Communications and Engagement Lead

NHS; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS Trust in Oxford is seeking a Communications and Engagement Lead to drive communication strategies for innovative healthcare programs. The role involves managing stakeholder engagement and delivering communication solutions that enhance patient data use in healthcare. The ideal candidate should have extensive experience in public engagement and a Master's degree in a relevant field. This full-time position offers a competitive salary and flexible working options.

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters level or equivalent qualification/experience.
• Extensive professional experience in stakeholder and public engagement.
• Knowledge of NHS datasets and standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and implementation of communication and engagement strategies.
• Manage communication for data programmes across care records and research.
• Work closely with diverse stakeholders to scope and deliver projects.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Public engagement

Media management

Communications strategy development

Education

Master's degree or equivalent in communications

Job description

Communications and Engagement Lead

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 26 October 2025

We are seeking an experienced individual with talent, expertise, and ambition in communications and stakeholder engagement. The post offers the opportunity to work proactively on innovative solutions that will transform health and care research and delivery across the NHS.

The successful candidate will work as part of the Thames Valley and Surrey (TVS) Secure Data Environment (SDE) Programme and the TVS Care Records Partnership Programme, and be hosted by the R&D Clinical Informatics Team within OUH. They will be accountable to the Programme Director/SRO respectively and have day to day accountability to the programmes' Coproduction Lead.

They will manage communication and engagement for data programmes across care records and research in the Thames Valley and Surrey, and feed into related national work. The programmes will support the successful candidate through regular joint meetings to manage a collaborative approach to communication and engagement across TVS.

The data communication and engagement lead will have significant impact on the success of these data programmes. Working with colleagues across the health and care system, subject matter experts, research and industry they will have the satisfaction of seeing their work lead to progress in the way patient data is used in the NHS: improving patient care and supporting understanding population health and cutting‑edge research.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will lead on the continued development, delivery and implementation of our communication and engagement strategies. This will involve working closely with colleagues across the region, and nationally, to scope, prioritise, and deliver. The successful candidate will be highly skilled in working with diverse stakeholders, alongside interdisciplinary and cross‑sector teams. They will be responsible for both internal and external communications, stakeholder management, media management, PR and liaison with key stakeholders.

The ecosystem they will work within is complex, spanning many organisations and sectors. Managing this complexity will be both a challenge and a rewarding component of the post.

About us

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals – the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. For more information on OUH please view OUH At a Glance by OUHospitals – Issuu.

Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community.

We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence.

These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via the OUH YouTube channel.

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached job description for further details on the main responsibilities of this role.

Person Specification

Education

• Educated to Masters level (or equivalent qualification / experience)
• Master's degree or equivalent level experience in communications, including stakeholder and public engagement
• Extensive, relevant professional experience may be considered against the requirement for a degree in relevant discipline (the expectation of professional, technical competence is at least that associated with a degree level education in this subject)

Experience

• Excellent understanding and experience of the health research and clinical informatics landscape
• Demonstrable experience of working and in a technical environment, ideally within a clinical or healthcare setting
• Knowledge of relevant national legislation and local guidance and how these should be applied to stakeholder and public engagement activities
• Specialist knowledge across a range of stakeholder engagement practices, techniques and approaches underpinned by theoretical knowledge from study and relevant practical experience
• Knowledge of NHS datasets and standards
• Understanding of infrastructure, software and data lifecycles with specialist knowledge acquired through relevant qualifications including waterfall and agile project methodologies

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

2 years

Working pattern

Full‑time, Flexible working, Home or remote working, Compressed hours

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year pro rata