Director of Operations / Consultant in Public Health (Medicine)

Main area Director of Operations/Consultant in Public Health (Medicine) Grade salary is dependent on experience & scope of practice Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 828-PROVIDE4311

Employer Provide CIC Employer type NHS Site Provide CIC Town Colchester Salary £97,229 - £116,673 Dependant on experience Salary period Yearly Closing 28/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 16/11/2026

Job Overview

Director of Operations / Consultant in Public Health (Medicine)

Provide Community CIC

Location: Colchester, Essex with hybrid working arrangements

Contract: Full Time

Salary: £97,229 - £116,673 dependent on experience & scope of practice plus benefits

Interview Date: 16 November 2026 at Provide HQ, Colchester

Main duties of the job

Shape the Future of Community Public Health Services

Provide Community is seeking an exceptional Consultant in Public Health or Consultant in Public Health Medicine to join our senior leadership team in a newly created role that combines operational leadership with strategic public health expertise.

This is a unique opportunity to influence the future of population health across Essex and beyond while working within one of the UK's leading employee-owned Community Interest Companies.

As Director of Operations/Consultant in Public Health, you will lead the operational delivery of a portfolio of public health services whilst providing strategic leadership on health inequalities, prevention and population health improvement across the wider Provide Group.

You will work alongside senior executives and system partners to improve outcomes for communities, reduce inequalities and develop innovative approaches to delivering high-quality, sustainable public health services.

Working for our organisation

About Provide Community

Provide Community is an employee-owned Community Interest Company delivering health and social care services across East Anglia, Dorset and Northern England. Every surplus we generate is reinvested back into our services and communities, helping us expand our reach and improve the care we provide.

Our values of care, innovation and compassion underpin everything we do, and our ambition is to enrich lives and strengthen communities through high-quality, person-centred services.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

The role

Reporting Professionally To The CEO Of Provide Health/Group Chief Nurse, And Operationally To The Chief Operating Officer For Provide Health, You Will

• Lead and oversee the delivery of a diverse portfolio of public health services, ensuring quality, safety, sustainability and excellent outcomes.
• Drive improvements in health outcomes and reduce inequalities across the organisation and the communities we serve.
• Act as the organisation's subject matter expert on health inequalities and population health.
• Lead business development activity including service redesign, tender submissions, retention bids and acquisition opportunities.
• Develop strategic partnerships across integrated care systems, local authorities, NHS organisations and wider stakeholders.
• Support organisational resilience, emergency preparedness and health protection arrangements.
• Develop Provide Community as a recognised Public Health training location for the East of England.
• Provide senior operational leadership across a substantial service portfolio and budget.
• Deputise for the Chief Operating Officer when required.
  
  

For medically qualified candidates, the role may also include acting as Responsible Officer for the organisation's medical workforce.

About You

You will be a registered Consultant in Public Health with a track record of delivering impact at senior level within complex health and care environments.

You Will Bring

• Registration on the GMC Specialist Register, GDC Specialist List or UK Public Health Register.
• Significant senior leadership and operational management experience.
• Expertise in population health, prevention and tackling health inequalities.
• Experience of leading change and transformation programmes across organisational boundaries.
• Strong commercial and business development skills.
• Experience managing large budgets and delivering services against quality and performance targets.
• Outstanding influencing and partnership skills, with the ability to work effectively across health, care and local government systems.
• A commitment to innovation, evidence-based practice and improving outcomes for communities.
  
  

Why join us?

This role offers an opportunity rarely found in public health careers: the ability to combine strategic public health leadership with direct operational responsibility and organisational influence.

At Provide Community You Will

• Help shape the future direction of a growing, innovative health and care organisation.
• Influence population health outcomes across multiple systems and communities.
• Work in an employee-owned organisation where profits are reinvested into services rather than shareholders.
• Join an ambitious leadership team committed to innovation, quality and social value.
• Receive support for continuing professional development and revalidation.
• Have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the next generation of public health professionals.
  
  

Interested?

If you are an experienced public health leader who wants to combine operational delivery with strategic influence and make a lasting difference to communities, we would love to hear from you.

Join Provide Community and help us create healthier communities and better futures.

For an informal chat with the CEO Health (CPH) Professor Lucy Wightman or to find out more, please email lucy.wightman1@nhs.net.

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria

• Delivery of successful change management programmes across organisational boundaries
• Experience of using complex information to explain public health issues to a range of audiences
• In depth understanding of the health and care system and ability to successfully influence outcomes both within and outside direct control
• In depth knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, quality improvement, evaluations and evidence based public health practice
• Strong and demonstrable understanding of interfaces between health, social care and key partners (dealing with wider determinants of health)
• Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Media experience demonstrating delivery of effective health behaviour or health promotion messages
  
  

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• In line with legislation, inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice/GDC Specialist List or inclusion in the UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) for Public Health Specialists at the point of application.
• Public health specialty registrar applicants who are not yet on the GMC Specialist Register, UKPHR register or GDC Specialist List in dental public health must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry to a register at the date of interview
• MFPH by examination, by exemption or by assessment, or equivalent
• 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
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Masters in Public Health or equivalent
  
  

Further Information

How will we contact you?

• All correspondence for this post will be by email or text messaging. Please register for text messages on your TRAC account. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly to ensure that email filters are set to allow our mails.
• As we often have many applicants for jobs at Provide, we regret that we will only be able to contact those external applicants who are shortlisted for interview. Therefore if you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, then please assume you have not been shortlisted for interview on this particular occasion. Internal candidates who are unsuccessful can seek feedback from the recruiting manager.
• If you wish to contact the Recruitment Team, please do this via provide.recruitment1@nhs.net
• If you wish to contact the Recruiting Manager about the vacancy/role or for feedback after interview, their details are provided within the advert.
  
  

Checking progress on your application?

To check progress on your application, please log into your TRAC account. We aim to keep you updated on the status of your application as soon as we can.

Closing Date

Provide reserves the right to close this vacancy at any time or bring forward the closing date should it have an overwhelming response. We therefore encourage an early application to ensure consideration for this post.

Professional UK clinical registration required for the role?

If we require you to hold UK professional clinical registration to undertake a role we appoint you to, Provide will pay for your registration during the first year of your employment.

COVID-19 Vaccination

Provide CIC continues to encourage all colleagues to ensure they have been double vaccinated and received a booster vaccination.

We recognise taking the vaccine provides the best defence against COVID 19 for our patients, service users, customers, fellow colleagues, and their families.

Anti Fraud

Our staff have been trained in 'Anti-Fraud' and will use technology to examine identity/immigration documents.

Disability

If you have a disability and need assistance or more time to complete your application or attending interview, please contact a member of the HR Services Team on 0300 3030 2661 or provide.recruitment1@nhs.net.

Work Trials

Please check with your local Job Centre Plus to see if you are eligible for a Work Trial. If you are interested in trying this job first, please contact the HR Services team and we can help you make the arrangements with the Job Centre and the Recruiting Manager.

We are committed to equal opportunities, flexible working practices and the National Living Wage.

Successful Applicant

You will be required to bring all your documentation to your interview to show the recruiting manager and again at your pre-employment appointment with the Recruitment Co-Ordinators.

The information that you provide will be treated confidentially. If you fail to provide all of the information, Provide may not be able to fulfil our contractual obligations to you or may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations.