Public Health Principal - maternity cover in Kettering

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Job Reference: Ref/23422/8755

Number of Positions: 1

Contract Type: Full Time Fixed term 12 months

Salary Range:

Working Hours: 37

Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire

Closing Date: 06/09/2026

Job Category: Public Health

Organisation: North Northamptonshire Council

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people. You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us? We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council.
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days.
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About the role

Are you passionate about improving people’s health and wellbeing? Are you looking for a new challenge? We are seeking an experienced and motivated public health professional to join North Northamptonshire Council's friendly and forward-thinking Public Health team as a Public Health Principal. This is a full-time fixed-term maternity cover post (12 months). This is an exciting opportunity to lead our high-profile Inclusion Health portfolio, encompassing public mental health, substance misuse, gambling-related harms and serious violence, while contributing to wider public health priorities across North Northamptonshire.

Working within our dynamic, knowledgeable and supportive Public Health team, you will play a key role in reducing health inequalities, improving health outcomes and influencing population health across our communities. We are looking for someone with broad public health expertise who can provide strategic leadership, system knowledge and technical advice across a range of public health priorities. We are particularly keen to hear from candidates with relevant public health experience who can quickly establish themselves in the role, provide leadership across the Inclusion Health portfolio, and ensure continuity across key workstreams.

The closing date for this role is Sunday 6 September 2026. Face-to-face interviews are currently expected to be held during the week commencing 21 September 2026. Applicants are advised to keep this period available where possible.

What will you be doing?

As a Public Health Principal, you will be responsible for:

• Providing specialist public health knowledge across multiple areas of public health, including public mental health, substance misuse, gambling-related harms, and serious violence.
• Contributing to the regular assessment and identification of health needs, and working with local communities to ensure the prevention/promotion agenda is at the forefront of key strategies and programmes.
• Leading the development and delivery of public health strategies, programmes and projects, including service planning and budget management across the portfolio.
• Using your influencing skills and working with all partners across the Integrated Care System (ICS) to develop initiatives and services in a way which aims to reduce health inequalities and improve the health and well-being of communities across North Northamptonshire.
• Translating complex evidence, research and population health data into high-quality reports, presentations and practical recommendations for decision-makers.
• Providing day-to-day management for members of the Public Health Team and leading them in the delivery of improvements across key public health outcomes. You will take an active role in training, workforce development and research.

About you

Applicants will normally have professional specialist knowledge gained through a relevant degree and postgraduate qualification, such as a Master of Public Health (MPH) or relevant master’s level study. Applicants with demonstrable equivalent experience who are currently working towards a postgraduate qualification in a public health related field will also be considered.

You will have:

• Substantial experience in public health practice, including a broad understanding of population health, health inequalities, health improvement and the wider determinants of health, together with experience of managing teams and leading large programmes of work.
• Excellent interpersonal and partnership skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate and build consensus across organisations to achieve shared public health outcomes.
• Strong analytical, report-writing and problem-solving skills, with experience of interpreting evidence and data to influence policy, commissioning and service delivery.
• Experience of contributing to research, evaluation and strategic public health planning, working with partners across the system to improve population health outcomes.
• Confidence in managing multiple priorities and leading several workstreams simultaneously within a complex partnership environment.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to present complex information in a clear and relevant way to a range of audiences, including senior multi-agency stakeholders.
• Experience of commissioning, contract management or service design within a public health, local government or health setting would be advantageous.

Our vision is to make a difference to our communities and our environment, and we would love you to join us in our mission! North Northamptonshire Council is committed to flexible and hybrid working, and we welcome discussions with potential applicants on working arrangements.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

• Customer-focused
• Respectful
• Efficient
• Supportive
• Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role. The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).