Head of Healthy Lives

Innovate UK; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 69,000; Full time

Job summary

A government innovation agency in the UK is seeking a Head of Healthy Lives to contribute to strategic direction and manage a high-value portfolio aimed at improving health and wellbeing. The successful candidate will lead a multidisciplinary team, ensuring impactful delivery of health initiatives and cross-Government collaboration. This role offers a salary of £68,525 per annum and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

30 days annual leave

Defined benefit pension scheme

Flexible working hours

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in the delivery of complex, policy led programmes.
• Outstanding communication and engagement capability.
• Track record of delivering complex, public-sector programmes.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the strategic direction of Healthy Lives programmes.
• Manage a high-value portfolio exceeding £150 million.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team.

Skills

Leadership in complex programmes

Effective communication

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic thinking

Analytical and problem-solving skills

Education

Degree in life sciences, healthcare or related field

Job description

time left to apply End Date: August 25, 2025 (11 days left to apply)

job requisition id JR4241

This is the Internal Only Recruitment Site for UK Research and Innovation Staff for roles within Innovate UK (UKRI).

Please apply for jobs via this site only if you are employed by UK Research and Innovation (employees with access to Innovate UK's Workday system may apply via the "Careers" application within the system) .

If you are not a current UKRI employee you can view vacancies at the externally advertised stage at the links given in the "About Us information on the right". If you wish to apply for the position below, please ensure that you comply with the requirements of the recruitment process by submitting both a full CV and application letter. Ideally, you should also advise your manager of your application.

Applications must be submitted by

25-08-2025

This is the Internal Only Recruitment Site for UK Research and Innovation Staff for roles within Innovate UK (UKRI).

Please apply for jobs via this site only if you are employed by UK Research and Innovation (employees with access to Innovate UK's Workday system may apply via the "Careers" application within the system) .

If you are not a current UKRI employee you can view vacancies at the externally advertised stage at the links given in the "About Us information on the right". If you wish to apply for the position below, please ensure that you comply with the requirements of the recruitment process by submitting both a full CV and application letter. Ideally, you should also advise your manager of your application.

Applications must be submitted by

25-08-2025

Head of Healthy Lives

As Deputy Director, you will contribute to the strategic direction and be responsible for the operational delivery of the Healthy Lives programmes ensuring that delivery plans are effectively translated into high-impact outcomes.

*Please note this advert will close on the 24th August 2025 at 23.59pm.

Watch our video “Why Join Innovate UK?” here .

Title: Head of Healthy Lives

Band: UKRI Band G (UKRI Ts & Cs)

Salary: £68,525 gross per annum

Reports to: Director – Healthy Lives

Location: Field based

Contract: Permanent

Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.

Context:

The role holder will operate within the Innovate UK Healthy Lives Team which is part of the Healthy Living & Agriculture Domain (HLA). This team focuses on improving wellbeing across the life course, supporting innovations that enable people to live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives—both physically and mentally.

The portfolio spans a broad range of sectors, including life sciences, the NHS, social care, community healthcare, housing, assistive technologies, mental health, occupational health, sport and leisure, food and nutrition, the third sector, and the impact investment community.

This is a leadership role responsible for managing a complex, high-value portfolio exceeding £150 million, with direct oversight of a team of 5–8 staff and indirect leadership of up to 10 additional contributors.

We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.

Job Purpose:

As Deputy Director, you will contribute to the strategic direction and be responsible for the operational delivery of the Healthy Lives programmes ensuring that delivery plans are effectively translated into high-impact outcomes.

This includes management of the competition portfolio, cross-Government liaison, and the day-to-day operations of the team.

You will provide day-to-day leadership of a multidisciplinary team, foster collaboration across Innovate UK, other UKRI councils, and government departments, and ensure that an appropriate impact and performance framework is in place to demonstrate value and effectiveness

The Deputy Director is expected to act in the absence of the Director and will deputise for the Director in external engagements including conference presentations.

As a visible and influential thought leader for Healthy Lives, you will represent the theme, domain and. IUK externally. You will champion advancing innovations that that support positive health and enable people to maximise their potential at all life stages – helping individuals and communities to thrive.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Responsible for the development and maintenance of the Delivery Plans and Business Cases that define the portfolio of activities needed to deliver the objectives.
• Provide for day-to-day leadership and direction of a high performing, highly skilled Healthy Lives team, aligning resources to strategic goals and ensuring coordination of activities from permanent staff, project staff from within IUK and external assistance.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of the communications strategy to promote the vision for Healthy Lives, secure stakeholder commitment, ensuring effective integration of knowledge sharing and dissemination activities.
• Provide thought leadership for the programme team to enable innovation in the delivery of the transformational change required. This includes supporting international collaboration and commercialisation, Cross Government working including liaising with Devolved Governments, liaising with wider related initiatives including other UKRI councils, in particular EPSRC, ESRC, MRC and AHRC
• Drive the delivery of a robust transparent and open programme that meets audit, public and government scrutiny
• Champion innovation and thought leadership across the programme, fostering partnerships and knowledge exchange nationally and internationally.
• Lead on the impact and benefits evaluation for the Healthy Lives Programmes to ensure the agreed outputs and outcomes are delivered as defined in the business case in terms of SMART objectives. Supporting the delivery of strategic benefits that are customer-focused, demonstrable and evidence based.

