Deputy Director of Diagnostics and Cancer

Job summary

Reporting directly to the Director of Planned Care and Improvement the Deputy Director of Diagnostics and Cancer will lead on the delivery of Diagnostics and Cancer strategy and operations at a regional level working in collaboration with, and through the system coordination teams in the operations directorate. The focus of the role will be on assuring the delivery of Diagnostics and Cancer care performance across the region working alongside the national team and our elective improvement team to ensure this is underpinned by a structured approach to improvement; providing subject matter expertise to Regional colleagues, ICB's and to wider systems and ALBs based on comprehensive experience of managing Diagnostics and Cancer performance measures; interfacing with colleagues responsible for elective, cancer, diagnostics, planning, community and primary care services to ensure the interface between services and sectors is configured to support delivery of planned care.

Main duties of the job

The Deputy Director of Diagnostics and Cancer will work as part of a dynamic team in delivering an effective service supporting managers and staff across East of England Region. The post holder will

• work with regional and system colleagues and with other ALBs and national teams to ensure that the Diagnostics and Cancer performance standards are met, that systems deliver high quality Services and that this is supported by a structured approach to improvement across health systems.
• work alongside regional colleagues to ensure that systems plan and deliver services which meet operational planning and constitutional commitments.
• provide subject matter expertise to Regional colleagues, ICB's and to wider systems and ALBs based on comprehensive experience of managing Diagnostics and Cancer performance measures, and a sound ability to interpret both performance and activity data
• support a system approach to improvement in elective recovery services, using assets from across the system to improve outcomes, experience and efficiency of services.
• be a part of a team with responsibility for analysing performance against a variety of measures, and from this identify strategies and interventions to support and facilitate necessary improvements, at organisation and system level or across East of England
• develop structures and processes to support the sustainable delivery of high quality elective services across East of England.

About us

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.

Details

• Date posted: 10 July 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 9
• Salary: £112,782 to £129,783 a year per annum
• Contract: Secondment
• Duration: 7 months
• Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working
• Reference number: 990-EOE-EC3874-E
• Job locations: Victoria House, Camlife, Fulbourn, CB21 5XB, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

The post holder will have responsibility for the strategic and operational development of the Directorate strategy/plan for Diagnostics and Cancer . Plans to achieve the strategy will be underpinned by the delivery of short to medium term objectives.

Key aspects of this role will be to:

• Ensure the strategy is formulated, understood by all stakeholders and is delivered utilising all available resources efficiently and effectively.
• Develop a structured approach to improvement in elective recovery, drawing on regional and national support and tailored to the needs of each system.
• Ensure the development and management of plans, within the Directorate.
• Ensure appropriate system and processes are in place to enable the implementation of the strategy plans in any new organisations.
• Proactively manage the key risks and issues associated with ensuring appropriate actions are taken to mitigate or respond.
• Monitoring and establishing accountability on the overall progress of the strategy to ensure completion within agreed timescales.
• Manage the budgetary implications of activity.
• Avoid the destabilisation of business as usual.
• Manage and actively promote the relationships with key stakeholder

This is a hybrid post. Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person. There is also an expectation of attendance at monthly, face to face meetings at Victoria house, Cambridge

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.

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.