Associate Director of Performance and ServiceNHS

Job summary

We are seeking an exceptional Associate Director of Performance and Service to join our NWLP team and continue to shape the future of pathology services.

Driven by visionary leadership, strategic investment and transformative initiatives, NWLP has grown into one of the UK's most forward-thinking diagnostic service providers. We are recognised as pioneers in England for establishing one of the first fully integrated NHS pathology network.

The Associate Director of Performance and Service is a senior leadership post within the Portfolio and Strategic Delivery division, reporting directly to and deputising for the Director of Portfolio and Strategic Delivery. The postholder provides expert leadership across all of North West London Pathology services focusing on Performance and Improvement capability, with a particular focus on operational service improvement, business case development and assurance, benefits realisation and the embedding of a sustainable continuous improvement culture across NWLP.

The postholder brings deep, hands-on operational experience of pathology services, enabling them to provide credible challenge, expert guidance and practical leadership to service redesign and improvement activity. They act as a key stakeholder in performance intelligence, strategic investment decisions and the delivery of sustained operational improvement, ensuring that all improvement activity is proportionate, evidence-based and aligned to NWLP's strategic objectives.

Main duties of the job

• Provide expert operational and strategic leadership of the Performance andImprovement capability area within the Portfolio and Strategic Delivery division and across all areas of NWLP.
• Lead and quality-assure the development, challenge and approval of business cases across the NWLP investment pipeline, ensuring proposals are evidence-based, aligned to strategy and supported by robust benefit definition and realisation planning.
• Lead complex, cross-divisional improvement programmes aligned to NWLP's strategic priorities, working alongside clinical and operational leads.
• Be responsible for the development and ongoing maturity of structured Continuous Improvement capability across NWLP operational teams.
• Develop and maintain a robust organisational wide performance framework that enables effective planning, monitoring, diagnosis and proactive intervention across all services.

Job description

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required.

For both overviews please view the Job Description attachment with the job advert.

About us

Benefits include career development, flexible working, staff wellbeing programmes, staff awards and recognition scheme. We also have available benefits including Cycle to Work, car lease schemes, season ticket loan or membership options for onsite leisure facilities.

Environmental sustainabilityClimate change and poor air quality is a health emergency that harms people's health and wellbeing and widens health inequalities. The Trust is also committed to reducing its impact on the environment by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2045. All our employees have a role to play, and we have an active green network that supports staff to act in ways that ensures that our services are efficient, sustainable and reduce our impact on the environment www.imperial.nhs.uk/about-us/our-strategy/green-plan

NWLP Induction

The NWLP induction will run on the first Monday of each month (provided it does not fall on a bank holiday) and includes laboratory training (for relevant laboratory roles). All new staff must attend the NWLP induction during their first week with NWLP.

2026-2027 start dates which you will be able to book once you have completed all your pre-employment checks.

Monday 7 December 2026

Monday 4 January2027

Monday 1 February 2027

Monday 1 March 2027

Monday 5 April 2027

Candidates are advised to consider these start dates before agreeing end of service date with their current employer.