Health Policy and Systems Programme Lead

Department: Policy, Information & Communication (PIC)

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £70,000 - £80,000

Hours: Full-time (we’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements)

Location: Stratford, high flex, with one to two days per week in the office. Flexible working requests to be home-based within the UK or to be based at another CRUK site will be considered.

Closing date: 17 June 2026: 11:59pm

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer. As the world’s leading cancer charity, we are at the forefront of the global fight against cancer, bringing together millions of people who share our determination to beat it. For over 120 years, we’ve been making discoveries that have saved countless lives, and which benefit millions of people around the world each year. Yet, the challenge of cancer remains, we have so much more to do. We want to live in a world where everybody lives longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer.

This role sits within CRUK’s Health Policy and Systems team. It provides leadership for the development of CRUK’s views on key issues in health policy, systems and services, and is a key component of our approach to influencing national policy and health systems activities in all 4 nations of the UK.

In this role, you’ll be our informed expert on health policy and health systems. You’ll work with colleagues to ensure that CRUK maintains a robust, relevant and credible set of positions in areas that support our core purpose of improving cancer outcomes for UK populations.

Main Responsibilities:

• Lead a small team delivering a portfolio of work developing CRUK’s positions on priority health policy and health systems topics to inform short, medium and long-term influencing activities aimed at improving cancer outcomes across the four nations of the UK.
• Maintain strong personal knowledge of health systems and policy topics, issues, and stakeholders and act as subject matter expert for CRUK in these areas.
• Work closely with colleagues to integrate cancer expertise with knowledge of the health system and policy context.
• Ensure portfolio activity anticipates and supports a proactive approach to key influencing opportunities at national and system levels.
• Apply critical thinking / strategy skills to distil complex issues into structured questions and deliver programmes of discovery, analysis and evidence-generation.
• Lead stakeholder engagement and influencing activities in designated areas.
• Act as a spokesperson for CRUK on relevant topics including at third-party events and potentially in the media.
• Line manage and support the development of designated staff ensuring delivery of high-quality and high-impact outputs.

Skills Required:

• Deep expertise in UK health policy and systems topics and of the levers for change.
• Experience of engaging senior stakeholders and leading experts.
• Ability to develop and lead end-to-end programmes of work.
• Excellent writing, speaking and presentational skills.
• Experience of working in a matrix environment and leading a team.
• Highly collaborative and enabling of others.
• Ability to travel across the UK and stay overnight when necessary.

What Will I Gain?

Each and every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies and processes to enable you to do your job well.

Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more. We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.

For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us at recruitment@cancer.org.uk.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen.