Position Overview
The Central Financial Management Team in the NHS England Finance and Planning Directorate is now recruiting for a Senior Lead. This is a fantastic opportunity to be at the heart of work to support the NHS. You will help ensure that NHS England allocates, manages, and reports on its multi‑billion pound budget to deliver excellent outcomes for patients. It is a great opportunity to build a broad range of experience and understanding across almost all areas of NHS activity.
Responsibilities
* Work closely with government to agree NHS funding
* Ensure the NHS lives within its annual budget
* Decide how to distribute the funding to the different NHS services and parts of England
* Support innovative programmes that improve the care and experience of NHS patients or people using NHS services
* Set out the financial and performance priorities the NHS should be delivering each year
* Report how much the NHS has spent on providing services each year
* Explore how the NHS can make the best use of its money
* Look at how spend on building or equipment can improve the care and experience of people using NHS services
* Consider how nationally we use these resources to improve healthcare outcomes, reduce inequality, improve health and support the NHS
Desired Skills & Experience
* Ability to manage and report on complex £m+ budgets and explain to senior stakeholders in an easy‑to‑understand way
* Interest in finance systems and the potential of robotics/AI and a passion for system and process improvement
* Strategic thinking – ability to anticipate and resolve problems before they arise
* Technically strong accountant who enjoys being involved in a broad range of finance work
* Detailed understanding of wider NHS Finance
Additional Information
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms – enabling us to design and deliver high‑quality NHS services.
In March 2025 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.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
Interested in applying and want to find out more about our team and the work we do? Please email Mike Lowe on Michael.lowe2@nhs.net if you would like to discuss.
This advert closes on Thursday 11 Jun 2026.
Secondments
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.
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