Public Health Principal

Help us create healthier, fairer and more resilient places across Oxfordshire.

Are you passionate about tackling health inequalities through the environments in which people live, work, learn and age? Oxfordshire County Council is looking for an experienced Public Health Principal to lead our Healthy Place Shaping work. This is a unique opportunity to influence how planning, housing, nature, transport and climate adaptation contribute to better health outcomes for residents. This role sits within our Public Health team and works across organisational boundaries, building partnerships and influencing decision-making to ensure health and equity are embedded into the policies, programmes and investments that shape Oxfordshire's future.

At Oxfordshire County Council, we recognise that health is created largely outside the health and care system. People’s opportunity to live a healthy life is unequally affected by the environment they live in. Oxfordshire is proud to be a Marmot Place; meaning we have system wide commitment to addressing health inequalities. Our ambition is to create places that enable everyone to thrive, reduce inequalities, respond to climate challenges and support healthier communities.

We work closely with other local councils, NHS partners, community organisations, universities, housing providers and residents to ensure health becomes a core consideration in how places are designed, regenerated and managed. Healthy Place Shaping is a key part of our response to some of Oxfordshire's biggest challenges, including healthy places, climate and air quality, healthy housing, access to nature, active travel and widening inequalities.

This is an exciting opportunity to improve the health of our population through the places they live. This is a role for a strategic connector, who has a firm understanding of the wider determinants of health and the impact our environment can have on health. You will bring together partners from across local government, health, housing, planning and the community sector to influence decisions that improve population health and reduce inequalities through the places they live in.

The role has responsibilities ranging from leading commissioning and monitoring contracts, being a driving force in developing key partnerships to influence improvements in lived environment, and being an expert across the council in healthy place shaping. You will be responsible for developing evidence-informed business cases, influencing policy and strategy, securing buy-in from stakeholders, and ensuring public health expertise informs major decisions affecting Oxfordshire's communities.

The role will involve working with senior leaders, elected members and system partners to identify opportunities, shape narratives and translate complex evidence into practical action. This role has particular priorities around health in planning, access to green spaces and healthy homes. The role will be based in the public heath team, reporting into the Consultant In Public Health whilst also having a dotted line report to the Head Of Place Shaping in the Economy and Place Directorate.

We're looking for someone who is confident operating in complex systems and who understands that improving health often requires influencing decisions outside traditional public health services. You will be able to demonstrate:

• Significant experience of working in public health, local government, planning, housing, sustainability, regeneration or a related field.
• Experience of influencing senior decision-makers and partners where you do not have direct authority.
• Strong partnership-building skills and the ability to bring together diverse organisations around shared goals.
• Excellent communication skills, including presenting complex information clearly to a range of audiences.
• Experience of programme development, commissioning, project management or strategic policy development.
• Ability to analyse evidence and translate it into compelling recommendations and practical solutions.
• A strong understanding of health inequalities and the wider determinants of health.
• The ability to work across organisational boundaries and identify connections between seemingly unrelated agendas.
• Most importantly, you will be curious, collaborative and motivated by creating lasting change through influence, relationships and systems leadership.

This is an opportunity to work at the forefront of place-based public…