Chief Strategy, Digital and Partnerships Officer – Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

This is a defining moment for healthcare in Bristol and an exceptional opportunity to help shape the future of one of the largest and most ambitious NHS organisations in the country.

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust was formed on 1 July 2026, bringing together North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. With 28,000 colleagues, an annual turnover of £2.6 billion, 13 hospital sites and more than 160 clinical services, we provide local, specialist and tertiary care to communities across Bristol and the wider South West.

We are now seeking an outstanding Chief Strategy, Digital and Partnerships Officer to join our Board and Executive Team and help determine what comes next.

Reporting directly to our Chief Executive, you will lead a broad and influential portfolio spanning strategy, digital transformation, partnerships, strategic planning and organisational transformation. You will help position the Trust for long-term success at a time of significant organisational and NHS change.

Our ambition goes beyond bringing two organisations together. We have an opportunity to rethink how healthcare is organised and delivered across Bristol and the wider system: reducing duplication, integrating pathways, moving more care closer to communities, strengthening prevention and population health, and making much greater use of digital technology, data, research and innovation.

As Chief Strategy, Digital and Partnerships Officer, you will provide the strategic leadership required to turn these ambitions into reality. You will ensure our clinical, workforce, financial, estates and digital ambitions come together as a coherent whole, while providing executive leadership for digital transformation and technology-enabled change. Digital will be a fundamental enabler of clinical transformation, productivity and new models of care.

Partnership will be equally important. You will be a senior ambassador for Bristol NHS Foundation Trust across BNSSG and beyond, developing influential relationships with the ICB, NHS England, local authorities, universities, research partners, primary care, the voluntary sector and other providers. You will help shape our Integrated Health Organisation ambitions, provider collaborations and the development of more integrated and neighbourhood-based models of care.

We are looking for an established executive leader who combines strategic breadth with a strong orientation towards delivery. You will need to be comfortable operating at Board level while also being able to translate long-term ambition into practical programmes, priorities and measurable benefits.

You will bring significant senior leadership experience from a large and complex healthcare organisation or comparable environment, alongside a strong track record of developing organisational strategy, leading major transformation and working successfully across organisational boundaries. You will understand how digital, data and technology can enable organisational and clinical change and have the credibility to influence senior clinicians, operational leaders, Board colleagues and external partners.

The environment will be complex and, at times, ambiguous. We need someone who is highly collaborative but prepared to challenge; intellectually strong but pragmatic; able to build relationships while maintaining momentum; and comfortable leading through influence where delivery often sits across multiple executive portfolios.

Above all, this is an opportunity to help build something genuinely different. The scale of Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, its clinical expertise, academic and research partnerships, and the opportunities created by organisational integration provide an exceptional platform from which to shape the future of healthcare across Bristol and the wider South West.

If you are excited by the opportunity to bring together strategy, digital transformation and partnerships to make a lasting difference for patients and communities, we would be delighted to hear from you.

We want our leadership to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and particularly welcome applications from people from underrepresented groups. We are committed to creating an inclusive organisation where different perspectives, backgrounds and experiences are valued.

For a confidential discussion about the role, please contact our recruitment partners at Hunter Healthcare via Finn McNulty on [email protected] or 07966 006091.

Candidate Information Pack