Head of Software Engineering
NHS EnglandUnited Kingdom7 days ago
Full-timeEngineering, Information Technology
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Digital delivery is central to the NHS’s 10‑year plan to transform healthcare. Modern, scalable digital services are key to improving patient outcomes, reducing pressure on clinical teams, and enabling more personalised care.
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced engineering leader to join our Digital Citizen Portfolio as Head of Software Engineering. The successful candidate will lead engineering for the NHS App and contribute across the wider national digital channels, including the NHS.uk website – one of the most widely used sources of trusted health information in the UK.
The NHS App and NHS.uk will be pivotal in delivering the NHS 10‑year plan. Used millions of times every day, the App increasingly empowers people to manage their own health, access prevention services, and support those they care for. It is becoming the complete digital front door to the NHS, enabling booking, medications management and access to medical records.
The NHS App is built natively in Swift and Kotlin, and our wider tech stack includes Azure, Terraform and C# powering high‑scale national services.
As Head Of Software Engineering You Will
We Lead The NHS In England By
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-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Andrew Blundell Job title: Consultant Systems Engineer Email address: [email protected]
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced engineering leader to join our Digital Citizen Portfolio as Head of Software Engineering. The successful candidate will lead engineering for the NHS App and contribute across the wider national digital channels, including the NHS.uk website – one of the most widely used sources of trusted health information in the UK.
The NHS App and NHS.uk will be pivotal in delivering the NHS 10‑year plan. Used millions of times every day, the App increasingly empowers people to manage their own health, access prevention services, and support those they care for. It is becoming the complete digital front door to the NHS, enabling booking, medications management and access to medical records.
The NHS App is built natively in Swift and Kotlin, and our wider tech stack includes Azure, Terraform and C# powering high‑scale national services.
As Head Of Software Engineering You Will
- Provide technical leadership for national‑scale, highly available mobile apps and distributed systems, following NHS England’s engineering principles
- Partner with internal teams and external suppliers to shape the architecture and design of modern mobile apps and backend systems
- Ensure strong resilience, performance, and cost‑effectiveness across our live services
- Champion service security, safeguarding the large volumes of sensitive data we manage
- Build and lead high‑performing, multi‑team engineering groups (100+ engineers), fostering collaboration and continuous improvement through
- Agile, Lean and DevOps practices
- Mentor and coach engineering talent at all levels
- Collaborate with peers to solve complex engineering challenges and raise organisation‑wide engineering standards, including through communities of practice
- Shape engineering strategy, particularly in mobile development standards and capability growth
- Communicate complex and highly technical concepts clearly to non‑technical audiences
- Act as a senior technical authority for system design, delivery and operations, including engagement with external partners
We Lead The NHS In England By
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where people can develop and make a difference
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money
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-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Andrew Blundell Job title: Consultant Systems Engineer Email address: [email protected]
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