Careers in Public Health

“There are so many different choices and options to come into Public Health and we have a fantastic team at West Sussex County Council.”

Alison Challenger
Director of Public Health

A message from our Director of Public Health

Hear from our Director of Public Health, Alison Challenger.

4 mins

Jobs with WSCC

If you enjoy science, continuous learning and variety in your role, a career in Public Health could be for you.

If you're interested in starting your Public Health career with us, take a look at our current vacancies.

Take a look at our vacancies and join us today! (external link)

Our roles

  • We offer apprenticeships in Public Health, where you can earn whilst you learn, getting valuable on the job training whilst gaining a recognised fully funded degree in Public Health.

    You will support the efficient development, delivery and monitoring of public health programmes and projects, working alongside experience professionals and gaining hands-on experience in a variety of settings.

  • In this role you will provide support to the wider Public Health Directorate, working across teams on a range of public health projects, programmes and topic areas.

    You will be dealing with a complex range of issues in a fast-paced environment and will be required to work quickly, accurately and proactively to deliver high quality support.

  • Our Graduate Public Health Practitioners are a core member of the Public Health team and have the opportunity to undertake placements and/or projects to gain a broad understanding across the public health team.

    You will work in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including other local authorities, the NHS, the voluntary and community sector and Health Education England to maximise health improvement and reduce health inequalities.

  • This role includes collecting, processing and analysing a range of data to support the local authority’s statutory, strategic and operational responsibilities.

    It includes providing information to enable programme performance to be effectively measured and monitored, enabling planning decisions to be better informed and information to be more effectively utilised and disseminated to meet service objectives and responsibilities.

  • As a Public Health Practitioner, you will support the day-to-day business of the WSCC health protection function to ensure high quality, safe and effective delivery across the county.

    You will be the first point of contact for specialist knowledge for internal and external stakeholders and will work with a range of agencies to ensure priorities are understood.

  • Our Advanced Public Health Practitioner’s (APHP) are a senior role within the Public Health team and work across the full breadth of the health protection portfolio to meet business needs.

    This includes working with public health leads and other APHP’s and Programme Manager’s to lead, support and implement key pieces of work from the health protection strategic delivery plan.

  • As a Public Health Lead, you will have experience across a number of areas across public health and will lead a portfolio of work, ensuring the best use of our resources to achieve good public health outcomes for our population.

    You will build relationships and influence activities, including using your public health expertise across and outside of the organisation to improve public health outcomes.

"We are very committed to developing people’s careers and making sure that they’re getting the very best experience that they possibly can, and that they enjoy their job.”

Alison Challenger
Director of Public Health

Benefits

These include:

  • annual leave of between 26 and 29 days
  • flexible working opportunities; including flexi time, working from home, job sharing, 9-day fortnight
  • excellent opportunities for continued professional development
  • an excellent local government pension scheme (24.7 per cent of salary)
  • an employee assistance programme offering 24/7 support for you and your family for a range of things, including mental wellbeing
  • staff discounts
  • career breaks
  • a diverse and inclusive workforce, with active support groups for:
    • mental health
    • Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff
    • carers
    • disabled staff
    • LGBTQ
    • women

We also have a range of commuting and business travel discounts and initiatives, including:

  • pool cars - you can access a range of cars for your travel for work purposes
  • discounted bus and train tickets (15 per cent on peak and off-peak travel with Southern Rail)
  • car benefit scheme where you can offset your salary in exchange for a brand-new car
  • Cycle to Work scheme - a salary sacrifice scheme where you can get a bike for a healthy way to travel

Staff stories

Samantha Taplin tells us about her role as a Public Health Consultant.

3 mins