Salary: £40,000 – £45,000 per year
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Location: Hybrid with an office base in Ashford
Closing Date: 10th of June 2026
Please quote job reference: ABL 884
One You Kent Service overview
One You Kent is Kent’s free, countywide lifestyle and wellbeing service, supporting adults to make positive, sustainable changes to improve their health and reduce the risk of long-term conditions. The service provides evidence-based support including smoking cessation (whole of Kent), weight management, physical activity and healthy lifestyle interventions (East Kent only), delivered through a strengths-based, person-centred approach. Working closely with GP practices, Primary Care Networks, local authorities and community and voluntary sector partners, One You Kent is embedded within local communities to ensure support is accessible, inclusive and responsive to local need. The service plays a key role in reducing health inequalities across Kent through partnership working, community engagement and flexible delivery models.
Role Purpose:
The Deputy Head of Service – Weight Management & Lifestyle provides technical, operational and pathway leadership for the weight management, physical activity and wider lifestyle elements of the One You Kent Service.
Sitting as one of two Deputy Heads of Service (alongside the Deputy Head for Stop Smoking), the postholder is accountable for the day-to-day operational performance, quality, workforce leadership and delivery of weight management and lifestyle services. This includes ensuring services are safe, evidence-based, outcome-focused and aligned with national guidance, best practice and local commissioning priorities.
Working in close partnership with the Head of Service, this role translates strategic direction into high-quality operational delivery, providing subject-matter expertise in weight management and behaviour change. The postholder will oversee performance against pathway-specific KPIs, line manage Operational Team Leads, and play a key role in service development, pathway improvement and partnership working, particularly across primary care, community settings and priority populations.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
As Deputy Head of Service, you will provide technical, professional, and operational leadership for weight management, physical activity, and lifestyle pathways across One You Kent, ensuring services are delivered in line with national guidance, evidence-based practice, and behaviour change principles. You will oversee intervention models, practitioner competence, training, and quality assurance, while leading the day-to-day operational delivery of lifestyle services and driving performance against pathway-specific KPIs, including referrals, engagement, programme completion, and health outcomes. The role involves using performance data and service insight to identify variation, risks, and opportunities for continuous improvement, contributing to monthly and quarterly commissioner reports, and supporting the development of annual impact reporting and communications to demonstrate service outcomes. You will line manage Operational Team Leads, providing leadership, supervision, coaching, and performance management, while supporting workforce development through training, reflective practice, and continuous professional development and embedding consistent standards and processes across delivery teams. The successful candidate will play a key role in shaping and evolving the weight management and lifestyle service model to meet population need, leading or contributing to service improvement projects, pathway redesign, innovation activity, and the mobilisation of new approaches for priority groups and communities. You will also build and maintain strong partnerships with primary care, local authorities, leisure services, VCSE organisations, and community groups to strengthen referral pathways and support sustained behaviour change. In addition, you will ensure compliance with information governance, safeguarding, health and safety, and clinical governance requirements, contribute to audits and assurance activity in line with ABL frameworks, represent the pathway at stakeholder meetings, and deputise for the Head of Service when required to maintain continuity of service delivery.
Are you someone who:
- Is an experienced senior leader within a community health, public health or integrated care environment, with accountability for service performance and outcomes.
- Has a proven ability to set clear strategic direction, plan and deliver complex services, manage priorities, anticipate risk and remove barriers to delivery.
- Is an accomplished people leader, with experience of building high-performing teams, developing talent and creating a positive, inclusive and accountable culture.
- Is a values-driven, visible leader who motivates and inspires teams and partners to deliver high-quality, person-centred outcomes.
- Thinks strategically and system-wide, able to identify opportunities, solve problems and lead change in complex environments.
- Is a highly effective communicator, able to influence, negotiate and tailor messages confidently across commissioners, senior stakeholders, partners, communities and staff.
- Has a strong track record of building trusted relationships with commissioners, system partners, community leaders and stakeholders to achieve shared goals.
- Is curious, adaptable and solutions-focused, open to new ideas and committed to innovation and continuous improvement.
Employee Benefits:
- Birthday Day off
- Flexible Annual Leave scheme
- Employee Referral scheme
- 37.5 hours working week
- Flu jabs
- Blue Light Card
- Cycle to work scheme
- Leadership and staff away days
- Training and Development
Please note that we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role
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