This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.

Shortlisting criteria

(S) – Assessed at shortlisting

(I) – Assessed at interview

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Person Specification:

Experience & Qualifications:

Essential –

• Degree in life sciences, healthcare or a related field. (S)
• Proven leadership in the delivery of complex, policy led programmes. (S&I)
• Outstanding communication and engagement capability with authenticity to deliver effective communications. (I)
• Excellent verbal communication, stakeholder engagement and influencing skills delivered consistently. (S&I)
• Self-awareness and excellent personal resilience, as well as a high level of professionalism, discretion and tact. (I)
• A willingness to challenge preconceptions and offer well-reasoned and considered judgements to all levels of stakeholders. (S&I)
• Track record of delivering complex, public-sector programme and delivering policy-led change, at national scale. (S&I)
• Successful management of multiple senior and executive stakeholders with conflicting demands and priorities. (S&I)
• Effective management of significant budgets, implementing cost-control and forecasting in a tightly controlled environment. (S&I)
• Leading a high-performance multi-disciplinary programme team across multiple locations to deliver exceptional results. (S&I)

Desirable – (S&I)

• Highly developed analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to quickly understand new and complex issues and to apply creative solutions.
• Ability to think strategically and then translate into actionable plans.
• Strong networking capability, able to demonstrate excellent commercial and political judgement.
• Financial acumen with experience of cost control and value-for-money delivery
• Excellent planning and delivery across concurrent projects.
• Demonstrable achievement of results without direct autonomy
• Experience of working with external partners in a range of fields associated with this domain which are likely to include care providers, technology service providers, utilities, third sector, investors, local partnerships and academia.
• Working knowledge of the structure of government and key UK Research and Innovation / Innovate UK programmes and related processes.
• Understanding of the broader UK Innovation Strategy, the Governments missions and the drivers for change.

Competencies:

All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:

Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria’s listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

Field-based: There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met. Underpinning this is a belief that it is a fundamental right for everyone to be treated equally, with fairness, respect and dignity. We will act directly and use our influence to ensure that this right is promoted and upheld; we encourage applications from all those who meet the criteria set-out in our role profiles.

Equal Opportunities:

We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles. When undertaking recruitment we may require applicants to undertake certain tests or assessments, some of which will be online and others may be in-person. If you have a disability, heath condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia then you may be entitled to support with undertaking this type of assessment exercise. Where you feel that reasonable adjustments are required to support you, we ask that you advise your recruitment point of contact in a timely fashion, providing further information. In confidence, Innovate UK will then review your application for adjustments and provide support as required.

UK Research and Innovation:

Innovate UK is partner organisation within UK Research and Innovation. If successful in securing the position, your employer will be UK Research and Innovation. More information can be found online http://www.ukri.org/ .

Employee Benefits:

We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Flexible Working:

We understand the importance of work-life balance, and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.

Pre-employment Screening:

To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.

Applications must be submitted by;

25-08-2025

About Us

This is the Internal Only Recruitment Site for UK Research and Innovation staff to apply for roles within Innovate UK.

Please apply for jobs via this site if you are employed by UK Research and Innovation (employees with access to Innovate UK's Workday system may apply via the "Careers" application within the system).

If you are not a current UKRI employee you can view vacancies at the externally advertised stage at:

Innovate UK is the UK’sinnovation agency. We live to drive economic growth by:

· Inspiring innovators with a shared vision of the future economy

· Involving diverse talents, companies, investors and local/national stakeholders in innovation through our programmes and campaigns

· Investing resources, including R&D grants, loans and advice on skills, fundraising and scaling-up

We are passionate about our commitment to making equality, diversity and inclusion a key part of everything we do, to ensure our organisation reflects our users and that in our workplace, everyone has a voice, and everyone can develop their potential.

Further information on working at Innovate UK:

UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider whether this conflicts with your personal values or beliefs.

To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.

For internal UKRI applicants only - please note that UKRI may share your information with other internal recruitment panels who are looking to appoint candidates to similar roles.

Parking:

Limited parking subject to waiting list (Polaris House, Swindon only)

Employee Benefits:

We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.

Flexible Working:

We understand the importance of work-life balance, and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.

Developing Talent:

We are committed to developing employees in their roles throughout their career. Learning and development plans enable employees to continue their professional development through training and development opportunities such as e-learning, classroom training and on-the-job experiences. We encourage our employees to share their learning across teams and organisations

We strive to make decisions based on individual merit and ability. We welcome applications from all sections of the community and promote equality of opportunity in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. As holders of Disability Confident Employer status, we guarantee to interview all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy. Final appointments will be subject to pre-employment screening. We want to ensure that we select the person that most closely evidences their suitability against the specified criteria. If you feel that the way our selection methods/assessments are structured, could benefit from being adjusted, to help you convey your suitability, please let us know so that we can discuss your requirements with you.

If you require any assistance or adjustments please contact [e-mail] who will be happy to help.