Deputy Director of Nursing Research for System Transformation

The Deputy Director for Nursing Research provides senior professional leadership to deliver a national strategy that strengthens nursing and midwifery research capacity and capability across health and social care. The role focuses on embedding research into everyday practice, increasing the visibility and impact of the professions, and demonstrating their contribution to transformational system change and evidence-based care.

Reporting to the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer (Professional and System Leadership), the post holder works as part of the senior nursing and midwifery leadership team, collaborating across national, regional and local organisations, and with key external partners including arm's-length bodies, professional organisations, and academic institutions.

The role is pivotal in advancing national nursing research priorities, supporting professional development, and ensuring research is integral to service delivery. It also provides strategic leadership for genomics within nursing, supporting the profession's central role in the emerging genomic population health service, in line with the ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan., Main duties of the jobo Encourage nursing and midwifery staff to undertake relevant research which will inform and support the sustainability and transformation of services to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and the population;o Build on and further develop the nursing research portfolio as a resource to articulate the research agenda in nursing and midwifery, to strengthen the narrative so research becomes inherent in nursing;o Support and champion the right settings and support for nurses to undertake research within the new pathways of healthcare delivery;o Work with key partners and stakeholders in establishing research as a core skill in nursing that occurs in both pre and post graduate training to increase the confidence to pursue a research career thereafter;o Increase the understanding of the importance of higher educational institutes for nursing research;o Promote and support the impact of collaboration and the use of evidence as evaluation;o Work with key
stakeholders to encourage wider representation of research needs and application across the system

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.