Head of Digital Operations & Infrastructure

Go back Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Head of Technical Operations & Infrastructure, Band 8c

The closing date is 19 July 2026

This is a pivotal digital leadership role responsible for the planning, assurance, and secure delivery of all core digital infrastructure and user support services across GHFT.

Reporting to the Director of Digital Operations (CTO), the post holder will manage the functions critical to the Trust's digital stability and resilience.

The post holder will play a critical role in advising and influencing senior clinical and corporate leaders, providing clear, evidence-based recommendations and assurance on highly complex digital and infrastructure risks, investments, and service performance.

The role requires the ability to communicate highly complex technical issues clearly and confidently to non-technical audiences, including Executive Directors and Board-level forums.

This role is strategically balanced:

- 50% Digital Service Delivery and Service Strategy:
Owning the user experience, governance, continual service improvement, and strategic direction for the Service Desk, Telephony, IT Admin, and small project delivery.

- 50% Core Infrastructure Strategy and Resilience:
Leading the planning, architecture, security assurance, and technical evolution of Server, Data Centre, Network, and foundational Digital Solutions infrastructure.

The postholder will ensure the underlying technology and support ecosystem is resilient, future-proofed, and fully compliant with national (NHS) and local governance requirements, enabling exceptional patient care and a productive staff experience.

The post holder will provide professional, strategic, and operational leadership across the Digital Operations & Infrastructure portfolio, ensuring service continuity, driving technical capability, and leading cultural excellence.

- Direct the strategic and operational functions for Digital Infrastructure (Server, Network, Data Centre), Service Desk (1st/2nd line support), Telephony (Fixed and Mobile), IT Admin, and the Small Works / Projects pipeline.

- Ensure the availability, security, and resilience of all core infrastructure platforms that underpin critical clinical and corporate systems (EPR, PACS, etc.).

- Provide visible senior leadership in Critical Incident Management (CIM), commanding the response to major service outages to minimise clinical impact.

- Act as the strategic link between the overarching Digital Strategy and the operational delivery teams, ensuring all tactical work streams and investments support the Trust's long-term goals.

We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.

With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one or both of our innovative hospitals.

As well as generous annual leave allowance, you will have access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Leadership and Culture

Provide visible, compassionate, and collaborative leadership to all multi-disciplinary teams within the portfolio, fostering a high-performance culture that reflects the Trust values:
Caring, Inclusive, Compassionate, Accountable.

Act as a visible and inspiring leader, driving a service-led culture committed to first-time resolution and excellent user experience across all service desk and infrastructure teams.

Champion a culture of openness, learning, and continuous improvement, ensuring staff feel empowered to contribute to service evolution.

Act as a senior role model for collaborative leadership, engaging confidently with peers and Executive colleagues to shape decisions, influence outcomes, and drive collective ownership of digital resilience and user experience.

Strategy, Planning, Quality & Assurance Develop and execute a strategic roadmap for both Service Delivery and Infrastructure renewal, ensuring technical investment aligns with operational capacity and long-term resilience requirements.

Define, monitor, and report on critical Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs), using performance data to drive service quality and maturity.

Lead the architectural review of infrastructure platforms, ensuring they are scalable, highly available, and capable of…