Deputy Director Health Equity and Community Protection: Sponsorship Available

Job summary

The role provides strategic leadership for UKHSA’s work on health equity, community protection, and national public health guidance, standards and advice. The postholder will lead efforts to reduce avoidable and unjust differences in exposure to, vulnerability, and outcomes from infectious diseases and health hazards, ensuring health protection activities improve health equity, population resilience and health security.

Drawing on lessons from pandemics, outbreaks and major incidents, the postholder will ensure that health security policy, evidence, guidance and interventions are effective, proportionate and informed by the needs of communities most affected by health threats. They will lead the development, quality assurance and implementation of national public health guidance and provide strategic leadership for UKHSA’s public health advice, guidance and evidence capability during incidents and emergencies.

The role will lead UKHSA’s approach to community protection, including advice and guidance on community-centred interventions and public health and social measures that reduce the health and social impacts of emergencies. Working with national, regional and local partners, the postholder will provide strategic leadership for the advice, guidance and partnerships needed to support effective delivery.

Please see attached Job Description & Person Specification for full details.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is required to:

• Work with directors and deputy directors across UKHSA to develop a clear vision and strategy for health equity and community protection in infectious diseases and external health hazards with measurable goals
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships within UKHSA and externally across local, regional and national systems, working with government departments (including OHID, DHSC, MHCLG and DfE), NHS England and the voluntary and community sector, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for priority groups and settings. Support the development of appropriate organisational and system assurance for health equity for the areas of responsibility of UKHSA
• Provide strategic and professional leadership for UKHSA’s national public health guidance function, overseeing the development, assurance and implementation of guidance that supports preparedness, response and recovery from infectious diseases and external health hazards.
• Lead the development and implementation of UKHSA’s community protection approach, integrating public health evidence, community insight and engagement to improve resilience, reduce inequalities and protect populations disproportionately affected by health threats.

See attached Job Description & Person Specification for full details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice/GDC Specialist List (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview) Or Inclusion in the UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) for Public Health Specialists (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview).
• If included in the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List in a specialty other than public health medicine/dental public health, candidates must have equivalent training and/or appropriate experience of public health practice.
• Public health specialty registrar applicants who are not yet on the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List in dental public health/UKPHR must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry at the date of interview; all other applicants must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they have applied for inclusion in the GMC/GDC/UKPHR specialist registers.
• If an applicant is UK trained in Public Health, they must ALSO be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) or be within six months of award of CCT by date of interview. If an applicant is non-UK trained, they will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT.
• Applicants must meet minimum CPD requirements (i.e. be up to date) in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements or other recognised body.
• MFPH by examination, by exemption or by assessment, or equivalent.

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Able to influence senior members including directors and CEOs.
• Able to both lead teams and to able to contribute effectively in teams led by junior colleagues.
• Commitment to work within a political system irrespective of personal political affiliations.
• Delivery of successful change management programmes across organisational boundaries.
• Media experience demonstrating delivery of effective health behaviour or health promotion messages.
• Experience of using complex information to explain public health issues to a range of audiences.

Skills/Capabilities/Behaviours

Essential

• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills and operational nous.
• Able to demonstrate and motivate organisations to contribute to improving the public’s health and wellbeing through mainstream activities and within resources.
• Ability to lead and manage the response successfully in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances.
• Analytical skills able to utilise both qualitative (including health economics) and quantitative information.
• Ability to design, develop, interpret and implement strategies and policies.
• In depth understanding of the health and care system and the relationships with both local national government.
• In depth knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, quality improvement, evaluation and evidence based public health practice.
• Strong and demonstrable understanding of interfaces between health, social care and key partners (dealing with wider determinants of health).
• Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice.
• Demonstrable experience of managing significant budgets and resources, delivering value for money, ensuring robust financial governance and making strategic investment decisions in complex organisations.
• Participate in senior on-call arrangements and provide strategic leadership during incidents, outbreaks and emergencies, including out-of-hours working where required and agreed with the Chief Medical Adviser and Director of Health Equity & Clinical Governance.

Desirable

• Act as an Educational Supervisor, or equivalent professional supervisor for public health specialty trainees, supporting workforce development and the future public health leadership pipeline.

Equality and Diversity

Essential

• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships, both in terms of day-to-day working practices, and in relation to management systems.

Closing Date: 30 October 2026