Transformation Partner
Location: Hybrid. Base location at Harrogate Cardale with infrequent regional travel to Leeds, Harrogate and Halifax offices and other national areas.
Salary: £55,000
Reporting to: Chief Operating Officer
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week)
About the role
The Transformation Partner is a strategic leadership post operating at the intersection of digital innovation, clinical excellence, and service design, enabling Oakdale to become a ‘Brand that Leads’. This role drives the end-to-end lifecycle of transformation projects, from horizon scanning and proof-of-concept to full deployment and scaling.
The primary focus will be leading the operational transformation of Oakdale's assessment and therapy services. You will ensure accessible, efficient, and person-centred pathways aligned with NHS and Local Authority plans, introducing cutting-edge technologies (including AI tools), managing clinical systems deployment, and expanding initiatives that support public- and private-funded healthcare.
About you
As an experienced and forward-thinking professional you will join Oakdale ready to lead the transformation of our services across people, process and technology domains, ensuring we deliver accessible, efficient, and person-centred care.
You’ll be inspired by leading our work in horizon scanning, scoping, testing, and operationalising new and emerging technologies and methodologies that have the potential to transform patient care, operational delivery, and staff experience.
You’ll be ready to act as a catalyst for evidence-informed innovation by bridging front-line insight, clinical priorities, and external innovation. This is a pivotal role at the intersection of clinical delivery, digital strategy, and service improvement. The successful candidate will lead on the design, implementation, and optimisation of digital tools, platforms, and process workflows that enhance clinical outcomes through faster access, better experience, data-led insights, and diversified services for growth.
Key Responsibilities
Digital strategy and transformation pipeline
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Lead the identification, due diligence, and structured assessment of emerging technologies across digital health, AI, and healthcare innovation.
- Establish and maintain an organisational innovation pipeline, creating transparent prioritisation frameworks to move projects from ideation to board-level business cases.
- Support the design and execution of a roadmap for our services, keeping it closely aligned with NHS England priorities (e.g., interoperability, digital-first care, data-driven planning).
- Identify opportunities to introduce specific digital tools to optimise triage, screening, waiting list management, assessment and follow-up care models.
End-to-end project delivery and service implementation
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Act as the end-to-end project manager for the deployment of digital platforms, online assessment tools, clinical systems, and booking software.
- Coordinate day-to-day implementation workstreams, tracking milestones, mitigating deployment risks, and ensuring financial and scoping targets are met.
- Manage multi-stakeholder delivery networks, bridging frontline clinical needs with operational and digital teams, external vendors, and academic or commercial partners.
- Support and expand Right to Choose development, ensuring systems, processes, and digital access are optimised to manage referrals and track long-term outcomes.
User-Centred Design & Stakeholder Engagement
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Engage clinicians, administrators, service users, and families to co-design digital pathways that are fundamentally inclusive and highly accessible.
- Act as an organisational catalyst for change, driving training and change management frameworks for staff adopting new digital platforms or workflows.
- Foster continuous innovation capabilities within the staff ecosystem through direct mentoring and engagement initiatives.
Clinical Governance, Information Governance & Compliance
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Supported by the Governance Team, advise and support staff at all levels on Information Governance best practice across transformation initiatives, ensuring all pilots, data structures, and integrations strictly adhere to GDPR, cyber security, and DCB clinical risk frameworks.
- Ensure all technical and operational deployments comply fully with NHS cyber security, Care Quality Commission (CQC) and information management standards.
Person Specification
Essential Criteria
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Leadership skills: Values-led leadership to coordinate and deliver the transformation portfolio with stakeholders across clinical and non-clinical teams, translating complex technical/digital information into clear language for non-specialist stakeholders, and an interest to contribute to senior leadership and strategy development.
- Education and experience: Degree-level qualification (or equivalent experience) in Digital Health, Health Informatics, IT, Project/Programme Management, or Business Administration.
- Project and change management: Proven track record of leading digital innovation or complex service transformation projects within a healthcare, NHS, or client-facing environments.
- Methodologies: Strong experience utilising user-centred design, rapid iteration, or co-production approaches under uncertain environments, designing and developing teams to meet service requirements, and the ability to influence clinicians and teams to achieve these outputs.
- Governance Knowledge: Working knowledge of clinical systems, digital accessibility, data protection legislation, and NHS digital strategies.
- Organisational skills: A genuine passion for helping people improve their lives with strong organisational skills to manage competing priorities.
Desirable Criteria
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Senior-level experience to build relationships with commissioners and key stakeholders both internally and externally. Recognised project management certification (e.g. Agile, PRINCE2).
- Direct experience in mental health or neurodevelopmental service structures (Autism, ADHD and psychological therapies).
- Familiarity with clinical safety standards (DCB 0129/DCB 0160) and the NICE evidence standards framework.
- Experience in defining operational processes, writing procedures, business cases and proposals with excellent written and verbal presentation skills; working collaboratively to support the delivery of a high-quality clinical service.
Why Join Oakdale?
At Oakdale, your well-being and growth matter as much as the clients you support. We offer a package designed for balance, flexibility, and long-term career satisfaction, including:
- 33 days’ annual leave (including bank holidays), increasing with service
- Flexible and agile working from day one
- SimplyHealth: 24/7 GP access, counselling, physiotherapy, and more
- Exclusive, heavily discounted rates for you and your family on private ADHD and autism neurodevelopmental assessments, through our own expert service.*
- Fully funded flu vaccines
- Employee Wellbeing Initiative with trained mental health champions
- Smart Pension & Rewards: plan for your future with discounts and cashback
- Enhanced Occupational Sick Pay
- Cycle to Work & Technology Salary Sacrifice schemes
- Employee discount scheme
- Protected CPD days, annual away days, and high-quality training
- Professional registration fees covered (where applicable)
- Opportunities to influence service improvement and innovation
- Laptop, monitor, keyboard, and any additional equipment you need to do your best work
- Discounts apply to dependents living within the same household.
Apply now and help us keep Oakdale moving forward
- We encourage early applications, as we reserve the right to close early
Oakdale is proud to be a registered Disability Confident Committed Employer.
At Oakdale, a leading private mental health service provider, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We’re more than a team - we’re a community of passionate, talented professionals committed to delivering excellence in mental health care, case management and service development
