Job title: Assistant Director Health Equals
Accountable to: Director of Health
Salary: £88,000-£99,700 per annum
Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week

JOB DESCRIPTION

The postholder will provide strategic leadership to the Health Equals, leading the ongoing development and delivery of strategy to achieve its objectives of shifting public attitudes and influencing policy change that improves health.

Building on a successful set-up and launch phase, the post holder will lead Health Equals through its next phase: creating a series of innovative and compelling campaigns to build the commitment and action required to create the conditions for good physical and mental health. This is an outstanding opportunity to lead a multi-million-pound flagship programme at a critical moment for Health Equals, as the organisation seeks to bring about sustainable improvements in life expectancy and reverse generations of health care inequalities.

They will lead a dedicated team within the Health Foundation to develop and lead high impact communications campaigns; further grow and mobilise a diverse cross-sector membership; and, where appropriate, facilitate joint policy influencing. They will ensure Health Equal’s campaigning reflects the different needs and priorities of communities across the UK, drawing on insight from local networks.

The success of the role will be in delivering demonstrably effective communications campaigns that influence policymakers and ultimately bring about sustainable change in policies that shape society’s health and wellbeing. Critical to this will be the genuine, self-sustaining energy and momentum of the membership. The post holder will need to apply a deep understanding of campaigning and bring experience building multi-stakeholder collaborations capable of co-developing strategies and aligning activities. An understanding of collaborative change and movement building will be essential, along with practical experience of creating social and policy change through mobilising others, to catalyse action from other organisations.

The postholder will apply a sound understanding of the recent trends in health and their determinants; broad social policy knowledge and experience, and a good understanding of the political context within the UK, to ensure Health Equal’s strategy is focused on the areas where the most impact might be achieved.

They will also ensure that the Health Equals effectively engages the public, bringing experience of campaigning and movement building that shifts public opinion and highlights the significance of national policies on life expectancy and health outcomes, with an understanding of the complexity of doing this on complex social issues.

To do this, they will be responsible for:

• Leading the Health Equals core team and membership to realise the ambitions set out in the initiative’s discovery phase, effectively using Health Foundation funding and leveraging in-kind resources from members.
• Providing visible external leadership and acting as a spokesperson for Health Equals.
• Ensuring the strategy and activity of the Health Foundation core team is responsive and adaptive to developments within the external environment and what we learn about what achieves impact.
• Drive forward a sophisticated programme of campaigning, communications activity and policy influencing.
• Lead public affairs on behalf of Health Equals, building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders focused on influencing health and wellbeing policies and actions.

Health Equals is a departure for the Health Foundation in terms of the approaches it uses to bring about change and represents a bold attempt to shift what have been seen as intractable challenges. It will require an experienced and confident leader that can embrace the risks of the initiative and develop new and impactful paths to change, while maintaining the confidence and support of members, the Health Foundation and its board.

Key tasks and responsibilities

Overall strategic leadership

• Building on the launch phase, further develop and articulate a compelling and coherent vision.
• Lead the ongoing development of the strategy, ensuring consensus around the overall aims and ambitions with members, the steering group, and the Health Foundation directors’ team.
• Working with the core team to translate the overall mission and vision translates into credible, dynamic and effective influencing activities which make the most of the opportunities and resources available. This will include delivering impactful campaigning that:
  • Creates a broad-based shift in understanding of what makes us healthy and how health can be created.
  • Creates receptiveness to change within policy makers, enabling Health Equals members to influence policy across sectors to create better conditions for healthy lives.
• Provide and apply a clear understanding of the mechanisms for change including an understanding of what is effective in engaging and persuading key audience segments and stakeholders and them.
• Actively learn from other initiatives that have delivered change in public attitudes to complex societal challenges.

Communications and influencing

• Act as a visible figurehead for Health Equals, communicating its purpose and calls externally. Raise profile through blogs and social media engagement and acting as the primary media spokesperson. This is likely to include media appearances, speaking at events, giving interviews, writing blogs, providing quotes, press responses, and other stakeholder influencing activities with policy and other decision makers. Mobilise key members to act as spokespeople on relevant topics.
• Communicate the opportunity Health Equals offers to sector audiences through speaking at sector events, and engagement with sector press (likely alongside sector members).
• Support the communications lead to deliver a communications strategy for Health Equals which makes effective use of high impact campaigning approaches and mobilises the membership to reach a broad set of relevant stakeholders.
• Develop and oversee a Health Equals policy influencing strategy which makes the most of the credibility and connections of the members to advance the common policy agenda. Where a Health Equals perspective (as opposed to an issue or sector perspective) is relevant, the post will lead stakeholder influencing activities with policy and other decision makers.

