Senior Specialist-Health Systems

Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.

About the role

We believe everyone should have access to the advice and support they need to live healthier, more secure lives. At Citizens Advice, we know that good health is not just achieved through health services alone. Social issues, such as poverty, debt, insecure housing and financial uncertainty can have a profound impact on people's physical and mental health, and timely, practical advice can make a real difference.

Across Citizens Advice, we have extensive experience of delivering social welfare advice in healthcare settings, from GP surgeries and acute mental health wards to specialist care pathways for patients with cancer and respiratory disease. Our work demonstrates the tangible benefits that advice can bring, including improved mental health, reduced stress, greater financial security, prevention of homelessness and better outcomes for patients and the NHS.

However, access to advice within healthcare settings remains inconsistent, and the role of advice is not yet sufficiently recognised or embedded within health service planning, commissioning and delivery. We want to change that.

We are establishing an ambitious, two-year national programme to strengthen the case for the links between advice and good health, develop a shared organisational vision and increase the recognition, influence and impact of Citizens Advice across health systems in England and Wales.

We are looking for an experienced and influential Senior Specialist – Health Systems to lead this work, bringing together expertise from across our federated service, made up of a national organisation and local network, to build the evidence, capability, relationships and support needed to realise our ambition. Direct experience of healthcare settings, and the role that advice can play, is a must.

This is an opportunity to shape how Citizens Advice works with the health sector, influence national and local strategy, and help more people benefit from the life-changing impact of advice.

What you'll do

• Provide strategic leadership and direction for this programme, creating a compelling vision for the role Citizens Advice can play in improving health outcomes and ensuring our collective experience, expertise and evidence are translated into meaningful organisational influence and impact.
• Working across the national organisation and our network of around 330 local Citizens Advice, you'll bring a range of experts together around a shared ambition, build strong partnerships and oversee a coordinated programme of activity that positions advice as an essential part of the wider health and care system.
• Lead the programme vision and strategy, developing an ambitious organisational vision that demonstrates the impact of our advice within healthcare settings and makes a compelling case for systemic change.
• Strengthen our influence and profile, building understanding and active support for the value of advice across NHS systems with health commissioners, government and wider strategic partners.
• Develop and nurture key relationships, engaging senior stakeholders and partners to create opportunities for collaboration, influence decision-making and support the integration of advice into health services.
• Build the evidence and case for impact, drawing together our existing experience, research and insight to powerfully demonstrate how advice improves health outcomes, supports recovery and delivers benefits for patients, communities and the NHS.
• Develop and oversee a cross-organisational delivery plan, coordinating activity across strategy, policy, public affairs, business development, Wales and advice teams to deliver shared programme objectives.
• Harness expertise across our network, working closely with local Citizens Advice, including specialist health groups, to collaborate, share learning, build consensus and identify opportunities to scale successful approaches.
• Identify opportunities for growth and sustainability, supporting the development of emerging models and solutions that can increase access to advice in healthcare settings and secure longer-term investment and commissioning.

About you

We're looking for someone who can combine strategic vision with the ability to bring people together, build influence and turn ambition into action. You'll be confident working across complex organisations and systems, drawing from extensive experience and understanding of advice networks and healthcare settings, with the credibility to engage senior leaders, influence external stakeholders and create momentum around a shared agenda. You'll understand the importance of collaboration and be able to harness expertise from different teams and perspectives to develop a compelling and coordinated approach.

You'll bring:

• Experience of the relationship between health, poverty and wider social determinants of health, with an appreciation of the role advice can play in improving health and wellbeing.
• Significant experience of leading complex programmes or strategic initiatives, ideally across multiple stakeholders, organisations or sectors.
• Experience of developing strategic visions, building compelling cases for change and translating organisational ambition into practical delivery plans.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships and secure support from senior leaders, commissioners, policymakers and external partners.
• Experience working across organisational boundaries, bringing together diverse teams and expertise to deliver shared outcomes.
• The ability to interpret evidence, insight and experience and use these to develop persuasive narratives that influence strategy, policy and decision-making.
• Strong programme leadership and coordination skills, including managing competing priorities, dependencies and delivery across multiple workstreams.
• A collaborative and inclusive approach, with the ability to engage and inspire colleagues across a federated organisation.
• A commitment to the values and purpose of Citizens Advice and a passion for tackling the inequalities that affect people's health and lives.

Why this role matters

This is a unique opportunity to help shape a significant area of future work for Citizens Advice and strengthen our position as an essential partner in improving health and tackling health inequalities. You'll bring together the experience and expertise of service to make the case for advice playing a vital role within health systems. Over two years, you'll help build the relationships, evidence, commitment and strategic influence, centred around an organisation's vision, that are needed to create lasting change, ensuring more people can access the advice they need to improve their health, financial security and quality of life.

Please apply with your CV and cover letter detailing how you meet the below essential criteria:

• Health Systems and Advice Sector Expertise: Extensive knowledge and experience of working within the NHS, Integrated Care Boards, healthcare commissioning or advice sector, with a strong understanding of health systems, advice networks and the opportunities for collaboration between them.
• Strategic Partnerships, Influencing and Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrable experience of building and maintaining influential relationships with varied and senior external stakeholders, including NHS executives, policymakers, commissioners, local authorities and voluntary sector partners, with the ability to build trust, influence decisions and secure strategic partnerships.
• Funding, Business Development and Scaling Social Impact: A proven track record of securing funding for advice/health, developing compelling funding proposals and building sustainable partnerships, with experience of developing and scaling innovative services or models that deliver measurable social impact.
• Strategic Leadership, Delivery and Evidence-Based Decision Making: Proven experience of leading multidisciplinary and matrix-managed teams, translating complex evidence and data into compelling strategic proposals, and a hands-on approach to delivering ambitious programmes at pace through a proactive, collaborative and results-focused approach.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service. Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector - people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people.

We follow the social model of disability. We will offer an interview to disabled candidates who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident Interview Commitment where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.

We’re a flexible employer, so this role may suit anyone who’d prefer a flexible arrangement to help their work/life balance, many of our colleagues spend most of their time working remotely. Whilst we prefer a blended approach between a local office, if one is near you, and home we’re open to being flexible on location, occasionally a role may require you to be based in a certain location if that's the case it will be detailed in the advert or job description. This can be discussed in more detail during your interview.

The National Citizens Advice operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales.

Please be aware that Citizens Advice is not a sponsoring organisation. Therefore the successful applicant must already possess the right to work in the UK or be able to secure the right to work in the UK independently.

We have been awarded the top charity in Third sectors' employer index, where it's recognised that Citizens Advice is an organization that not only prioritizes the people we serve but also values the wellbeing of its employees.

Citizens Advice seeks to redeploy internal staff who are at risk or under notice of redundancy and will prioritise them in the recruitment process where necessary. If you have been confirmed as at risk or under notice of redundancy please ensure you indicate this in the at-risk box in your application.

This role may be considered for a secondment if the successful applicant meets the eligibility requirements for a secondment.

This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date.

Secondment opportunity considered.

For more information about the organisation, our values and benefits please see the following link - Information, values and benefits.

Need help with your application, see our useful how to guides on the following page - Guidance notes for applicants.