Senior Emergency Preparedness Manager

UK Health Security Agency; Highgate; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

UK Health Security Agency seeks a senior leader to manage the NRC incident coordination for national incidents, overseeing day‑to‑day operations, resources, governance, escalation and 24/7 response arrangements within their remit.

The post holder will own a portfolio area, lead complex projects, develop policies and processes, act as a senior NRC representative to cross‑government partners, and support decision‑making and workforce planning.

Qualifications

• Experience leading emergency response teams.
• Strong stakeholder relationship skills across government and health bodies.
• Proven ability to develop policies and processes for complex programmes.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate NRC incident management and 24/7 response for national incidents.
• Develop and implement governance, policies and workforce planning.
• Liaise with government departments, NHS resilience partners and agencies.

Skills

Leadership

Incident management

Stakeholder engagement

Policy development

Project management

Job description

The post holder will manage the delivery of a comprehensive Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) portfolio within the National Response Centre (NRC), UKHSA's Public Health Emergency Operations Centre. They will lead teams to ensure that the NRC operates effectively, efficiently and in line with UKHSA's Incident Response Plan, statutory requirements and emergency management principles. They will provide operational leadership across the incident management cycle, including situational awareness, preparedness, response, recovery and organisational learning.

The post holder will own a portfolio area and lead complex projects and workstreams, develop policies and processes, and strengthen organisational preparedness and response capability. They will act as a senior NRC representative, working with stakeholders across UKHSA, government departments, NHS organisations, resilience partners and other agencies; advise senior leaders; support decision-making; coordinate activity during incidents and emergencies; and fulfil an out-of-hours on-call role to support the NRC's 24/7 response function. Working autonomously in a pressured environment, they will balance strategic priorities with delivery, lead dispersed teams, collaborate across organisational boundaries, and support continuous improvement and professional development.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will manage NRC incident coordination activity for national incidents, including day-to-day operations, resources, processes, governance, escalation and 24/7 response arrangements within their remit. They will provide senior tactical Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response advice, support coordination and decision-making, manage staff and functions, and contribute to workforce planning, recruitment, training, wellbeing and development.

They will lead or contribute to governance, compliance, risk, assurance, business planning, finance, strategic workstreams and projects; produce business cases and option appraisals; embed learning, innovation and health equity; manage workload and cover; maintain professional development; and undertake reasonable duties in response to changing organisational needs.

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.