Health Policy and Systems Programme Lead

Health Policy and Systems Programme Lead  

Department: ​ Policy, Information & Communication (PIC) 

Contract: ​ Permanent​ 

Salary: £70,000 - £80,000  

Hours: Full-time (we’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements)  

Location: ​ Stratford, high flex, with one to two days per week in the office.  Flexible working requests to be home-based within the UK or to be based at another CRUK site will be considered. 

Closing date: 17 June 2026: 11:59pm  

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At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.  

As the world’s leading cancer charity, we are at the forefront of the global fight against cancer, bringing together millions of people who share our determination to beat it. For over 120 years, we’ve

This role sits within CRUK’s Health Policy and Systems team. It provides leadership for the development of CRUK’s views on key issues in health policy, systems and services, and is a key component of our approach to influencing national policy and health systems activities in all 4 nations of the UK.  

In this role, you’ll be our informed expert on health policy and health systems. You’ll work with colleagues to ensure that CRUK maintains a robust, relevant and credible set of positions in areas that support our core purpose of improving cancer outcomes for UK populations. 

What will be some of the main responsibilities?  

• Lead a small team delivering a portfolio of work developing CRUK’s positions on priority health policy and health systems topics to inform short, medium and long-term influencing activities aimed at improving cancer outcomes across the four nations of the UK. Example topics include health/cancer budgets, national governance for cancer strategies, workforce planning, or commissioning arrangements for cancer services. 

• Maintain strong personal knowledge of health systems and policy topics, issues, and stakeholders and act as subject matter expert for CRUK in these areas, including advising on activities led by other teams; also support reports to develop deep expertise in relevant subject-matter areas  

• Work closely with colleagues to integrate cancer expertise with knowledge of the health system and policy context, to set priorities and deliver analysis, insight and evidence-based positions; ensure that this results in a balanced portfolio reflecting the contexts of all 4 UK nations 

• Ensure portfolio activity anticipates and supports a proactive approach to key influencing opportunities at national and system levels such as spending reviews, national strategies, or publication of guidance for systems, and including horizon-scanning for emerging issues and opportunities 

• Apply critical thinking / strategy skills to distil complex issues into structured questions and deliver programmes of discovery, analysis and evidence-generation as required to support development of CRUK positions 

• Lead stakeholder engagement and influencing activities in designated areas in line with wider strategies agreed across the department 

• Personally hold relationships with health leaders in designated systems and in the wider health landscape, 

• Act as a spokesperson for CRUK on relevant topics including at third-party events and potentially in the media (training will be provided) 

• Line manage and support the development of designated staff ensuring delivery of high-quality and high-impact outputs, and participate in matrix management arrangements as required to deliver CRUK priorities 

What skills are we looking for?  

• Deep expertise in UK health policy and systems topics and of the levers for change; up-to-date with current topics and discourse, and able to engage with these at a technical level 

• Experience of engaging senior stakeholders and leading experts, both for influencing purposes and to build active working relationships 

• Ability to develop and lead end-to-end programmes of work from ideation and scoping, through discovery and analysis, to development of outputs and dissemination, across rapid, reactive work and longer-term programmes 

• Ability to critique and weigh up different perspectives and sources of evidence, and make informed, balanced judgements on complex topics 

• Excellent writing, speaking and presentational skills, with the ability to shape messages and adapt tone for different audiences

• Experience of working in a matrix environment and leading a team, with a proven track record of managing people and delivering against KPIs, while ensuring wider departmental objectives are achieved. 

• Highly collaborative and enabling of others, able to develop meaningful relationships and to influence and align colleagues across disciplines and teams in line with organisational priorities.  

• Ability to travel across the UK and stay overnight when required. 

What will I gain?  

Each and every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that’s impressive.   

In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies and processes to enable you to do your job well.   

Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.   

We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture. 

Our work – from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy – will change the world. It’s exciting to be part of our team.