Senior Health Economist

This senior post sits in the Strategic Value Unit at NHS Central East ICB, which provides decision intelligence and population health management for the ICB. The postholder will embed health economic analysis across strategic planning, commissioning and Neighbourhood Health, producing cost-effectiveness analyses and value assessments that inform investment, service reconfiguration and decommissioning. The role carries line management of a team and works alongside data scientists, statisticians and public health experts.

A Master's-level qualification in a relevant field such as health economics, economics, statistics or public health is essential.

• Embed health economic analysis and evaluation across the strategic commissioning cycle and the ICB's payer function
• Deliver cost-effectiveness analyses, economic evaluations and value assessments that inform investment, reconfiguration and decommissioning decisions
• Develop, adapt and interpret economic models, including budget impact, cost-utility, cost-benefit, return on investment, multi-criteria decision analysis, Markov or cohort, and scenario models
• Lead complex modelling and evaluation projects that integrate cost, activity, outcome, equity, workforce and service-use data
• Support allocative efficiency by setting out marginal benefits, trade-offs and opportunity costs across competing uses of resources
• Translate findings into actionable recommendations and communicate them in clear technical reports, briefings and presentations to commissioners, clinicians, finance, digital, population health and senior leaders
• Design proportionate economic evaluations of programmes, pathways and service changes, informing continuation, scaling, redesign or disinvestment
• Appraise published and grey literature, estimate modelling parameters, assess data quality and triangulate multiple sources
• Plan and manage allocated analytical projects, documenting assumptions, methods, risks, dependencies and information governance
• Support colleagues to understand and apply health economic concepts, including value, opportunity cost and uncertainty
• Line manage the team, including appraisals, attendance and performance, and manage delegated budgets and financial planning
• Provide visible leadership that promotes collaboration and inclusion, and support senior leads and system integration beyond own area of work

• Educated to Master's level in a directly relevant field such as health economics, economics, statistics or public health
• Evidence of ongoing professional development in health economics, evaluation and applied analytics

• Experience of economic evaluation methods, including cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, budget impact, return on investment and multi-criteria decision analysis
• Experience of developing, adapting or interpreting economic models such as decision trees, Markov or cohort, budget impact, scenario or service impact models
• Experience of using routine health and care datasets, judging data quality and drawing sound conclusions from imperfect information

• Knowledge of NHS health economics and how economic evidence supports commissioning, prioritisation, transformation, evaluation and resource allocation
• Understanding of strategic commissioning, population health management, inequalities, prevention, value-based care and the financial context of ICBs
• Applying health economic reasoning in the NHS, making cost, benefit, outcomes, equity, affordability and opportunity cost explicit
• Structuring ambiguous problems by defining the decision question, comparator and proportionate methods, while managing complexity and uncertainty
• Using analytical tools for modelling, evaluation and reporting
• Translating analysis into actionable recommendations for change, commissioning, pathway redesign and investment decisions

• Relevant professional membership or engagement with professional networks
• Doctoral-level training or a specialist postgraduate qualification
• Peer-reviewed publication, conference presentation or equivalent advanced specialist experience
• Familiarity with Excel, R, Python, SQL, Git or equivalent tools

• Flexible working options discussed for all roles
• Carer-friendly working environment