Head of Service Health Improvement
Team: Public Health
Job Family: Managing - CBG15
Salary: £60,930 - £66,280 per annum pro rata
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.
Contract Type: Hybrid - Permanent
Closing Date: 5th October 2025
Interview Date: 21st or 24th October 2025.
About the Role
Are you a visionary leader with a passion for improving population health and reducing inequalities? Central Bedfordshire Council is seeking a dynamic Head of Service – Public Health to lead our innovative Choose You service, which operates across Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough, and Milton Keynes.
As Head of Service, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for a range of public health programmes, ensuring high-quality, evidence-based services that deliver equitable health outcomes. You and your team will play a key role in shaping the future of public health across our shared service area, driving transformation, performance improvement, and system-wide collaboration.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the delivery of health improvement, prevention, and community health programmes.
- Develop and implement long-term strategies to tackle health inequalities.
- Represent the shared public health service in multi-agency partnerships and forums.
- Oversee service performance, quality assurance, and clinical governance.
- Manage and develop public health teams, including two senior managers.
- Ensure financial sustainability through effective budget and contract management.
- Champion co-production and community engagement in service design and delivery.
- Deputise for the Deputy Director and Director of Public Health as required.
About You
We’re looking for someone with:
- A degree in Public Health, Health Management, or a related field (MPH desirable)
- Proven experience in leading public health or community health services.
- Strong strategic and operational leadership and problem-solving skills.
- Deep understanding of health inequalities, behaviour change, and population health.
- Excellent communication and partnership-building abilities.
Additional Information
- Standard working 37 hours: Monday to Friday, with flexibility based on business needs.
- Travel: Limited, but required across Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough, and Milton Keynes.
- Health & Safety: Regular use of visual display equipment.
Why Join Us?
This is a unique opportunity to make a real impact on the health and wellbeing of diverse communities across Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. You’ll be part of a forward-thinking team committed to innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. If you’re passionate about making a difference we’ll be keen to hear from you.
Our Offer
We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page
Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.
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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.
Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.
For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Ciceley Scarborough at ciceley.scarborough@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 5306
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To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours. Please book your place here.
More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council