Senior Health Economist

Central East Integrated Care Board; Ely; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Central East ICB is seeking a Senior Health Economist to embed health economics across strategic commissioning and Neighbourhood Health. The post holder will lead economic analyses, model development, and evaluations to inform investment prioritisation and service changes within the ICB framework.

The role involves cross-disciplinary collaboration with data scientists, public health experts, and clinicians to drive value, equity, and efficiency across Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes,

Qualifications

• Educated to Master’s level in Health Economics, Economics, Statistics, or Public Health.
• Ongoing professional development relevant to Health Economics and evaluation.
• Professional membership desirable.
• Doctoral-level training or equivalent advanced experience desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide health economic expertise within the SVU to improve population outcomes and maximize value from ICB resources.
• Embed economic analysis across strategic planning, commissioning and transformation programmes.
• Lead complex modelling and evaluation projects using cost, activity, outcomes, equity and workforce data.
• Support prioritisation by clarifying trade-offs and opportunity costs for decision-makers.
• Translate evidence into actionable recommendations for commissioners, clinicians and leadership teams.

Skills

Health economics

Analytical thinking

Communication

Data interpretation

NHS context

Education

Master’s in Health Economics or related field

Doctoral-level training desirable

Tools

Excel

R

Python

SQL

Git

Job description

We are Central East ICB, the new organisationentrusted with serving more than 3.5 million people across Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Hertfordshire.

We are responsible for making sure that the NHS can continue to support our community – now, and in the future. Everything we do will be guided by our core purpose: to do what best serves the population of this area.

We promise to focus on what makes the biggest difference to people’s lives – acting earlier to help prevent illness and detect disease and making it easier for our community to get the health care they need, closer to home, whenever that’s possible.

If you need support with the application process, please contact our People Team at [e-mail].

Read about our priorities in our strategy document, Our Way .

Job overview

The Senior Health Economist is a key role within the Strategic Value Unit (SVU) of Central East ICB. The postholder will embed health economic analysis and evaluation across the strategic commissioning cycle, ensuring that the ICB maximises value through its payer function. The role will support value based decisions across strategic prioritisation and planning, strategic commissioning and Neighbourhood Health.

The role will work to deliver cost-effectiveness analyses, economic evaluations, and value assessments that inform investment prioritisation, service reconfiguration, and decommissioning decisions in line with the Strategic Commissioning Framework.

The SVU is integral to the ICB achieving its goals through data and evidence driven decision-making, grounding transformation and strategic commissioning in decisions about value. The Unit works closely with the Population Health Unit, providing the Decision Intelligence and Population Health Management functions for the ICB. The postholder will work alongside other health economists as part of a multidisciplinary team including data scientists, statisticians, qualitative specialists and public health experts.

Proposed Interview dates: 19th - 20th November

Main duties of the job

The purpose includes:

• To provide health economic expertise within the Strategic Value Unit (SVU), applying economic principles to improve population outcomes, reduce inequalities and support maximum value from ICB resources.
• To embed health economic analysis and evaluation across strategic planning, strategic commissioning, Neighbourhood Health and transformation programmes.
• To lead and contribute to complex modelling and evaluation projects, integrating cost, activity, outcome, equity, workforce and service-use data.
• To support allocative efficiency by helping decision‑makers understand where resources can deliver the greatest marginal benefit, and how trade‑offs and opportunity costs should be managed.
• To translate evidence, modelling and evaluation findings into actionable recommendations, communicating clearly with commissioners, clinicians, finance, digital, population health and senior leadership teams.
• To support the other senior leads within the SVU to deliver ICB and system strategies that improve quality, outcomes, and efficiency that may impact beyond own area of work.
• To provide visible and supportive leadership, promoting collaboration, inclusion, and continuous improvement across teams and partners.
• To contribute to system integration and service transformation through effective planning, delivery, and partnership working, working beyond own work area and providing expertise where required.

Working for our organisation

We are committed to promoting equal opportunities to achieve equity of access, experience and outcomes and to recognising and valuing people’s differences. We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity; we see this as a strength and part of our founding mission, values and behaviours. We know through experience that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers patient outcomes.

We are committed to creating the best place to work, where your contribution is valued, your wellbeing is supported and all our colleagues can reach their full potential. We welcome and encourage applications from all areas of the community, who meet the criteria for the role, regardless of their protected characteristic. We work to ensure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible to everyone, including making adjustments for people who have a disability or long‑term condition and support with the recruitment process for people with lived experience.

We are happy to discuss flexible working options for all roles.

We operate a Carer friendly working environment that is supportive and inclusive. We actively encourage Carers to self‑identify themselves.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and commit to shortlisting suitable applicants who meet the essential criteria for an interview. Please inform us of any adjustments you may require.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A.Strategic value and decision intelligence: Support the SVU in providing decision intelligence for the ICB, ensuring that transformation and commissioning decisions are grounded in evidence, value and population health need.

