About this role
Job summary
Influencing health & care at system scale, ensuring resources achieve the greatest possible impact for local communities. Transform outcomes through economic insight, provide expert leadership in economic evaluation, resource allocation & value-based commissioning. Managing a commissioning budget of approx. £8 billion, the new organisation will play a pivotal role in improving population health, reducing inequalities & delivering sustainable, high-quality care for our communities. You would lead the function, providing expert economic advice & strategic insight to support planning, commissioning, investment decisions & service transformation. Working with executive leaders, clinicians, commissioners, finance teams, analysts & system partners to ensure economic evidence informs key decisions. Leading the development of robust economic models & evaluations to support decision-making. Applying cost-effectiveness, budget impact & allocative efficiency methodologies to improve outcomes & maximise value. Supporting investment, disinvestment & service redesign decisions through rigorous analysis & evidence. Embedding health economics across population health, commissioning, finance & strategy functions. Building & leading a high-performing team. Developing partnerships with universities, research organisations, NHS bodies, local authorities & voluntary sector partners. Representing the Cluster at regional & national forums, strengthening our reputation.
Main duties of the job
You will be a strategic and influential leader with significant experience applying health economics in a complex healthcare or public sector environment. You should be able to demonstrate: Master's level education or equivalent senior-level experience in a relevant specialist field. Formal training and expertise in health economics, economic evaluation and modelling. Advanced knowledge of cost-effectiveness analysis, value-based commissioning and allocative efficiency approaches. Experience analysing large and complex datasets and developing economic models to inform strategic decisions. Strong analytical skills using tools such as R, STATA, Python or advanced Excel modelling. Experience influencing senior stakeholders and presenting complex evidence to executive and board-level audiences. A passion for improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities through evidence-based decision-making. Why Join Us? You'll join an ambitious organisation committed to: Improving population health and tackling inequalities. Delivering better value from every NHS pound spent. Supporting innovation and evidence-led transformation. Investing in professional development and leadership. Creating an inclusive, collaborative and supportive working environment. Working as part of a "team of teams", you'll help shape the future of health and care across Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon, Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset.
About us
Under the Model ICB Blueprint and the 10 Year Health Plan, ICBs will adopt a more strategic commissioning role, focusing on population needs, reducing inequalities, and delivering the three shifts as defined in the 10 year health plan, all while operating within strict financial limits.
The new organisation will operate on a larger scale with a revised vision and purpose, managing a commissioning budget of around £8 billion. Our role as a strategic commissioner is to transform our local NHS through exceptional commissioning and build an innovative health system fit for the 21st century that truly meets our communities needs. Informed by high quality data and insights, we will radically re-imagine how we operate, making sure that every pound in our system delivers the best possible value for everyone we serve.
We will encourage and support our people to grow and develop new skills and embrace new agile ways of working. Everyone is encouraged to contribute ideas, seek feedback, and take part in creating a listening and learning culture where insight leads to improvement.
We will work as a team of teams, collaborating across services and professions to deliver the best outcomes for our communities. You will be encouraged, and expected to model inclusive behaviours, valuing diverse perspectives and helping to create a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported, and able to thrive.
Job description Job responsibilities
Please also refer to the attached Job Description
Reporting to the Deputy COPHI and Director of Strategy, the Associate Director of Health Economics provides senior system leadership and expert economic insight for strategic planning, commissioning, and resource allocation across the Population Health Improvement Directorate and the wider Cluster, ensuring decisions improve health outcomes, reduce inequalities, and deliver clear value for money.
The role applies advanced health economic methods, including cost-effectiveness, budget impact, and other modelling and evaluation techniques, to guide prevention, optimise care pathways, support sustainable models of care, and ensure resources deliver the greatest benefit to patients and populations.
The post-holder establishes and maintains methodological standards for economic modelling and evaluation, ensuring analyses are robust, transparent, reproducible, and ready to inform executive and board-level decisions. Quality assurance processes are embedded across the system to promote best practice and confidence in decision making.
The Associate Director works with internal teams and external partners to apply economic evidence to key decisions, including business cases, service options, resource allocation, performance monitoring, and long-term planning, while providing leadership and guidance to build analytical capability and ensure rigorous methods are consistently applied, resulting in better-informed decisions and improved outcomes for patients and communities.
The post-holder develops and maintains partnerships with national agencies, universities, research organisations, professional networks, local government, and the voluntary and community sector. These collaborations support the development and application of robust methods, accelerate innovation, and enable the sharing of knowledge and best practice, ensuring evidence is translated into tangible improvements in patient care and population health.
The Associate Director represents the Cluster in regional and national forums, communicates complex economic issues clearly to senior stakeholders, and strengthens the evidence base for policy, strategy, and commissioning. The role ensures decisions at all levels are informed, equitable, and value-driven.
Through leadership, technical excellence, and partnership working, the Associate Director ensures health economics functions as a strategic asset for the Cluster, directing resources to where they add the greatest value, supporting value-based commissioning, improving patient outcomes, and reducing unwarranted variation and inequalities.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Please also refer to the attached Person Specification Educated to masters level or able to demonstrate equivalent experience of working at a senior level in a specialist area. Extensive knowledge of relevant specialist areas, acquired through postgraduate study or equivalent experience, with further specialist learning to masters level standard. Formal training or equivalent experience in health economics, including economic evaluation and modelling. Advanced knowledge of economic evaluation methods, cost effectiveness analysis, allocative efficiency and value based approaches. Demonstrable experience using analytical or modelling software relevant to health economics (e.g., R, STATA, Python, Excel based models). Evidence of continuing professional development. Understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and the implications for decision making and engagement. Appreciation of the relationship between health and care bodies, including provider, commissioning and system level functions. Membership of a relevant professional body.
Experience Essential
Please also refer to the attached Person Specification Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and contentious information, negotiate with senior stakeholders on difficult and controversial issues, and present complex and sensitive information to large and influential groups. Persuade board and senior managers of the respective merits of different options, innovation and new market opportunities. Negotiate on difficult and very complex and detailed issues. Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands. Ability to analyse complex facts and situations and develop a range of options. Takes decisions on difficult and contentious issues where there may be a number of courses of action. Strategic thinking ability to anticipate and resolve problems before they arise. Ability to carry out procurements for highly detailed, high value contracts that require analysis, comparison and assessment. Plans and organises a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances. Inputs to strategic plans across NHS and within the specific teams. Works with Stakeholders to develop performance improvement plans and to develop plans for innovation and opening up the market. Good use of available information sources to enable efficient and effective planning. Ability to work under pressure and to tight and often changing deadlines. Delivers results through managing through others and using a range of levers in the absence of direct line management responsibility. Manages relationships with a range of different stakeholders. Manages team within the constraints of strategic plans. Ability to work on own initiative and organise workload, allocating work as necessary. Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues. Budget management, setting and working knowledge of financial processes. An ability to maintain confidentiality and trust. Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change. Commitment to continuing professional development. Experience analysing large and varied datasets using advanced economic evaluation methods and modelling techniques. Ability to compare assumptions, test alternative scenarios and assess long term value, cost and population impact. Capability to provide strategic advice on investment priorities, value based commissioning and allocative efficiency. Experience planning and overseeing a portfolio of economic work, adjusting sequencing and approaches as circumstances change. Proficiency in analytical and modelling tools relevant to health economics, such as R, STATA, Python or advanced Excel models.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Employer details Employer name NHS Dorset
Address Working as part of the new ICS cluster made up of NHS Dorset, BSW & Somerset ICBs
NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board - County Hall
Colliton Park
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1XJ
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://nhsdorset.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)