Public Health Principal (Childrens)

Are you passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families?

Reading Borough Council is looking for an experienced and influential Public Health Principal to lead our Children's Public Health portfolio. This is a key leadership role with the opportunity to shape strategic priorities, reduce health inequalities and ensure that every child in Reading has the best possible start in life.

Working as part of our Public Health Team, you will provide strategic leadership across programmes that support the health and wellbeing of children and young people. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across Children's Services, Education, Health, the voluntary sector and wider system partners to develop and deliver evidence-based interventions that improve outcomes from early years through to adulthood.

The portfolio includes areas such as maternity and early years, child health, healthy weight, emotional wellbeing, school-aged health improvement, prevention and reducing inequalities. You will lead commissioning activity, manage complex programmes and use public health intelligence to inform strategic decision-making.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

We support hybrid working, it’s important to us that working arrangements are designed to enable our employees to excel and within this role you’ll have the opportunity to work in a way that suits your lifestyle.

About The Role:
As Public Health Principal – Children, you will provide strategic leadership across a portfolio of programmes and partnerships focused on improving outcomes for children and young people. You will champion evidence-based approaches to prevention and early intervention, supporting partners to identify needs early, improve services and make the best use of available resources.

Working closely with colleagues across the Council, the NHS, education, social care and voluntary and community organisations, you will help ensure that children’s health and wellbeing are central to local decision-making and service planning.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Championing prevention and early intervention, supporting evidence-based approaches that improve outcomes for children and young people and help reduce demand on services.
• Providing strategic public health leadership across children’s services, influencing policy, priorities and programmes to address health inequalities and improve population health.
• Strengthening partnership working, including contributing to the Families First Partnership Programme and working with the One Reading Partnership and Children and Young People’s Partnership Board.
• Leading and contributing to child health partnerships, including acting as a key lead for the Berkshire Child Death Overview Panel.
• Using public health intelligence and evidence to assess population needs, identify inequalities, inform priorities and evaluate the impact of interventions.
• Driving service improvement and effective commissioning, ensuring programmes are evidence-based, outcomes-focused and deliver value for money.
• Building strong relationships across the local system, influencing stakeholders and bringing partners together around shared ambitions for children, young people and families.
• Leading and developing people, supporting Public Health Practitioners and contributing to a skilled, collaborative and effective public health workforce.

This is an opportunity to shape how Reading works collectively to improve children’s health and wellbeing, ensuring that prevention, early intervention and reducing inequalities remain central to our approach.

About You:
You will be an experienced public health professional with a strong understanding of the factors that influence children’s health and development, alongside the leadership skills to influence change across complex systems.

You will also have:

• A relevant degree and postgraduate qualification in Public Health or equivalent experience.
• Significant experience of public health practice, particularly relating to children, young people and families.
• Strong programme management, commissioning and partnership-working skills.
• Experience of using public health intelligence and evidence to drive improvements.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills with the ability to influence a wide range of stakeholders.
• A passion for tackling health inequalities and improving life chances for children and young people.

You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do
Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential.
Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way.
Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.

Our offer:
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 30 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave
• A wide range of flexible working opportunities
• Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS)
• On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted
• Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work
• Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax

For more information on this position please contact Matthew Pearce, Director of Public Health at Matthew.Pearce@reading.gov.uk

Closing Date: Wednesday 28th October 2026
Interview Date: To be confirmed
Interview Setup: In person at the Civic Centre, Bridge Street, Reading, RG1 2LU