Job summary
- Main area
- Acute and Specialised Care
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8c
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 104-ICB-6468TG
- Employer
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Omega House
- Town
- Eastleigh
- Salary
- £79,504 - £91,609 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 06/09/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Associate Director, Acute Care (Specialised, Regional, Supra-regional)
NHS AfC: Band 8c
Job overview
Please note this organisation does not hold a sponsorship licence, we regret to inform you that we are unable to consider applications from individuals who require sponsorship.
NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight is seeking an Associate Director of Acute Care to join our team and lead the strategic commissioning of Specialised, Regional and Supra-regional care.
Working across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the wider Wessex and South East region, the role is responsible for commissioning high-quality, person-centred services and making best use of health budgets to improve health and healthcare, both now and in the future.
If you bring senior level experience of commissioning, strategic planning and cross-organisational change, and highly developed recent specialist knowledge and expertise in commissioning specialised, regional, and supra-regional care, this is an outstanding opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of people across our region.
Main duties of the job
You will lead the design, planning, procurement, monitoring and evaluation of services, ensuring they align with population needs, reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes. This will include leading our commissioning strategy, market-shaping activity and contract management for areas such as delegated specialised commissioning, ambulance and patient transport services, and acute services such as cancer.
You will foster collaborative working within our system and region, strengthen relationships, ensure intelligence-led decision making and a strong focus on quality, innovation and value for money. This is a leadership role where your ideas, insight and influence will help build and shape the services of the future. You will also represent NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight regionally, ensuring our voice is heard, and solutions meet the need of the population we serve.
Along with extensive specialist knowledge and experience, you will have experience of analysing highly complex data, insight and intelligence and managing successful programmes, together with excellent political awareness and wide ranging communication skills, and the ability to negotiate and influence others over difficult and controversial issues.
Working for our organisation
NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) is one of the largest Integrated Care Boards in England, serving a population of over 2 million people. Working alongside our NHS providers, local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and wider partners, we are committed to improving health outcomes, tackling inequalities and delivering sustainable, high-quality health and care services. We are committed to creating the best place to work, where your contribution is valued, and all our colleagues can reach their full potential. We offer competitive benefits, flexible working, and a positive team atmosphere.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the job description and person specification for more details. If you think this role is for you, please contact Emma Lewis, Deputy Director of Acute and Specialised Care on [email protected]. We are looking to recruit and interview in week commencing 14 or 21 September 2026.
Person specification
Qualifications and experience
Essential criteria
- Educated to Masters level in relevant subject or equivalent level qualification or equivalent experience in a specialist commissioning or service management capacity.
- Programme/ project management qualification and/or management qualification, or equivalent level of experience.
- Demonstrable senior management experience.
- Significant experience of strategic commissioning, and of designing and procuring healthcare services to deliver improved patient outcomes within financial envelopes.
- Extensive experience of developing complex budgets and business plans involving a range of separate funding streams, organisations, and policies / processes.
- Significant experience of developing and implementing programmes to redesign and improve acute and specialised care services and pathways, deliver new ways of working and strategic priorities, in a complex, multi-agency environment.
- Experience of staff management (preferably within a complex, multi funding stream environment).
- Experience of managing and motivating a team and managing performance of individuals.
- Experience of policy development and implementation in specialist areas.
Skills and abilities
Essential criteria
- Evidence of conceptualising, planning and successfully delivering large programmes, projects, and service changes on time and to budget.
- Demonstrated ability to make judgements and decisions on a range of highly complex commissioning and other issues.
- Adaptability, flexibility, and ability to cope with uncertainty and change.
- Completer / finisher with a high level of attention to detail.
- Plans and organises a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances.
- Ability to prioritise own work and those of the team and able to direct activities of others.
- Ability to act autonomously running a complex portfolio of programmes on a day-to-day basis, and to make decisions autonomously on difficult issues.
- Ability to enthuse and motivate others.
- Attention to detail and accuracy.
- Adaptability, flexibility, and ability to cope with uncertainty and change.
- Ability to manage disciplinary procedures as required, to manage poor performance and conduct.
- Ability to inform, develop and significantly contribute to the development of corporate policies and strategies and ensure compliance within own area.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Extensive specialist knowledge of NHS services including acute and specialised care services.
- Extensive understanding of current health service policy and national initiatives for strategic commissioning and service development.
- Expert level knowledge and experience of a wide range of complex funding streams across both health and social care economies.
- Highly developed specialist knowledge of commissioning and acute and specialised care services, with strong working knowledge of related disciplines including procurement, service redesign, performance management and workforce management.
- Deep knowledge of issues affecting diversity, inclusion and health inequalities in healthcare.
Communication and interpersonal skills
Essential criteria
- Highly developed, wide ranging communication skills, developed through significant experience.
- Excellent presentational skills, able to convey complex concepts, often required to prepare executive level briefs at short notice.
- Excellent presentational skills, able to convey complex concepts, often required to prepare executive level briefs at short notice.
- Ability to use informed persuasion to influence others including board and senior managers of the respective merits of different options, innovation, and market opportunities.
- Extensive experience of negotiating over difficult and controversial issues including performance, strategic change, and complex integration.
- Ability to provide and receive highly complex, highly sensitive and highly contentious information, and presenting this to large and influential groups, often in a highly emotive atmosphere.
- Ability to communicate effectively in a sometimes hostile and antagonistic atmosphere where there may be opposing views and motivations.
- Ability to manage direct/ indirect exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances.
- Ability to sensitively impart unwelcome news to stakeholders, which may be challenged, and respond positively to those challenges.
- Confident in dealing with leading opinions that may conflict.
- Assertive in dealing with antagonistic or aggressive behaviour.
- Ability to act as subject matter expert and provide specialist, accurate and insightful advice, information and guidance on acute and specialised care.
- Significant experience of writing and presenting high quality, concise and insightful reports, briefings and other materials, tailoring content to a wide range of audiences including public, patients, clinicians, staff and senior managers/ Boards.
Analytical and problem solving skills
Essential criteria
- Experience of segmenting, stratifying and interrogating highly complex data, intelligence and insight from multiple sources.
- Enhanced ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems autonomously, knowing when to escalate.
- Ability to comprehensively understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ / no obvious solution exists.
- Strong analytical skills and ability to apply sound judgement.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Emma Lewis
- Job title
- Deputy Director of Acute & Specialised Care
- Email address
- [email protected]
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