Public Health Strategist

The post holder will join a strong public health team of around 35 people, sitting as part of the newly formed Stronger Communities directorate. We are taking a key role in supporting Council wide work to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and playing a key role in reducing health inequalities, which is a priority for the council as a whole. We have recently partnered with Professor Sir Michael Marmot and the Institute of Health Equity to conduct research and develop action plans to reduce health inequalities in our borough. The post holder will join a dynamic team and provides a unique opportunity to develop new relationships with other teams in the Stronger Communities Directorate as well as maintaining well established working relationships across the Council, and with health and wider partners. The leaders of the borough are firmly committed to public health and the principles of early intervention and prevention, making this an excellent place to work in collaboration to achieve genuine improvements for residents. At present, the role is based at the Council offices in Walthamstow approximately once to twice a week (and additionally where required by business needs), with remote working available the remainder of the time. We are a team committed to providing a stimulating environment within which to work, running journal clubs and providing opportunities for personal development through training, education, shadowing and on-the-job learning., Waltham Forest Council is looking to appoint a Public Health Strategist on a permanent contract to join its Public Health Team. This opportunity is available for applicants that wish to work either part or full time (0.6 to 1 WTE). This role will have responsibility for an exciting portfolio, taking the Strategist lead on the Wider Determinants of Health. The successful candidate will bring energy, drive and innovation to the role. This role would ideally suit an individual with experience of leading public health programmes and demonstrable strong partnership working, networking and influencing skills to improve outcomes and tackle inequalities. While the position is a general public health strategist role, the portfolio to be covered by the candidate will focus on the wider determinants of health, covering some of the following areas:

• Implementing the council response to the Waltham Forest Marmot Review, 'A Fairer and Healthier Waltham Forest', including working with partners to ensure action on the priority areas of good work, better health; healthier homes; and greener and healthier places.
• Delivering public health projects and programmes on priority areas, including: supporting delivery of work on Health Impact Assessments for new developments; leading on Waltham Forest's School Superzone programme of work and supporting the delivery of Making Every Contact Count (MECC).
• Embedding health and health inequalities considerations across council decision making and processes (Health in All Policies).
• Working with the Consultant in Public Health on strategy development and implementation; and design, commissioning and delivery of services related to the Wider Determinants of Health, including management of some contracts and service level agreements.
We invite applications from individuals who are skilled at managing relationships across a wide range of organisations, who understand the challenges faced by local authorities and the NHS, and who will provide strong leadership in contributing to the work of our dynamic public health team.

This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults; Satisfactory DBS check; As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London's Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment., Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy. We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.