Strategic Change and Delivery Lead

Stroke Association

Hours
35 hours per week

About the Organisation

Stroke Association is the UK’s leading charity providing lifelong support for all stroke survivors and their families. We provide tailored support to tens of thousands of stroke survivors each year. This support includes one-to-one and group support, funding vital scientific research into stroke prevention, acute treatment, recovery, and long-term care, and campaigning to secure the best care for everyone affected by stroke. 

We’re here for stroke survivors and their loved ones, from the moment they enter the new and frightening post-stroke world, supporting them every step of the way as they find their strength and their way back to life. It’s only thanks to the generosity of our supporters and donors that we can provide vital support.

Stroke Association is driven by our ambition to improve the lives of everyone affected by stroke. This means we’re determined to create an equitable and inclusive workplace that benefits from the differences and thrives on the diversity of our people. Guided by our approach to solving inequity in stroke, we are prioritising listening to and learning from lived experience across our charity.

About the role

At the Stroke Association, we’re developing new ways of working together to deliver our strategy and make a bigger difference for people affected by stroke. We’re looking for someone who can make sense of complexity, bring people together and turn ambitious ideas into lasting change. We’re looking for two experienced change and delivery practitioners to help turn our strategic priorities into meaningful action, lead complex improvement work and strengthen our collective ability to translate strategy into tangible outcomes across the charity. We’re building a team with complementary strengths, experiences and perspectives.

While you’ll all share a strong foundation in change and delivery, we’re interested in the different expertise and approaches you could bring to the team. We are looking for two Leads to work across organisational teams and disciplines, bringing together the people, expertise and perspectives needed to tackle complex challenges. You’ll lead strategic change and improvement activity, helping teams understand problems, make informed choices, test ideas, learn from evidence and deliver sustainable improvements.

The role goes beyond traditional project management. You’ll bring the structure, discipline and expertise needed to make progress and deliver results, alongside the curiosity, systems thinking and relational skills to navigate complexity, build shared ownership and adapt as you learn. You’ll also play an important role in shaping how we work as an organisation, helping colleagues develop their own confidence and capability to lead change, so that continuous improvement becomes part of how we work, rather than something done to us. Regular travel to collaborate with colleagues will be an integral part of the role.

Responsibilities

Change, Delivery, Continuous Improvement and Embedding:

• Lead complex sprints, projects and improvement initiatives within agreed priorities, applying appropriate agile, project, change, business analysis and process-improvement methods.
• Work with teams to understand root causes, test assumptions and deliver improvements that address systemic issues, considering people, culture, capability, processes, customer experience and technology together.
• Lead adoption and transition into business-as-usual, ensuring changes are embedded and benefits and wider impacts are evaluated.
• Use evidence, insight and feedback to adapt delivery approaches and improve outcomes.

Sprint Delivery and Leadership:

• Agree clear delivery outcomes, measures, responsibilities, milestones and proportionate governance for assigned sprints and workstreams.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams through influence, coordinating specialist contributions and managing delivery risks, dependencies and issues across boundaries.
• Assess delivery implications, competing demands and available capacity; provide clear recommendations on sequencing, resources and trade-offs for decisions by appropriate leaders.
• Monitor delivery progress, benefits and unintended consequences, escalating matters requiring system-level or strategic decisions.

Systems Thinking and Ways of Working:

• Apply a whole-system perspective to understand interactions, dependencies and feedback loops across services, teams and systems, and use this insight to improve delivery choices.
• Contribute practical delivery insight to the design and embedding of agreed operating rhythms, governance, prioritisation and delivery practices.
• Capture and share learning from delivery to strengthen organisational approaches, encourage adaptation and support continuous improvement.

Collaboration and Capability Building:

• Coach, mentor and support colleagues to build confidence and capability in delivery, change and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Develop and share practical tools, guidance and approaches that enable teams to lead more of their own improvement and change.
• Build understanding of systems thinking, helping colleagues consider connections, dependencies, feedback loops and wider organisational impact when planning and delivering change.
• Promote reflective practice, evidence-informed improvement and a culture of learning from delivery.
• Foster agile, adaptive and collaborative approaches to delivery.
• Contribute to communities of practice and organisational learning so that effective approaches to delivery are strengthened over time.

