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Welcome to the online edition of Public Health Careers Weekly.
Every Friday, we publish carefully selected public health opportunities, sector updates and practical career advice to help you build your career in UK public health.
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🌟 Opportunity of the Week
Public Health Intelligence Analyst Apprentice
Portsmouth City Council £40,443 to £44,252 | Fixed term up to 36 months Closing: 29 October
This role sits within Portsmouth’s Strategic Intelligence and Research Team and combines substantive public health intelligence work with a Level 7 Health and Care Intelligence Specialist Apprenticeship.
The work includes JSNA and needs assessments, complex statistical and epidemiological analysis, GIS, R, SQL, Power BI, data visualisation and stakeholder engagement.
Applicants will normally already have substantial experience in an analytical, intelligence or research environment, so this should be viewed as a specialist development route rather than a beginner apprenticeship. The employer also states that sponsorship is not available.
Why it matters: It provides a rare opportunity to develop postgraduate-level public health intelligence skills while applying them directly to local population-health decisions and commissioning.
View the Portsmouth vacancy
💼 Featured Opportunities
Public Health Intelligence Advisor
Public Health Scotland Band 7 | £52,845 to £61,466 | Permanent Glasgow / Edinburgh | Closing: 26 October
The role sits within Public Health Scotland’s Public Health Observatory and leads specialist intelligence designed to support planning and policy and reduce health inequalities.
Responsibilities include complex analysis, epidemiological methods, evidence synthesis, programme leadership, stakeholder engagement and communicating findings to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
The person specification requires substantial experience analysing complex health datasets, applied epidemiological methods, statistical packages, public health research and extensive project management.
Why it matters: This is a progression role for experienced analysts, epidemiologists and public health researchers who want to move beyond analysis delivery and into intelligence leadership and policy influence.
Healthcare Scientist (Epidemiology)
Public Services Delivery Scotland, ARHAI Scotland Band 6 | £43,231 to £52,679 | Permanent Glasgow | Closing: 22 October
This national role involves analysing, interpreting and presenting epidemiological and surveillance data and contributing to research.
Why it matters: A strong applied epidemiology opportunity for scientists or analysts interested in surveillance, antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infection.
Epidemiological Analyst
UK Health Security Agency £37,749 to £45,353 | Permanent Colindale | Closing: 24 October
Develop and maintain surveillance systems for vaccine-preventable diseases, improve data quality and produce epidemiological analysis for national and international reporting.
The role includes R and SQL and is particularly relevant to applicants with postgraduate epidemiology training.
Why it matters: A clear route into national surveillance and immunisation intelligence.
Research Fellow / Assistant Professor in Epidemiology
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK-PHRST £45,728 to £61,034 | Fixed term Closing: 26 October
Combine infectious-disease epidemiology research with operational outbreak response and international deployment.
Why it matters: A rare opportunity to connect research directly with live outbreak response.
Environmental Health Officer, Food Safety
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council £47,907 to £51,246 | Permanent Closing: 26 October
Work across food hygiene and standards, health and safety, infectious-disease control, investigations and enforcement.
Why it matters: Environmental health remains a core route into population protection and regulatory public health.
Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in Evidence Synthesis
University of Bristol £39,906 to £50,253 Closing: 29 October
Conduct systematic reviews, quantitative synthesis, critical appraisal and interpretation across health topics.
Why it matters: Evidence synthesis provides a route into policy-facing public health for people with strong research-methods, epidemiology or statistics experience.
View the University of Bristol vacancy
📰 This Week in Public Health
Scotland publishes new learning on tackling health inequalities
Public Health Scotland has welcomed a new report capturing learning from Aberdeen City, North Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, where partners have used the Marmot Principles to place health equity at the centre of local decision-making.
Why it matters: Effective inequalities work increasingly depends on councils, health services, communities and third-sector organisations making decisions together.
UKHSA consults on HIV guidance for healthcare workers
UKHSA is consulting on proposed changes to guidance for healthcare workers living with HIV who undertake exposure-prone procedures. The consultation includes questions about feasibility, protected characteristics and health inequalities.
Why it matters: A useful example of public health guidance balancing current evidence, occupational health, equality and patient safety.
MHRA publishes its Strategy to 2030
The new strategy focuses on patient-centred regulation, stronger data connectivity and adapting regulation to AI, personalised medicines and emerging technologies.
Why it matters: Regulatory careers increasingly intersect with evidence appraisal, data, safety surveillance, digital health and public involvement.
🎓 Learning Opportunity
Starting Out in Health and Social Care Research
A free NHS Learning Hub course covering the research cycle, project development and publishing findings.
Useful for anyone considering research assistant, evidence-synthesis or public health research roles.
💡 Career Insight
Public health intelligence has several progression routes
This week provides an unusually clear snapshot:
£40k Level 7 intelligence apprenticeship
Band 6 applied epidemiology
Band 7 national public health intelligence
As responsibility increases, the emphasis shifts from technical delivery alone towards project leadership, stakeholder influence, strategic interpretation and turning evidence into policy or service decisions.
The next step in an intelligence career is not always learning another software package. Sometimes it is demonstrating that your analysis influences what happens
✍️ Application Tip
Make technical requirements easy to find
If the person specification explicitly asks for R, SQL, Power BI, statistical methods or a particular qualification, name them clearly where you genuinely meet them.
Then use your examples to show:
what you analysed
which method or tool you used
how you checked the quality
what decision or action the work informed
The software name establishes technical fit. The outcome demonstrates your value.
📄 PHCH Resource of the Week
Application Review
Applying for one of this week’s technical roles?
Technical applications can become overloaded with tools and methods while losing the evidence of impact.
PHCH Application Review looks at how clearly your supporting information demonstrates the person specification and whether your strongest evidence is easy for the panel to identify
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