Senior Public Health Manager (Best Start in Life Delivery)

Medway Public Health are looking to recruit a Public Health, Education or Early Years professional who can lead the delivery of the Best Start in Life programme. You will be a dynamic leader who can build and motivate a new matrix managed team.

You will be joining an established and highly productive public health team who understand the benefits of collaborative working across organisational boundaries and disciplines. The team have a ‘can do’ attitude and put the needs of children and their families frontmost. Importantly the team like working together and respect other’s expertise.

Medway is moving towards a delivery model for the Best Start in Life programme that is building on the work of Start for Life and before that the SureStart programme. You will lead a team made up of direct employees, embedded workers from commissioned organisations and co-located partners. You will develop that multiagency team to provide holistic universal support for children and their families. You will guide the team to support children, their families and the workforce (in its widest sense) so that more than 75% of children achieve a good level of development at the end of Reception year.

You will lead the team to operate as a virtual hub to deliver universal support for pre-school children. While you will not have one physical Family Hub to operate from you will work across all of Medway’s 4 Family Hubs, 9 wellbeing centres and various community settings. You, and the team, must be willing and able to travel round Medway on a time efficient way, ideally by driving with your own car.

You will be in a small team of other senior managers who oversee sexual health, substance misuse, domestic abuse, workplace health, Health Visiting and School Nursing contracts, workforce development and other programmes that support the residents of Medway. You will have plenty of opportunity to work with them to take a life course approach to health.

You will use your Public Health skills to ensure that the services provided reduce the chances of ill health among children. You will use your interpersonal skills to work effectively with partners from many different organisations. You will use your organisational skills to keep track of the budget and ensure the services provide value for money. You will use your leadership skills to develop, support and motivate the rest of your team. You will use your workforce development skills to support the wider workforce develop their skills to help improve school readiness.

In the application form you will be asked to provide us with a Personal Statement of why you think you have the knowledge, skills and experience to really succeed at the role. It helps us make a decision about inviting you to interview if you provide examples that evidence the criteria outlined in the job description.

We will be particularly looking for:

• Qualifications in integrated centre leadership, teaching or public health (in addition to the required relevant degree)
• Knowledge of child development, public health prevention, Healthy Child Programme, factors leading to school readiness
• Skills in building and managing a multidisciplinary team, community engagement, co-design/co-delivery and solving complex issues.
• Experience of integrated and collaborative working across statutory and community sectors. Delivering SureStart, Start for Life or similar programmes

If you would like more information and an informal chat about the role, please contact Steve Chevis on 07816 590544 / 01634 337265.

Career Progression Frameworks (CPF) have been introduced for all roles at Medway Council. These frameworks provide a mechanism for employees to take ownership of their development within their post and be rewarded accordingly. The salary you will be offered will be at level A. There will be further opportunity once in post to progress from level A to B, and B to C.

When writing your application, it is important to ensure you identify your suitability against the requirements of the job profile, as this information will be used for shortlisting and may contribute to the CPF assessment. Your application may be rejected if the minimum required criteria is not met. Further information relating to the requirements for this role can be found in the CPF Guidance document attached.

The person specification of a job profile is split into three levels:

Level A details the essential criteria that all applicants must be able to demonstrate through their application and interview.

Level B details the developed competencies that an individual who is practised in this role would be able to demonstrate and will be a progression of knowledge, experience and skills from level A.

Level C requires the highest level of competence and applicants would need to fully meet and demonstrate all aspects of the job profile, including qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience.

We are seeking a Senior Public Health Manager (best Start in Life Delivery) to join the team at level A. This is the entry point of the role, so you will need to be able to demonstrate the relevant knowledge, experience and skills to get you started, but you will be supported to develop in your role through induction, probation and a supportive Performance Appraisal and Career Conversation. All elements of level A listed within the person specification are essential. Through your induction you will be introduced to the Career Progression Framework (CPF), which will help you to identify your areas of strength and any development needs.

Important Information-

Applicants must be able to demonstrate all essential requirements as listed in the job profile

For further information, and for details of the benefits of working for Medway Council, please refer to the Medway information pack available as a download or to view online.

Please be advised that if you are not contacted within 3 weeks of the advert closing date then you have not been shortlisted. All recruitment correspondence, including interview letters and contracts of employment will usually be sent out via email.

Please visit http://www.mindfulemployer.net/ for information on how Medway Council put good practices in place to ensure employees and job applicants who declare mental health issues receive the right level of support.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy at any time prior to the closing date.