Senior Medical Advisor & Consultant in Public Health

Job responsibilities

The post holder will develop working relationships and communicate regularly with a wide range of individuals, clinical and non-clinical, internal and external to UKHSA. This will include;

Internal

• UKHSA Executive and Senior Leaders across all operating divisions / Groups
• UKHSA Chief Medical Advisor
• UKHSA Health Protection Operations
• UKHSA Chief Science Officer and Group
• UKHSA Chief Data Officer Group
• UKHSA Communications Directorate
• UKHSA Strategy and Policy Directorate
• UKHSA Commercial and Corporate Services colleagues, including Finance, People and Workplace, Security and Health and Safety

Working from within Health Equity and Clinical Governance to support the Director EPRRs remit to operate horizontally across all the UKHSAs operating divisions and Groups to deliver a coordinated and coherent approach to health emergency preparedness, resilience and response across the Agency.

External

• Government departments, especially DHSC, HO, DEFRA, FCDO, DSIT (Go Science), CO (COBR), MOD
• Government Agencies especially FSA, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) the Animal and Plant Health Agency, local authorities, ADsPH and Police
• National and international organisations and committees relating to EPRR, especially WHO, partner national public health response organisations such as USCDC, RKI and others international organisations such as the Global Health Security Committee, International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) etc

ExternalOpen to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Stage 1: Application & Sift

This vacancy is using Competency .

At sift stage you will be assessed against the essential criteria listed in the Job Description & Person Specification attached to this vacancy advert.

You will be required to complete an:

Application form (Employer/ Activity history section on the application) 1000 word Statement of Suitability/ behaviour statements / technical statements

Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 1000

This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role.

You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible)

If we receive a large number of applications, an initial sift against the lead criteria will be conducted:

• Experience of the control of communicable disease outbreaks and environmental hazards in a wide variety of settings including out of hours on call
• Practical experience of working with UK health protection and emergency response agencies
• Experience of leading and implementing multiagency strategies

We will only take through applications that meet all essential criteria.

Desirable criteria may be used if we receive a large number of applications.

Please note feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview stage (competency based):

You will be invited to a face to face interview.If face to face interviewsare planned, in exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remoteinterview.

Interviews will be held at 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, E14 4PU on 19 February 2026. Please note this date is subject to change.

This vacancy is being assessed using a competency based method. During the interview we will assess against the below:

KnowledgeExperienceSkills and Abilities

At interview you will be asked to carry out a scenario-based assessment, assessing candidate's ability to analyse complex information and make decisions based on a fictional national security incident.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

The successful candidate will be appointed to the point of the Consultant salary scale appropriate to their years of seniority.

Security Clearance

Successful candidates will require Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) as a minimum with willingness and capability to work towards Developed Vetting (DV) clearance.

Successful candidates for this role must pass an enhanced disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed.

You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 10 years to obtain Developed Vetting (DV) clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting at this higher level and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Hybrid

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQs. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's core HQs (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London)

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Salary Information

If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary. Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms.

Consultant

£109,725 - £145,478 (National)

UK Health Security Agency promoted diversity in the workplace and is an Equal Opportunities employer

Qualifications

Essential

• Inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview). If included in the GMC Specialist Register/ in a specialty other than public health medicine, 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 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.
• 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 [see shortlisting notes below for additional guidance].
• 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

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Strong commitment to public health principles
• Able to prioritise work, and work well against a background of change and uncertainty
• Adaptable to situations, can handle people of all capabilities and attitudes
• Commitment to team-working, and respect and consideration for the skills of others
• Self-motivated, pro-active, and innovative
• High standards of professional probity

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Experience of the control of communicable disease outbreaks and environmental hazards in a wide variety of settings including out of hours on call
• Practical experience of working with UK health protection and emergency response agencies
• Practical experience in facilitating change across complex systems
• Experience of emergency planning
• Experience of leading and implementing multiagency strategies
• Experience of training and providing mentoring
• Understanding of epidemiology and statistics, public health practice, health promotion, health economics and health care evaluation
• Understanding of social and political environment, laboratory microbiology services, clinical infectious diseases services, clinical toxicology services, the principles of radiological protection and of potential CBRN agents and methods of dissemination
• Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice
• Knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, quality improvement and evidence based clinical and/or public health practice

Desirable

• Staff management and training
• Budget management
• Scientific publications, presentation of papers at conferences, seminars, etc

Skills, Capabilities & Behaviours

Essential

• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills
• Excellent oral and written communication skills (including dealing with the public and the media
• Effective interpersonal, motivational and influencing skills
• Ability to respond appropriately in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances
• Sensible negotiator with practical expectation of what can be achieved
• Substantially numerate, with highly developed analytical skills using qualitative and quantitative data
• Computer literate
• Ability to design, develop, interpret and implement policies
• Ability to concentrate for long periods (e.g. analyses, media presentations)
• Resource management skills

Desirable

• Skilled at dealing with the public and the media
• Application of epidemiological methods and statistics
• Grant development and research methodology

Equality & Diversity

Essential

• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).