Lead Health Economist
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £66,582 to £77,368 a year |
| Hours: | Full-time |
| Location: | Ely, CB7 4EA |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Posting date: | 23 Oct 2026 |
| Closing date: | 8 Nov 2026 |
Summary
A. Professional leadership and strategy Lead the health economics discipline across the integrated Strategic Value Unit and Population Health Unit, providing authoritative professional advice and setting its direction. Work with the Head of Evaluation and other professional leads to align the work programme and health economics capability with ICB priorities. Identify where health economics can materially improve decisions and advocate proportionate approaches based on the question, evidence, uncertainty and intended use. B. Economic evaluation and decision modelling Lead complex economic evaluations and decision models supporting commissioning, transformation and resource allocation. Apply methods such as cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-consequence, cost-benefit, budget impact, return on investment, multi-criteria decision analysis and scenario modelling where appropriate. Develop, adapt and interpret decision models suited to the decision context, available evidence and implementation maturity. Assess assumptions, uncertainty and sensitivity, ensuring limitations are transparent and conclusions proportionate to the evidence. C. Strategic value, prioritisation and resource allocation Apply health economic reasoning across the strategic commissioning cycle, including prioritisation, option appraisal, business cases, investment, redesign and disinvestment. Assess marginal benefits, opportunity costs, affordability and trade-offs between alternative uses of ICB resources. Work with commissioning, finance and clinical colleagues to assess the resource and outcome implications of service configurations and commissioning options. Support value-based approaches that link resource use to outcomes, equity and population benefit. D. Evidence, data and technical assurance Lead appraisal and synthesis of economic and related evidence, including published literature, national guidance and routine health and care data. Ensure assumptions, parameters and data sources are transparent, defensible and documented. Provide senior technical assurance of high-impact analyses and models through proportionate peer review, independent challenge and sensitivity analysis. Promote reproducible, transparent and responsible analytical practice and shared modelling resources. E. Multidisciplinary evaluation and decision intelligence Lead the health economic components of multidisciplinary evaluations of pathways, programmes and service changes. Integrate economic evidence with outcomes, activity, utilisation, equity, implementation and qualitative evidence. Assess whether interventions deliver value and inform decisions about continuation, scaling, redesign or disinvestment. Consider distributional effects and health inequalities alongside overall population benefit where relevant. F. Insight, influence and implementation Work with decision-makers to define economic questions and translate findings into clear recommendations for strategy, commissioning and delivery. Communicate costs, outcomes, uncertainty, affordability and opportunity cost clearly to technical and non-technical audiences. Produce or assure economic content for business cases, option appraisals, committee papers, investment proposals and evaluation reports. Provide constructive challenge where economic assumptions, claims of value or interpretations are unsupported or misleading. G. Team and portfolio leadership Line manage and professionally support the health economics team, including objectives, appraisal, performance, development and wellbeing. Provide technical supervision, coaching and professional development across the analytical function, fostering curiosity, constructive challenge, inclusion and continuous learning. Lead a portfolio of complex work, balancing priorities, risks, dependencies, resources and timescales. Contribute to workforce planning, recruitment and development of health economics and wider quantitative analytical capability.