Head of Data & Analytics

About Primary Eyecare Services

Primary Eyecare Services is England’s leading not-for-profit provider of NHS-funded community eyecare, operating at genuine scale. Last year we supported over 1 million patients across 800 neighbourhoods, working with more than 2,400 partner practices (from small independent opticians to national chains) and achieving a 97% patient recommendation rate.

We work in partnership with Integrated Care Boards, NHS England, Local Optical Committees, and NHS Trusts to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of services that shift care closer to home: urgent eyecare, glaucoma referral filtering and monitoring, integrated cataract pathways, medical retina, low vision, children’s services, and specialist learning disability and autism eyecare.

Research and service evaluation sit at the heart of what we do. Primary Eyecare Services publishes real-world evidence at leading national and international conferences, demonstrating the safety, effectiveness, and sustainability of community-based eye care pathways. Our evaluations, powered by routinely collected clinical and operational data, are building the evidence base that shapes how NHS eyecare is commissioned and delivered across England.

Our Digital Directorate leads the technology, data, and transformation agenda that underpins all of this. We are investing significantly in our data capability, including the development of a Microsoft Fabric data warehouse, and are seeking a senior leader to head our Data & Analytics function at a pivotal moment in our growth. This is a rare opportunity to shape the data infrastructure of an organisation delivering genuine, measurable impact for patients across England.

Role Purpose

The Head of Data & Analytics will lead and develop Primary Eyecare Services’ data and analytics function, positioning data as a strategic enabler of quality improvement, operational performance, and population health insight. Working closely with the Digital Director, the postholder will own the vision and delivery of the data strategy, oversee Primary Eyecare Services’ Microsoft Fabric data warehouse, and build a best-in-class analytics capability that provides timely, actionable intelligence to clinical, operational, and executive decision-makers.

The postholder must be equally comfortable setting the strategic direction and developing the team as they are working directly in the data: writing queries, interrogating national datasets, quality-assuring analytical outputs, and getting hands-on when deadlines and priorities demand it. We are looking for a leader who leads by doing as well as by directing.

The postholder will take a proactive, outward-facing approach: engaging directly with national NHS datasets, ICB data flows, and population health intelligence to understand the needs of the communities we serve, and translating this insight into service planning and commissioning evidence. The role also supports Primary Eyecare Services’ growing research and service evaluation programme, providing the data infrastructure and analytical rigour that underpins our published evidence and shapes the future of community eyecare in England.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Lead the development, delivery, and continuous improvement of Primary Eyecare Services’ data and analytics strategy, ensuring alignment with the wider digital and organisational strategy.
• Lead the team strategically while remaining hands-on in the data, writing queries, building pipelines, quality-assuring outputs, and working directly with datasets when the work demands it.
• Act as a senior member of the digital leadership team, providing expert advice to the Digital Director and wider SLT.
• Embed a data-driven culture across the organisation, championing data literacy and evidence-based decision-making at all levels.

Population Health & National Datasets

• Proactively engage with national NHS datasets including SUS (Secondary Uses Service), GP data flows, NHS England submissions, population health datasets, and NICE datasets.
• Develop Primary Eyecare Services’ population health analytics capability, identifying ophthalmic need, health inequalities, and unwarranted variation across our service geographies.
• Translate population-level insights into compelling intelligence products that inform service planning, contract negotiations, and commissioning bids.
• Build and maintain relationships with ICB intelligence and analytics leads to enable timely access to relevant data and collaborative insight development.

Data Platform & Governance

• Lead the development, management, and ongoing optimisation of Primary Eyecare Services’ Microsoft Fabric data warehouse, ensuring robust data engineering, pipeline management, and data quality.
• Drive the integration of data from clinical, operational, financial, and HR systems into the data warehouse, enabling a single source of truth for the organisation.
• Own and maintain Primary Eyecare Services’ data governance framework, ensuring compliance with the Data Security & Protection Toolkit (DSPT), GDPR, and all relevant data standards.
• Ensure data is stored, processed, and shared securely and ethically, maintaining the trust of patients, partners, and commissioners.

Reporting & Analytics

• Oversee the development of management information and executive-level dashboards, ensuring insight is accessible, timely, and actionable.
• Ensure accurate and timely statutory reporting and national data submissions to NHS England, NHS Organisations, and other regulators.
• Own and improve the production of monthly commissioner datasets, ensuring submissions are accurate, complete, timely, and aligned to contractual and reporting requirements.
• Lead the development of predictive analytics and AI-enabled insight capabilities, moving the organisation from retrospective reporting to forward-looking intelligence.
• Rationalise and modernise the reporting estate, ensuring data products are fit for purpose and aligned to organisational priorities.

Team Leadership

• Line manage and develop a multi-disciplinary data team, spanning analytics, data engineering, and AI, fostering a high-performing, collaborative team culture.
• Build capability and capacity within the data function, identifying development opportunities and supporting team members to grow professionally.
• Manage the data team budget, ensuring value for money in tools, licences, and supplier contracts, and making the case for investment where the business case exists.

Research & Service Evaluation

• Provide the data infrastructure, analytical capability, and governance framework that underpins Primary Eyecare Services’ real-world research and service evaluation programme.
• Work with clinical and operational colleagues to design and deliver robust service evaluations using routinely collected data, supporting publication at national and international conferences.
• Develop and maintain the data pipelines, linkages, and datasets needed to generate peer-quality evidence on the safety, effectiveness, and sustainability of services.
• Translate research findings into actionable intelligence for commissioners and NHS partners, helping build the evidence base for expanded community-based eye care pathways across England.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with the Digital Director to align data strategy with organisational objectives and report progress to the digital leadership team and board.
• Engage clinical, operational, and finance stakeholders to understand their data and insight needs, and ensure the data function delivers products that genuinely support decision-making.
• Act as a credible, trusted data leader who can communicate complex concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Key Relationships

Person Specification