overall digital delivery roadmap, which includes data, digital and technology
* Enable a culture of rapid delivery, using both agile and waterfall methodologies, as appropriate
* Bring patient and community focus to ensure all digital change considers digital capabilities, readiness and user experience from the outset
* Enable achievement of exceptional levels of customer (digital service user) experience and service responsiveness
* Lead and modernise GHFT's digital architecture and development functions
* Lead the Clinical Informatics Team
* Develop and implement business change analytics capabilities
* Lead the development, integration and automation functions within Digital, Technology and Insights
* Champion the delivery of enterprise digital solutions that improve operational efficiency, safety, and quality of care.
* Align digital training and capability-building with business change activities and transformation programmes.
* Establish clear benefit frameworks aligned with business cases and strategic priorities
About us
We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.
With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one or both of our innovative hospitals.
As well as generous annual leave allowance, you will have access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on‑site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Job responsibilities
Strategy, Planning, Quality & Assurance
* Ensure the transformation workplan meets business and end‑user requirements, with clear issue resolution and benefit tracking.
* Lead the delivery of solutions and products, underpinned by robust business analysis and appropriate methodologies to support strong business cases.
* Embed a Change Management Framework across digital leadership, enabling seamless transition from design to implementation and run stages.
* Manage strategic risks, compliance, and supplier relationships to ensure safe, efficient, and value‑driven change delivery.
* Align training and business change activities with new developments, working closely with digital skills leads and stakeholders.
* Maintain oversight of performance, assurance, and policy development across transformation domains, ensuring continuous improvement and safe operation.
Innovation, Research and Development
* Lead on aligning digital, R&D strategy, and innovation partnerships into programme delivery capturing evidence of benefits and value.
* Analysing highly complex data and presents effectively to stakeholders to facilitate effective decision‑making.
* Instill an organisational culture that supports engagement in decision‑making and a drive for continuous service change and improvement that is both agile and responsive to deliver high‑quality, safe services.
* Be responsible for the frequent completion of complex surveys and audits relating to the digital directorate.
* Maintain an up‑to‑date knowledge of leading edge, digital technology and services; be able to position technology and digital solutions as key enablers of transformational change and improved patient and colleague experience.
* Identify, develop, and implement innovative digital solutions with a clear evidence base.
* Lead engagement with academic, industry, and health innovation partners to support transformation aims.
Communications and Working Relationships
* Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to explain highly complex technology solutions in business terms, establish rapport and persuade.
* Maintain a formal stakeholder management approach to ensure that all key stakeholders in the system are engaged appropriately.
* Work with stakeholders to create and maintain a single view of the portfolio of change demand for the system and ensure that this is correctly prioritised to meet strategic objectives.
* Ensure the strategic commercial arrangements for cost reduction are identified whilst maintaining the quality of the service provision.
* Be responsible for all highly complex communications relating to Digital, Technology & Insights, including presenting reports and information to boards for decision & update.
* Provide & receive highly complex, contentious & sensitive information relating to the digital strategy and be able to simplify and present to large groups for decision making and progression.
* Act as an expert in the field and communicate with other digital system leaders across the country to utilise joint working.
* Ensure adequate resources are in place to support operations, transition and implementation.
* Maintain strategic relationships with stakeholders including clinical, operational, IT, and external system partners.
* Present complex, sensitive information clearly to boards, executive teams and external audiences.
Planning & Organisational Skills
* Strong financial and resource planning skills
* Detailed understanding of industry frameworks for delivery of digital services
* To support the design and delivery of a systems technology roadmap for the organisation, based on appropriate emerging technologies and systems.
* Understanding of programme & project management methodologies
* In addition to the input relating to the Digital Strategy, be responsible for the identification, development, implementation and ongoing review of long term strategic plans in regards to long term/5 year digital innovation and transformation, for the Trust.
* Develop and deliver long‑term strategic plans for digital transformation across architecture, training, business change and clinical informatics.
* Ensure capability exists across all digital functions to deliver against strategic ambitions.
Governance
* Develop and implement, with support from the Programme Management Office, a clear Change management methodology utilising recognised industry best practice to ensure the effective planning and delivery of work.
* Develop performance indicators to enable monitoring, and management, of the functions performance in contributing to achievement of the organisations strategic ambitions.
* Establish governance frameworks for architecture, transformation, and benefits management.
* Lead service level agreement negotiations and performance management of digital providers.
* Lead the development and implementation of enterprise architecture principles, ensuring systems are scalable, interoperable, and aligned with Trust and IC [...]
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