We are working with a leading organisation operating across UK healthcare and life sciences to appoint an Associate Director, NHS Access & Adoption.

This is a senior strategic role focused on improving how innovative treatments are adopted across the NHS following national approval and access.

The successful candidate will bring a deep understanding of how the NHS works in practice, particularly its commissioning, prescribing, funding and decision-making environment, and will use this knowledge to identify and address the barriers that can prevent consistent adoption at regional and local level.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop strategies and policy recommendations to improve NHS access and adoption.
• Identify national, regional and local barriers to uptake and develop practical solutions.
• Provide expert insight into NHS commissioning, prescribing and decision-making.
• Understand how national policy translates into regional and local implementation.
• Monitor evolving NHS structures and assess implications for access and adoption.
• Lead strategic policy, research and evidence-generation projects.
• Use healthcare data and evidence to understand variation in uptake and inform policy.
• Build senior relationships across the NHS, government, healthcare and life sciences sectors.
• Contribute to relevant NHS and government consultations and policy discussions.
• Represent the organisation in external meetings, working groups and stakeholder forums.
• Manage external partners, project budgets and programme deliverables.
• Work collaboratively across multiple functions and stakeholder groups.
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About You

You will bring:

• Significant and current knowledge of NHS commissioning and prescribing.
• Strong understanding of the NHS at national, regional and local level.
• Practical knowledge of access and adoption pathways and the barriers affecting implementation.
• Experience within the NHS, NHS England, an ICB, government, life sciences or a closely related healthcare organisation.
• Ideally, experience across both the NHS/public sector and life sciences industry, although strong recent NHS experience is particularly valuable.
• The ability to understand and balance NHS, policy and commercial perspectives.
• Strong senior stakeholder engagement and influencing skills.
• Excellent strategic, policy-development and analytical capability.
• Confidence interpreting healthcare data and evidence.
• Strong programme and project-management skills.
• Excellent written, presentation and facilitation skills.
• A collaborative working style combined with the confidence to lead complex programmes independently.

This is a high-profile opportunity to apply detailed NHS knowledge at a broader strategic level and help improve how innovative treatments move from national access decisions into consistent adoption and routine clinical use.