Job summary
- Main area
- Finance
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8b
- Contract
- Fixed term: 6 months (Secondment only for current NHS employees until 31 March 2027)
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 990-FIN-EC5926-E
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Any NHSE Office
- Town
- Nationally
- Salary
- £66,582 - £77,368 per annum (exclusive of London Weighting)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 21/10/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Manager Efficiency Strategy
NHS AfC: Band 8b
Our Organisation
We share the core values set out in the NHS Constitution, which all colleagues are expected to demonstrate.
We support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you and your colleagues. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement, whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern.
As part of our commitment to improving patient safety and maintaining safe and trusted services, all successful candidates will be subject to Baseline Personnel Security Screening (BPSS), which includes a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. By submitting your application, you are confirming your agreement to these checks being undertaken as part of the recruitment process.
Anyone who has received a voluntary or compulsory redundancy payment from NHS England since the start of the 2026/27 financial year is not eligible to apply.
Job overview
The Efficiency Strategy team in the NHS England Finance and Planning Directorate is now recruiting for a Senior Manager role.
In the role you will:
· Work within a dynamic and multi-skilled team seeking to develop an emerging approach which better understands and can improve NHS productivity and efficiency which is a key priority for Government
· Identify both high-level and service specific productivity and efficiency opportunities and support the implementation of improvement plans across all NHS trust sectors and systems
· Use a wide range of skills – whether existing or require development – to solve varied problems across new and existing areas. We would encourage people from all backgrounds who are keen to develop their strategy skills and experience to apply for example those with analytical skills or currently working in an analytical role
This is a fantastic opportunity to be at the heart of work to support the NHS. We
· work closely with government to agree NHS funding
· ensure the NHS lives within its annual budget
· 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
· explore how the NHS can make the best use of its money
· consider how nationally we use these resources to improve healthcare outcomes, reduce inequality, improve health and support the NHS
Main duties of the job
The team offers high profile, fast-paced projects. This requires adaptability, rigor and innovation and provides exciting development opportunities for those developing their careers in the NHS, health or the public sector.
Below are the types of skills and experience that we are looking for. Even if you feel you only meet some of the criteria, we encourage you to apply.
· Leading the development of a strategy for efficiency and productivity improvement through a process of research and evaluation.
· Leading the delivery of our efficiency strategy, including management of interdependencies within NHSE and with other NHS national bodies.
· Using quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand where efficiency and productivity gains can be made and how this can help to inform planning and budget setting.
· Producing high-quality outputs to support engagement and communication of efficiency and productivity plans with senior internal and external stakeholders.
· Working effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary team to ensure that the development of efficiency and productivity strategies are well communicated to external audiences.
Working for our organisation
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
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.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Interested in applying and want to find out more about our team and the work we do?
Please contact:
Matthew Marsh, Senior Lead Efficiency Strategy [email protected]
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.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to master’s level or equivalent level of experience of working in specialist area
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Experience of strategy development and implementation, using structured problem-solving skills to break down issues, evaluate options and make recommendations
- Experience of building effective cross functional working relationships to drive organisational agenda
- In-depth understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and an appreciation of the implications of this
Skills
Essential criteria
- Highly developed communication skills with the capability to analyse, review and make sense of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information across a diverse range of subjects relevant to post portfolio
- Demonstrable skills in presenting complex concepts and information which may include difficult and controversial issues, across a wide range of audiences
- Ability to work without supervision, providing specialist advice to the organisation, working to tight and often changing timescales
Values
Essential criteria
- Commitment to equality of opportunity, focussed on removing barriers to full participation and values diversity and difference
- Embrace change, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and develop
- Demonstrates honesty and integrity and promotes organisational values
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Matthew Marsh
- Job title
- Senior Lead Efficiency Strategy
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01234567890
- Additional information
NA
List jobs with NHS England in Administrative Services or all sectors