Job summary
Are you ready to apply your product expertise and leadership skills in a role that truly makes a difference to peoples lives? If so, this is an excellent opportunity to join the IT Service Operations team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Main duties of the job
Reporting to Steve Thomas, you will provide strategic leadership and direction to a growing Product Ownership function, ensuring the delivery of high-quality products that support and advance the Trusts vision for integrated digital services. As a senior leader, you will be part of a high-performing, collaborative, and operations-focused team, driving innovation and continuous improvement. In return, we offer a varied and engaging role within a supportive and dynamic team, where you will have the opportunity to make a difference.
About us
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to delivering the highest quality and safest treatment and care to every patient, every time. Our vision is to provide the highest quality specialist and integrated care. We will do this through delivery of our multi-year goals and strategic priorities, which you can read about on this page. Central to it all is The Leeds Way our values and behaviours that are at the heart of everything we do.
Details
- Date posted: 29 July 2026
- Pay scheme: Agenda for change
- Band: Band 8b
- Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year
- Contract: Permanent
- Working pattern: Full-time
- Reference number: 001707
- Job locations: St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS9 7TF, United Kingdom
Job responsibilities
Shortlisting Date: 28/08/2026
Interview Date: 17/09/2026
Why you should join our Team
DIT at LTHT is a highly motivated and inclusive place to work. We hold our Leeds Way Values in high esteem and respect all colleagues. Within the trust we are always looking to improve and give the best service possible, and we are looking for individuals with the same drive to join us.
DIT look after the Trusts information technology, responsible for delivering and embedding the latest digital innovations, finding the right hardware and software to meet business needs, turning information into insight and everything in between. Its an exciting time to join us, as we offer varied and rewarding opportunities.
Wed love to consider your application if you want to be a part of delivering operational services that allow patients to be treated effectively across Leeds.
Please note that if you are applying for a fixed term position, should funding be available to support there may be a possibility of the position becoming permanent.
If you choose to use Al tools to complete your application, please take the time to edit and personalise your application and ensure that the language used reflects your behaviours, ideas and values. We want to understand what you can bring to LTHT and your reasons for applying, not a version of these created by AI. AI is a tool, it is not a replacement for your thoughts, experience and ideas.
What you will bring to the role
- Extensive experience of working on improvement or change led projects in the health sector
- Experience of managing IT products and systems
- Experience of working at strategic level, able to recognise direction and implications of policy and the potentially competing priorities/interests
- Experience of working within an acute Trust
- Knowledge of health service management
- Has substantial experience of managing an IM&T Team
- Experience of projects that span multiple organisations Has contributed to the development of IM&T strategy and its tactical implementation
- Excellent leadership and motivational skills to encourage collaborative working to improve services/performance where there may be resistance to change and where priorities differ. This will involve a high level of negotiation and diplomacy
- Experience of delivering organisational business change management
- Ability to review, analyse, interpret, and compare a range of options/highly complex requirements
Please see the attached job description for further information about this vacancy.
About Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Our Trust values
The Leeds Way is working together to support each other and deliver the best possible care to patients.
We are.
Responsible Open and Honest One Team Kind
Our Trust priorities
Our purpose: Excellent, safe and sustainable care for every patient every time
Our priorities:
People Improvement and Innovation Partnerships Outcomes
To comply with UK Government regulations on Skilled Worker sponsorship, Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust is unable to provide sponsorship to applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria or the salary threshold concessions set out under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please take this into consideration before submitting your application. Full guidance on these concessions, including details of who may qualify, can be found here.
We reserve the right to close this advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.
Person specification
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Honest, fair, and consistent in approach and to accept responsibility for one’s own achievements, acts and omissions.
- Respect confidentiality in line with National, Trust and local policies and guidelines.
- A positive and professional attitude.
- Committed to providing the highest quality deliverables within projects and programmes.
- To promote, support and work towards the delivery and achievement of the Trust’s and department’s objectives.
- A business-like appearance.
- Commitment to own personal & professional development as agreed with their line manager.
- Commitment to their teams’ personal & professional development.
- Provide guidance and support to all project staff so that they can perform at a consistently high level.
Behaviours and Skills
Essential
- Ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders to assess and analyse service requirements; identifying, expertly analysing and prioritising areas of system development to aid delivery of LTHT services, improve performance and support service redesign in alignment with the Local and National Strategic objectives.
- Ability to review, analyse, interpret, and compare a range of options/highly complex requirements.
- Excellent communicator (both verbal and written).
- Analytical, problem solving and facilitation skills.
- Excellent leadership and motivational skills to encourage collaborative working to improve services/performance where there may be resistance to change and where priorities differ. This will involve a high level of negotiation and diplomacy.
- Change management
- Excellent presentation skills and ability to present highly complex, technical, sensitive or contentious information to groups for consideration and agreement which can include proposed major changes.
- Ability to lead workshops to large groups of staff / stakeholders
- High level of personal and professional Integrity.
- Strong negotiation and persuasion skills. Ability to negotiate and influence at a senior level with all stakeholders including consultants, senior managers, stakeholders, managers, other staff, and suppliers.
- Professional, self-starter and able to self-direct work.
- Diplomatic, self-motivated and enthusiastic with a professional attitude.
- A good team player, with the ability to work flexibly in a diverse and demanding environment to meet the evolving needs of the department.
- Respect the working environment, to be responsible for one’s own acts and omissions in relation to Health & Safety.
- Responsible for appropriate use of Programme Management within the working environment.
- Willingness to undergo all training requirements necessary for the post
- Proven leadership qualities.
- Organisational skills and problem-solving ability.
- Ability to interpret guidance and policies to imply in practice.
- Able to be assertive in negotiation on difficult and controversial issues such as performance and change
- Ability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Extensive experience of working on improvement or change led projects in the health sector.
- Extensive experience and proven ability in working with services to achieve business readiness for implementation.
- Possess a good standard of written and spoken English.
- Advanced computer literacy and willingness to further computer skills.
- A thorough understanding of all policies and procedures governing the Trust’s approach and delivery of IT projects.
- An understanding of team management and the policy and procedures governing the Trust’s approach to managing staff.
- Has extensive experience in the IT industry
- Experience of managing incoming and outgoing information requirements, handling correspondence/queries which may be highly complex, sensitive or highly confidential
- Has substantial experience of managing an IM&T Team.
- Has extensive direct experience in all aspects of procurement and contract management
- Has successfully justified substantial investment in IT
- Has secured and monitored substantial project budgets.
- Good understanding of how to negotiate large, complex and performance related IT contracts, including all legal elements.
- Extensive knowledge of NHS IT and Modernisation initiatives.
- Has a thorough appreciation of the opportunities that new technology creates.
- Preparation of organisational strategies and objectives.
- Good commercial awareness and contract management experience
- Project/programme management experience using the PRINCE2 project management methodology.
Desirable
- Experience of Business Process Mapping
- Experience of MS Office Suite including Visio and project
- Knowledge of MS Project
- Knowledge of health service management
- Experience of projects that span multiple organisations
- Has contributed to the development of IM&T strategy and its tactical implementation.
- Experience of working within an acute Trust.
- Experience of working at strategic level, able to recognize direction and implications of policy and the potentially competing priorities/interests
Qualifications and Training
Essential
- Masters degree or equivalent experience
- Evidence of continued professional development.
- Product Owner Qualification or equivalent experience
Desirable
- Prince 2 Agile
- Leadership Qualification
- Prince 2 Practitioner qualification - or equivalent experience
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Head of Product Ownership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in Leeds, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Administrative and IT role. The advertised salary is £66582.00 to £77368.00. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 12 Aug 2026.
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