Joining Hakim Group means becoming part of the UK’s fastest-growing community of independent optical practices. We live by our values - honest, ambitious, kind, industrious, and meticulous. Our people are the heartbeat of our business, and we provide the tools, structure, and support to help you grow professionally and personally. This is a hybrid role, with three days a week based at our HQ in Darwen. You’ll have the opportunity to shape the digital backbone of one of the fastest-growing healthcare organisations in the UK. Your work will directly influence how practices appear online, how patients discover and book care, and how consistently the group delivers high-quality experiences as it scales. Benefits include: Competitive salary Company pension Employee discounts Free on-site parking Cycle-to-work scheme Sick pay As Head of Digital, you will lead the vision, performance, and operation of Hakim Group’s digital ecosystem — 400–500 practice websites, central platforms, and evolving digital services. You will own digital as a commercial growth engine, driving new patient acquisition through organic discovery, SEO/AEO, high-performing booking journeys, and Paid Media campaigns, while maintaining exceptional end-to-end patient experience and seamless handover to practices. Collaborating with IT, Marketing, Creative, CRM/Data, and Practice Operations, you will build a scalable, efficient, and future-ready digital environm ent to support the group’s ambitious growth strategy. Key Responsibilities Define and own the digital strategy, aligned to growth and practice-level goals. Oversee the architecture and management of 500 websites, including design systems, SEO structures, booking journeys, and central platforms. Lead technical and strategic SEO/AEO approaches and organic content strategy across hundreds of practices. Oversee Paid Media (Google & Meta) campaigns, governance, optimisation, and reporting to complement organic acquisition and drive measurable bookings. Optimise modular booking flows and conversion rates across the estate. Ensure end-to-end patient journey quality and practice enablement. Own analytics frameworks, data flows, and insights for actionable decision-making. Manage external agencies, offshore teams, and global production partners. Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary digital team. Explore emerging technologies, AI tools, and workflow automation for continuous improvement. Skills, Knowledge & Experience Essential Significant experience leading large-scale, multi-site digital estates with strong operational governance. Strong grounding in technical SEO, Core Web Vitals, structured data, and scalable multi-location search. Experience owning conversion and user journey optimisation, ideally across booking or high-intent funnels. Deep understanding of analytics (GA4/GTM), tagging/event structures, and data flows into CRM/CDP. Experience partnering with IT on domains, hosting, security/resilience, and system migrations. Successful track record managing agencies and offshore teams with structured governance and SLAs. Strong process mindset: capable of designing scalable workflows and improving delivery quality at volume. Experience coaching and developing high-performing teams. Experience overseeing Paid Media strategy and teams across Google and Meta, ensuring campaigns complement organic acquisition and drive efficient, measurable bookings. Ability to set scalable governance for Paid Media, including account structure, naming conventions, budgets, tracking/attribution, and landing page standards. Skilled in running disciplined optimisation cadences across high-volume local campaigns, including testing, conversion-rate improvement, and lead quality, partnering with Marketing, CRM/Data, and Practice Ops to ensure end-to-end journey alignment. Desirable Experience in healthcare, retail, optical, or other service-led multi-location organisations. Familiarity with headless architectures, PIM platforms, or selective commerce journeys. Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG), GDPR, DSAR, and release governance. Exposure to booking/diary systems and complex journey mapping. Attributes & Behaviours Commercially minded and outcome-focused, with strong judgement on prioritisation and resource allocation. Strategic thinker with strong architectural intuition and operational discipline. Patient- and practice-first mindset: reduces friction, improves clarity, and strengthens in-practice outcomes. Calm, clear, and structured — especially under pressure or during change. Highly collaborative; able to bridge digital, IT, marketing, creative, CRM, and practice ops. Supportive leader who builds confidence, clarity, and accountability within the team. Click apply now and a member of our recruitment team will be in touch GBP £0.00 GBP £0.00