Leadership, Collaboration & Working Relationships:

• Work closely with the Associate Directors of Strategic Delivery, operational leaders, subject matter experts and colleagues from across the organisation, taking a partnering approach to translating agreed organisational and system priorities into delivery and outcomes.
• Lead primarily through influence, facilitation, coaching and clear accountability, bringing people together around shared outcomes.
• Build trusted relationships across organisational boundaries and contribute to a collaborative, inclusive and delivery-focused culture.
• Use systems-thinking to connect different perspectives, consider the external environment and other relevant factors, broker alignment around agreed outcomes, and help teams understand the wider implications of their work.
• Lead multidisciplinary sprint and project teams, coordinating sprint and project team members without direct line management responsibility to ensure delivery of the relevant outcomes.

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Essential Criteria:

• Significant experience leading complex change, improvement, programmes, projects or sprints through to measurable outcomes and sustained adoption.
• Experience translating agreed strategic or system priorities into practical delivery plans, balancing ambition with operational capacity and constraints.
• Strong working knowledge of relevant change and delivery disciplines, including project/sprint management, business analysis, process improvement, change management and risk management; able to select methods proportionately.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary delivery across organisational boundaries, including influencing stakeholders without direct management authority.
• Experience identifying and managing delivery risks, dependencies and competing demands, and presenting clear options and recommendations to senior decision-makers.
• Ability to apply systems thinking to connections, feedback loops and unintended consequences, and use this understanding to improve delivery decisions.
• Experience supporting change adoption, transition into business-as-usual, evaluation and benefits realisation.
• Strong facilitation, communication and relationship-building skills, including explaining complex issues and navigating different perspectives.
• Experience coaching others or developing practical tools and ways of working that build capability in change, delivery or continuous improvement.
• Commitment to the Stroke Association’s mission, values and reducing health inequalities.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships and work effectively with diverse groups.
• Willingness to travel across the UK and work flexibly.
• Confident using digital tools and adapting to new ways of working.

Compensation & Benefits

• Home working allowance
• Pension
• Critical illness cover
• Life Assurance
• Flexible working

Conditions of employment

• You must be a UK resident and have the right to work in the UK.

Working locations

• Home-based
• Occasional travel will be required as part of this role (may include team meetings or other work-related meetings)

How to apply

• Please view the role profile.
• Please click to apply. Please submit your CV, including a short professional summary highlighting your relevant experience, and responses to three application questions (maximum 300 words each).
• We're interested in your experience, the judgement you've exercised and what you've learned, rather than perfect success stories.
• If you decide to use AI to prepare your application, we’ll also ask you to explain how you’ve used it to support you.
• Please state any preferences for flexible options in your covering letter. Applications from individuals who are seeking flexible working options, including reduced hours or job shares, are welcomed.
• If you are applying under the Disability Confident scheme, please indicate this in your application when applying for the role.
• If you have  any questions, please drop us an email at [email protected]
• The application closing date is midnight, Sunday 22nd November 2026.

Interviews

• The interview dates are Wednesday 9th December 2026 and Thursday 10th December 2026, face-to-face in our London office

Policies

We are working to improve the representation of this lived experience at all levels within the Stroke Association, and we are eager to recruit applicants from a variety of communities and backgrounds. We are keen to receive applications from people affected by stroke, people of colour, members of LGBT+ communities, and disabled people because these identities and experiences are underrepresented and would add enormous value to how we work.

We are a Disability Confident employer, and we are making great progress focusing on flexible working, reasonable adjustments and access to work. Our charity has a variety of staff network groups, and we're committed to continuously improving our diversity and inclusion efforts. If you have questions or access needs, we’re happy to discuss any support and adjustments we can make throughout the recruitment process so that you’re able to contribute your best in a way that meets your needs.

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