Programme Officer - Inequalities
| Posting date: | 11 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £39,152 to £46,142 per year |
| Additional salary information: | Competitive |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 24 February 2026 |
| Location: | Coventry One Friargate, Station Square, Coventry, CV1 2GN |
| Company: | Coventry City Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | coventrycc/TP/250/12231 |
Summary
The Public Health team is part of the Public Health and Migration Division.
Reporting to the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, the team helps people to stay healthy and protect them from threats to their health.
The Public Health team commissions and delivers a wide range of services and programmes that tackle health inequalities and help people to live healthier lives, including:
- Alcohol and drug misuse strategy, treatment and recovery services
- Sexual health services, including sexually transmitted infections and contraception
- Healthy lifestyles support losing weight, getting more active, giving up smoking, cutting down on alcohol and improving your well-being
- Physical activity strategy and projects, including school based exercise, parks and cycling
- Family health, including health visiting, infant feeding, school nurses, teenage pregnancy support, family weight management and services supporting BME families
- Health protection strategy and services including air quality, blood borne virus testing, screening & immunisations, infection control, emergency planning and outbreak management
- The Marmot City strategy, reducing health inequalities across the city
- Domestic abuse and sexual abuse strategies and support services
- Youth violence reduction
This is an exciting and challenging time to work in the Public Health Team. If you are an individual who is committed to achieving the best outcomes for people across Coventry, our team can help you make a difference through high-quality professional support, supervision, excellent learning and development opportunities
Our ValuesIn line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.
Our Values are:
- Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
- Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
- Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
- Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
- Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
- Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.
An exciting opportunity has arisen to work in the Public Health team. We are seeking a Programme Officer to deliver the Place-based approach to reducing health inequalities work programme.
The role will improve population health by working with the Climate Change, Planning, Transport and Licensing functions in the Council, along with relevant external partners, to support health-focused decision-making and outcomes relating to the built environment and policy.
The post holder will:
- Work across the Council, embedding public health principles into areas such as Climate Change, Transport, Air Quality, Licensing and Planning using effective communication and influencing skills
- Maximise opportunities to reduce health inequalities by using an evidence-based approach to support the development of key documents and policies
- Work with planners to support the determination of applications that have an impact on health, supporting the development of health impact assessments
- Support the Director of Public Health & Wellbeing by ensuring that health and well-being are considered in alcohol licensing decision-making
- Facilitate access to public health information, data and evidence across relevant directorates in the council
- Support the delivery of health and well-being priorities within the One Coventry Plan
- Provide regular reports and updates to relevant groups, including the Health and Wellbeing Board, Scrutiny, Cabinet & Council.
All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.
You’ll have excellent programme and project management skills and have significant experience of working collaboratively with staff across a range of organisations to develop joint solutions to complex problems.
You’ll have excellent communication skills and experience in building effective relationships across directorates and teams.
You’ll have a track record in problem-solving, effectively using data to understand local people’s needs and targeting resources in a way which maximises efficiency and effectiveness.
You’ll be highly organised, prioritising work, managing time and working under pressure to deliver to deadlines.
Our workforce data shows that men, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities and people from the LGBTQ+ community are under-represented, so we encourage applicants from these backgrounds to apply. This does not prevent individuals with other protected characteristics as set out within the Equalities Act 2010 from applying for this post.
When applying for this role, you will be asked to write a personal statement. Please include the following information in your statement. Your application will be shortlisted against these points:
- Knowledge and understanding of public health and approaches to improving public health, especially the wider determinants of health
- Research skills, including synthesis of evidence
- Ability and experience in leading and motivating others outside your direct sphere of influence
If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.
Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:
- Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
- Are currently in care or have previously been in care
- If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.
Interview date(s): 12/13th March 2026. In-person interviews are held at our offices in Coventry.
About CoventryCoventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.
We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.
At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.
To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.
If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme