Chief Data Officer

Job overview

Be the Intelligence Behind the Future of Cancer Care Are you ready to lead one of the most exciting data transformations in UK healthcare? The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Chief Data Officer (CDO) to spearhead our journey toward becoming the UK’s most intelligent cancer hospital. This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of cancer care through data, analytics, and innovation—driving personalised medicine, operational excellence, and ground-breaking research.

Why This Role Matters At The Christie, data isn’t just numbers—it’s knowledge, insight, and life-saving potential. As CDO, you’ll lead the strategic direction of enterprise-wide data management, governance, and analytics. You’ll be the architect of our data future, enabling clinicians, researchers, and operational teams to make smarter, faster, and more impactful decisions. You’ll champion the Pathway to Intelligent Hospital – Joint Analytics for Cancer, collaborating with national bodies, academic institutions, and industry partners to unlock the power of real-world data.

Main duties of the job

What You’ll Do Lead the development and delivery of a Trust-wide data strategy aligned with national priorities     like Data Saves Lives and the NHS Long Term Plan. Drive innovation in AI, predictive modelling, and population health analytics. Oversee data governance, architecture, and quality across all systems. Enable secure, ethical data sharing to reduce health inequalities. Support research and clinical trials with high-quality, curated data. Cultivate a data-literate culture across the Trust, empowering staff to use data for better care and smarter decisions.

What We’re Looking For We’re seeking a visionary leader with: Proven experience in senior data leadership, ideally in healthcare or public sector. Strategic insight and technical expertise in data platforms, governance, and analytics. A passion for innovation, curiosity, and solving complex system-wide challenges. The ability to influence at executive level and inspire multidisciplinary teams. A commitment to equity, sustainability, and ethical data use.

What Makes This Role Unique This isn’t just a data role—it’s a transformational leadership position. You’ll be at the heart of shaping how data drives care, research, and operational strategy in one of the UK’s leading cancer centres. You’ll have the freedom to innovate, the support to lead, and the platform to make a lasting impact.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES •    Oversee the quality, security, and lifecycle management of data across all Trust systems. •    Define the roadmap and oversee the implementation of organisational level data platforms, tools, capabilities and functions to ensure the Christie is a leader in the uses of high quality ‘real world data’.  •    Enable the use of data for clinical decision support, operational intelligence, and performance improvement. •    Support research, innovation, and academic partnerships by ensuring access to high-quality, well-curated data. •    Lead the development of advanced analytics capabilities, including AI and predictive modelling, to support population health and personalised care. •    Develop and implement a Trust-wide data strategy aligned with national priorities for cancer care. •    Lead data governance, ensuring compliance with standards (e.g. GDPR, Caldicott Principles, Ethics). •    Champion data literacy and foster a culture of data-driven decision-making across the Trust. •    Collaborate with partners to enable secure and ethical data sharing across organisational boundaries for the benefit of our patients.

PLANNING AND ORGANISATIONAL TASKS / DUTIES •    Manage and lead teams in line with the trust’s workforce and related policies, standing financial instructions and scheme of delegation, and other relevant policies and procedures.  •    Develop and achieve annual objectives for data services within the framework of the Trust’s objectives and agreed strategy.  •    Manage allocated budgets within the requirements of the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation and Standing Financial Instructions.  •    Produce an annual rolling investment plan for data infrastructure including capital, revenue and staffing resource.  •    Lead the specification of data platforms •    Measure and advance the Trusts analytical maturity using benchmarked standards of assessment. •    Develop and implement policies and procedures in line with requirements and best practice. Ensure compliance of the clinical systems with Safety of Health Systems standards, appropriate NHS Information Standards Notices (ISNs) and National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) notices.  •    Ensure compliance with the requirements of information governance, data protection and freedom of information guidance and legislation.

RESPONSIBILITIES FOR INFORMATION RESOURCES •    Support provision of modern digital infrastructure, that fully support the operational, clinical, and business data/intelligence needs of the trust.  •    Oversee the delivery of an effective set of comprehensive and proactive data and intelligence support services.   •    Ensure the effective management of data assets, ensuring these are actively monitored with clear ownership and accountability.  •    Ensure the provision of effective data protection measures to adequately secure and maintain systems data Lead, link, partner and utilise resources and capabilities available from industry and NHS partners, to provide mutual benefits in the advancement of data utilisation with our patient needs at the centre of all decisions.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONDUCT  •    Adhere to impeccable standards of personal conduct and demonstrate commitment to the trust’s values  •    Ensure personal professional knowledge is regularly updated and keep abreast of relevant developments.  •    Adhere to the expectations set by the trust’s values  •    Adhere to the Code of Conduct for NHS Managers.  •    Implement systems and processes, so that in the event of absence, access to all appropriate information is maintained to allow the continued safe and effective running of the services under your leadership.

ON-CALL •    Participate in the Executive on-call rota