Principal Business and Operational Delivery Manager | NHS England

The National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care (NDG) advise the health and adult social care system in England to help ensure that people's confidential information is kept safe and used appropriately.

The Office of the National Data Guardian (ONDG) is hosted by NHS England in the PTT sub-directorate and supports the NDG in achieving her vision and mission.

ONDG staff are all NHS England employees. This role is the most senior in the ONDG. An agreement is in place between NHS England and the NDG which outlines that the NDG has operational independence. As such, you will sit within the Privacy, Transparency, and Trust sub-directorate structure but will be operationally accountable to the NDG.

The post holder will act as the Head of the ONDG, leading the team of office staff that supports the NDG, the NDG advisory panel and the UK Caldicott Guardian Council.

Ensure the ONDG functions effectively, ensuring; high quality advice and guidance is produced in a timely manner, excellent stakeholder relationships are maintained, strong and efficient governance for the NDG, clear and timely communications to internal and external audiences and smooth running of the organisation (i.e. budgets, hosting arrangements, procurement, team leadership).

Develop and maintain trusted and effective relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders, including senior officials in NHSE and DHSC.

Be the NDG's principal advisor, supporting the NDG to develop her priorities, strategy and vision, lead the team to deliver these, and to communicate these and progress to stakeholders and the public.

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 announcedthat 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.