Relationship Lead

Employer Central East Integrated Care Board Employer type NHS Site Gemini House, Bartholomew's Walk, Cambridgeshire Business Park Town Ely Salary £66,582 - £77,368 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 28/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 06/11/2026

We are Central East ICB, the new organisation entrusted with serving more than 3.5 million people across Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Hertfordshire.

We are responsible for making sure that the NHS can continue to support our community – now, and in the future. Everything we do will be guided by our core purpose: to do what best serves the population of this area.

We promise to focus on what makes the biggest difference to people’s lives – acting earlier to help prevent illness and detect disease and making it easier for our community to get the health care they need, closer to home, whenever that’s possible.

Read about our priorities in our strategy document, Our Way .

The Contract Relationship Lead is responsible for managing and maintaining effective relationship based contractual arrangements with providers delivering NHS services and other commissioners, where joint commissioning arrangements are in place.

The postholder will act as the key liaison for contracts between the ICB and providers, fostering collaborative partnerships, resolving issues, and driving continuous improvement in service quality and value for money. Responsible for a portfolio of contract providers, the postholder will be responsible for bringing together subject matter expertise, including Contract Managers, Business Intelligence, clinical, commissioning and finance colleagues from across the ICB to ensure a coordinated and consistent approach to stakeholder engagement and contract management.

This role is responsible for ensuring effective performance oversight arrangements are in place to ensure contracts are delivering in line with agreed expectations, outcomes are being achieved and that risks are identified early and mitigated. The postholder will be responsible for ensuring appropriate developments through the lifecycle of a contract, including changes to services commissioned to reflect emerging best practice and reducing unwarranted variation, working closely with commissioning colleagues and providers to identify opportunities for improvement.

Proposed Interview Date: 6th November 2026

Responsible for leading a portfolio of contracts and contracts team.

Develop and maintain strong relationships with providers and stakeholders, acting as the main named point of contact and relationship lead for the portfolio.

Working closely with the Associate Director, contribute to the development of contract negotiation strategies and lead on elements of contractual planning.

Lead the negotiation, and management of provider contracts, including variations in year to drive continuous improvement to outcomes.

Implement agreed stakeholder and contractual management processes, ensuring effective monitoring and reporting of provider contractual delivery, working closely with the contract’s payer function.

Ensure appropriate oversight of activity, finance and outcome performance and subsequent reporting to ICB Board and relevant sub committees to provide assurance on effective contractual delivery.

Acting as the relationship lead on contractual matters for the ICB, coordinate subject matter expertise from across the ICB in a matrix way, to ensure a cohesive and holistic assessment of performance, risks and opportunities.

Work closely with NHS England teams leading on performance management to support coordinated oversight and reporting on delivery at provider level and ICB…