Relationship development

• Energise and motivate membership through communications and engagement that delivers a compelling vision and opportunity for Health Equals. Facilitate collaboration between members around shared priorities and catalyse independent action on the part of members in line with goals.
• Build strong relationships with senior leaders in the most strategically critical members and stakeholder organisations, including with senior sector leaders, leaders in national bodies, and selected policy makers. Monitor emerging risks to relationships and capitalise on opportunities for synergy.
• Ensure team has well-developed approach to building and managing an influential cross-sector collaboration membership in support of the Health Equal’s strategy.
• Ensure strategic alignment with the Health Foundation while also developing the distinct strategic and operational approach of Health Equals.

Organisational and team development

• Ensure the effective development and functioning of the core team, ensuring that its governance, reporting, evaluation, communications and operational delivery functions come together to enable it to deliver highly impactful influencing activities.
• Supporting the Senior Strategy and Engagement Manager, oversee governance processes, working with the chair of the steering group to set agendas and ensuring steering group members are well briefed on key issues and that papers are consistently high value. Act as the key spokesperson at the steering group and when taking proposals to the Health Foundation’s board.
• Work closely with the Senior Strategy and Engagement manager, and other managers within the core team to ensure effective team leadership and management and efficient operational delivery, and build a proactive, inclusive and learning-focused team culture.
• Be accountable overall for the effective use of Health Equal’s five year £12m budget and the other resources available to Health Equals, within the parameters set by the board and steering group. Work with the core team to ensure effective budgeting and business planning processes and financial accountability.
• Support a proportionate approach to evaluation, focused on generating rapid feedback on the effectiveness of Health Equal’s activities and using this information to adapt the approach to increase impact.

Key relationships

Internal

This is a senior role in the organisation, demanding highly effective leadership and influencing skills. Key relationships will include:

• The Board and Directors’ team within the Health Foundation, in particular the Director of Communications, and Director of Health.
• Health Equals steering group, a governance group established to oversee the delivery of the initiative, made up of relevant Health Foundation directors and Board members, with representation from member organisations.
• The core team.
• Other senior staff within the Health Foundation, including associate / deputy directors within the communications and healthy lives teams.

External

• Current and future members drawn from across the wider determinants and operating in the private and third sector, as well as in local government.
• Opinion formers and senior decision makers across the public health community, local and national government, parliament and the devolved assemblies, media, wider public sector, business and other think tanks and charities working in the social justice field.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Education – all essential

• A good degree in a relevant subject or relevant experience.

Experience – all essential unless otherwise noted

• Proven ability to lead successful high-profile change initiatives that engage public, professional and policy stakeholders, and influence the actions and agendas of external stakeholders. Experience leading multi-audience campaigns, grounded in audience insight, including audience segmentation.
• Proven ability to lead change through others. Ability to develop and deliver impactful collaborative action on complex, system change agendas, working with stakeholders from business, academia, third sector, and government to create social and policy change.
• Proven ability to influence policy, including broad understanding of social policy, ability to build relationships with senior decision-makers across the political spectrum, communicate evidence and persuasively outline (policy) opportunities.  (Desirable)
• Excellent communication skills – experience representing an organisation in public including public speaking and presentation skills and external-facing writing (under pressure). Ability to effectively engage internal and member stakeholders, as well as acting as a spokesperson for Health Equals in the media.
• Experience and understanding of how to present and communicate complex issues to a variety of audiences from the most senior policymakers to members of the public. Good facilitation, networking, project management and line management skills.
• High level experience leading strategy development and implementation.

Knowledge – all essential

• A broad understanding of the wider determinants of health and the distinctive roles different sectors can play in improving health including government, arms-length bodies, independent bodies, communities, voluntary sector and business.
• Understanding of campaigning on complex social issues and movement building around social justice issues.

Behaviour – all essential

• Working together – Proven ability to build mutually beneficial relationships at a senior level across a range of sectors and teams.
• Achieving impact – Able to deliver impact by working with and through others, building a movement for change.
• Discovering and Learning – Creative, lateral thinker, able to bring new perspectives to seemingly intractable problems.
• Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion – An understanding of, and commitment to, equal opportunities and diversity.

Skills and abilities – non-essential

• Skilled campaigner, able to spot opportunities in debate and broader culture for fresh and compelling communications.
• Able to synthesise input and information from members, stakeholders, and the external environment and decisively identify opportunities for influence, or new approaches to achieve change, and translate these into action.
• Open, communicative, and approachable to all staff across the organisation irrespective of role or seniority.
• Flexible, adaptable and respectful of colleagues.