B.Health economic modelling: Develop, adapt and interpret economic and analytical models, including budget impact, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, return on investment, multi-criteria decision analysis, decision trees, Markov or cohort state-transition models, and scenario or impact models where appropriate.

C.Economic evaluation and benefits realisation: Design and deliver proportionate economic evaluations of programmes, pathways and service changes, linking costs, activity, outcomes, equity and implementation context to inform decisions about continuation, scaling, redesign or disinvestment.

D.Allocative efficiency and opportunity cost: Support prioritisation and option appraisal by making explicit the constraints, assumptions, trade-offs, marginal benefits and opportunity costs associated with competing uses of ICB resources.

E.Evidence, data and methods: Appraise published and grey literature, estimate modelling parameters, assess data quality, triangulate multiple sources and apply appropriate statistical, health economic and evaluation methods.

F.Insight, communication and influence: Prepare clear technical reports, summaries, visualisations, presentations and briefings that make complex analysis understandable and usable for technical and non‑technical audiences.

G.Programme delivery and governance: Plan and manage allocated analytical projects, documenting assumptions, methods, limitations, risks and dependencies, and ensuring that work is delivered to appropriate standards of quality, confidentiality and information governance.

H.Capability building: Support colleagues to understand and apply health economic concepts, including value, opportunity cost, evaluation, modelling, uncertainty and the interpretation of analytical outputs.

I.Multidisciplinary working: Work alongside health economists, data scientists, statisticians, qualitative specialists, public health experts and commissioning colleagues to integrate economic evidence with population health, clinical and operational insight.

J.Quality and Improvement: Champion continuous improvement by using highly complex data, evidence, and feedback to drive service redesign and innovation. Encourage learning within teams, ensuring that improvement methodologies are applied consistently.

K.Resource and Budget Management: Manage budgets and resources within delegated limits, ensuring effective use of staff, funding, and digital tools. Contribute to financial planning and workforce development to support service sustainability. Line Management of the team or department including appraisals, attendance and performance.

Qualifications

• Educated to Master’s level in a directly relevant field, e.g. Health Economics, Economics, Statistics, Public Health.
• Evidence of ongoing professional development relevant to Health Economics, evaluation and applied analytics, with a commitment to maintaining up-to-date knowledge and skills.
• Relevant professional membership or engagement with professional networks is desirable.
• Doctoral-level training, a specialist postgraduate qualification, peer-reviewed publication, conference presentation or equivalent advanced specialist experience is desirable.

Knowledge & experience

• Knowledge of health economics in the NHS context, including how economic evidence can support commissioning, prioritisation, transformation, evaluation and resource allocation.
• Experience of economic evaluation methods, including cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, cost-benefit analysis, budget impact analysis, return on investment and multi-criteria decision analysis.
• Experience of developing, adapting or interpreting economic models, such as decision trees, Markov or cohort state-transition models, budget impact models, scenario models or service impact models.
• Experience of using routine health and care datasets, understanding data quality, triangulating evidence from multiple sources and drawing appropriate conclusions from imperfect information.
• Understanding of strategic commissioning, population health management, inequalities, prevention, value based care and the financial context in which ICBs operate.

Skills & abilities

• Able to apply health economic reasoning within the NHS setting, making explicit the relationship between cost, benefit, outcomes, equity, affordability, constraints and opportunity cost.
• Able to structure ambiguous problems logically, define the decision question, identify the relevant comparator or counterfactual, select proportionate methods and explain the implications for action.
• Able to use appropriate analytical tools for modelling, evaluation and reporting. Familiarity with Excel, R, Python, SQL, Git or equivalent tools is desirable.
• Able to translate analysis into actionable recommendations that can support change management, commissioning decisions, pathway redesign, prioritisation, investment or disinvestment.
• Able to manage complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty, maintaining analytical rigour while recognising practical constraints, implementation risks and the realities of NHS decision‑making.

Please Note:

• This vacancy may close before the advertised closing date if a sufficient number of suitable applications are received. We recommend submitting your application early to avoid disappointment.
• Successfully shortlisted applicants will be contacted by email with an invitation to interview.
• Please note that we do not pay interview expenses, all costs are incurred by the candidate.

Notes on completion of applications:

• All reference requests will be made to your employer/previous employers' HR Department, covering the previous 3 years of activity.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.
• All eligible staff will need to have gained clearance through a standard/enhanced DBS check prior to working.
• All posts are subject to a probationary period.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Name Sam Williamson Job title Deputy Director of Health Economics and Evaluation Email address [e-mail] Additional information

Joao Rocha - [e-mail]