Reading Centre Operations Manager

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YOU MAKE US MORE

Join Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

At Moorfields, people's sight matters-and so do the people who make it possible.

For over 200 years, Moorfields has been at the forefront of ophthalmic care, research, and education. With more than 2,300 dedicated team members and over 700,000 patients seen annually across our City Road site and 22 networked sites, we are proud to be a global centre of excellence.

We're also a vibrant community where kindness, equity and excellence shape every aspect of our work. Whether it's pioneering research through our partnership with UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre or training the next generation of global eye care leaders, we're united by one mission-delivering world-class eye health, sustainably and at scale.

And we're just getting started.

Construction is well underway on our groundbreaking new centre in Camden, a joint initiative between Moorfields Eye Hospital, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Charity This modern, flexible facility will bring together eye care, research, and education under one roof-enabling transformative innovation and collaboration like never before.

Could you be part of this future? Make us more.

Job overview

The Reading Centre Lead role will provide strategic, operational, and governance leadership for the Moorfields Ophthalmic Reading Centre. The post-holder will be responsible for ensuring the Reading Centre operates to the highest standards of clinical governance, research governance, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance.

This role requires expert knowledge of ophthalmic imaging and grading methodologies, combined with the ability to develop and enforce rigorous governance structures that ensure data integrity, patient safety, and compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements. The post-holder will oversee a multidisciplinary team and ensure that the Reading Centre remains a trusted, world-leading facility for high-quality image analysis in clinical research and service delivery.

Main duties of the job

Main Duties

• Direct line management of the senior Reading Centre staff
  Act as the lead for clinical and research governance within the Reading Centre.
• Responsible for compliance with GCP, MHRA, ISO, GDPR, and Trust R&D governance frameworks.
• Budgetary responsibility for the Reading Centre, including planning, monitoring, and reporting on income and expenditure.
• Oversight of image grading for multiple concurrent national and international clinical trials.
• Responsible for preparation and maintenance of SOPs and successful delivery of internal and external audits and inspections.

Working for our organisation

What's in it for You?

At Moorfields, we invest in you-your growth, your wellbeing, your future.
You'll join a flexible, supportive organisation offering:
• Competitive salary (including high-cost area supplement)
• Membership of the NHS Pension Scheme
• 24/7 independent counselling support
• Career-long learning and development opportunities
• Excellent transport connections
• Access to NHS and Blue Light discount schemes
• Free Pilates classes
• Full support and training to develop your skills

And so much more! To see the full range of benefits we offer please view our Moorfields benefits leaflet.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Leadership & Management
• Provide day-to-day leadership and management of the Reading Centre team.
• Develop staff through training, supervision, and appraisal to maintain a highly skilled workforce.
• Lead on workforce planning and recruitment to ensure sufficient capacity for projects.
• Manage operational budgets effectively, ensuring value for money and sustainability.
• Promote a culture of continuous quality improvement.

Governance & Compliance
• Act as the governance lead for the Reading Centre, ensuring all activities comply with research governance, clinical governance, and Trust policies.
• Ensure full compliance with GCP, ISO standards, MHRA regulations, GDPR, and other relevant legislation.
• Lead on the development, implementation, and enforcement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to guarantee quality, reproducibility, and regulatory alignment.
• Maintain robust systems for data governance, including secure storage, transfer, and anonymisation of clinical trial images.
• Prepare for and manage regulatory inspections and audits, both internal and external, ensuring that corrective and preventative actions are implemented promptly.
• Lead the Centre's risk management processes, identifying risks to trial integrity or patient data, and ensuring mitigating strategies are in place.

Financial & Resource Management
• Responsible for the Reading Centre budget, including forecasting, monitoring, and controlling expenditure in line with Trust financial procedures.
• Ensure the Reading Centre operates within agreed budgets and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Prepare regular financial reports and business plans for senior management and external sponsors.
• Develop sustainable funding streams, including through grant applications, industry collaborations, and commercial partnerships.
• Lead on financial planning for new projects, including cost recovery models and resource allocation.
• Ensure value for money and efficient use of staff, equipment, and infrastructure resources.

Service Development & Innovation
• Drive the quality assurance of grading and data quality from various imaging modalities and AI-based grading platforms.
• Lead pilot projects and service evaluations to expand the Reading Centre's capacity and capabilities.
• Contribute to funding proposals, grant applications, and business cases to secure the future growth of the Reading Centre.
• Develop, edit and revise SOPs for the Reading Centre to ensure operational efficiency and consistency.
• Develop the Reading Centre to a Training Hub for graders and researchers.

Collaboration & Partnership
• Maintain effective working relationships with Principal Investigators, clinicians, academic collaborators, industry sponsors, and external reading centres.
• Represent the Reading Centre at governance committees, research networks, and academic conferences.
• Collaborate with subject matter experts to collect content for SOPs.
• Contribute to publications, presentations, and dissemination of best practices.

Education & Training
• Develop structured training programmes for graders, junior staff, and external collaborators.
• Deliver education sessions on ophthalmic imaging and grading for researchers and clinicians.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation within the team.
• Participate in continuous improvement projects to enhance SOP effectiveness and efficiency

Person specification

Education & Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Masters degree, or equivalent experience
• Relevant management / leadership qualification or equivalent experience to masters' level
• Formal training in Good Clinical Practice (GCP), data protection, and information governance.
• Service management qualification or equivalent experience

Desirable criteria

• Delivery management qualification or equivalent experience (PRINCE2, etc)

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience in ophthalmic imaging and grading within clinical trials or research environments.
• Experience of clinical and research governance, including compliance with GCP, MHRA, GDPR and Trust policies.
• Experience of leading or preparing for audits, inspections, or accreditation processes.
• Experience of measuring service performance to agreed SLAs/OLAs and creating reports for stakeholders - with supporting context / narrative
• Experience of solving complex problems for users through the use of technology - all with a focus on user needs
• Supervision and direct line management of multiple teams - including (but not limited to) - recruitment, capability and performance, training, leadership, motivation, sickness absence
• Proven budget management and financial planning experience, including forecasting, cost control, and financial reporting.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of management products / services in healthcare (NHS)

Skills and knowledge

Essential criteria

• Prioritisation of work - within the team and across the wider department
• Proven ability to lead inspections, audits, and quality reviews.
• Financial management skills, including cost planning, monitoring expenditure, and producing business reports.
• Identify training needs and develop a professional development framework with your service portfolio

Due to the nature of this position, employment is subject to proof of eligibility to work in the UK, completion of a satisfactory DBS disclosure and two references. We do not offer visa sponsorship for roles unless clearly stated in our adverts, so please consider this before applying.

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of our organisational culture. As part of our pledge to take positive action in recruitment we encourage applications from under-represented candidates including BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) and Disabled candidates as we work towards a representative workforce that is able to provide the quality, the dignity and respect and to deliver above and beyond.

Moorfields is a flexible working friendly organisation, and we are committed to helping our employees achieve a work-life balance that is beneficial for health and wellbeing, motivation levels and job satisfaction. Every employee of the Trust has the right to request to work flexibly. Please speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

If we receive sufficient applications, we will close this ad prior to the closing date. You are advised not to delay submitting your completed application.

If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying or would like an accessible version of any recruitment documents, please contact the recruitment team at moorfields.recruitment@nhs.net.

https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/work-for-us

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Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 616.3KB)
• Staff Benefits (PDF, 865.7KB)
• MEH Privacy Notice (PDF, 138.0KB)