Occupational Health Principal Strategy Manager

UK-London

Job ID: 2025-1725

Position Type: Permanent Full-Time

Post End Date: 02/10/2025

Overview

We're recruiting for an Occupational Health Principal Strategy Manager to be responsible for the delivery of RSSB’s biomedical workstreams (occupational health and public health).

This role is offered on a full time, permanent basis, with a highly flexible hybrid working pattern. On in office days you will be based in the City of London.

The Role

You will use your expertise to collaboratively refine roadmaps for biomedical workstreams (occupational health and public health), help secure industry support for solutions, and oversee relevant projects from inception through to implementation and evaluation. You will work closely with our Professional Head to support delivery on the health and wellbeing roadmap.

You will need to work collaboratively with the team and industry partners whilst demonstrating a position of technical authority and autonomy. You will provide technical supervision and line manage a small team.

The most challenging part of the job is to establish effective ways of working with industry partners, building collaboration, overcoming barriers to help mitigate risks in health and safety and realisation of the RHSS strategy. The biomedical workstreams will reflect the industry ambition for occupational health and the vision of the RWA, and it must be part of a cohesive wider health and wellbeing programme of work. You will need to be able to influence from top-down and bottom-up.

The purpose of this role is to provide technical expertise and leadership on the prevention and management of ill-health at a population and individual level, through developing guidance, research projects and contributing to diverse communication channels.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership:

• Assess stakeholders needs and identify priorities for activities in the biomedical programme to meet them.
• Provide technical leadership to RSSB members by designing and delivering projects, standards and initiatives on behalf of the RWA. You will be an industry go to point for knowledge leadership.
• Ensure activities have clearly defined objectives and a supporting business case, building evidence of the benefits (including financial).
• Support RWA and the Industry in embedding RHSS outputs.
• Manage the delivery of complex projects to deadline, budget and quality.
• For outsourced projects, evaluate and develop specifications, select and provide technical management of contractors, review and interpret outcomes, ensuring deliverables meet the specification and all other technical requirements.
• Demonstrate excellent technical understanding of risks to and management of employee health.
• Contribute to work of other technical specialists in the Health and Wellbeing team to facilitate cross-pollination, for example through brainstorming, developing joint projects and championing the work of colleagues.
• Develop and manage links with the other health and wellbeing workstreams, and other relevant RSSB departments (such as Standards and Research teams) so that RSSB has a coordinated approach, and expertise is made available accordingly.
• Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of health and wellbeing within and outside the railway industry, nationally and internationally.
• Through horizon scanning activities, identify future risks and opportunities for mitigation.
• Manage the delivery of all quality and assurance procedures as stated in the Quality Management System.
• Line manage technical specialists who support the health and wellbeing programme.
• Contribute to an improved level of understanding within RSSB and across the wider industry of the RHSS strategy and implementation.

Engagement and Communications:

• Support stakeholder forums, ensuring the exchange of information, ideas and data to support the improvement of health and wellbeing.
• Ensure that rail companies can easily access quality, rail-specific resources that support them in managing risks to employee health
• Build a network of industry and subject matter experts to support RSSBs work in the occupational health field.
• Oversee, develop and disseminate communications for a range of different stakeholders, adapting appropriately for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Write and review high quality reports, guidance and tools to inform stakeholder activity.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Hold an occupational health qualification, for example certificate, diploma or degree.
• Active registration to the Society of Occupational Medicine.
• Proven strategic experience of leadership in occupational or public health and partnership working in a large multi-disciplinary organisation.
• Experience of health promotion and health and safety at work.
• Experience working in a safety critical industry and understanding of associated risks relating to medical fitness is desirable.
• Established experience of & ability to influence and motivate senior leaders and organisations to contribute to evidence-based approaches to improving workforce and public health.
• Experience of communicable disease control in a variety of settings is desirable.
• Experience in dealing with biological, environmental and chemical hazards.
• Experience working with data analysts to understand and articulate trends in health data and what this means for our members.
• Experience of delivering a health communications strategy.
• Line management experience.
• Ability to oversee and steer operational development programmes within a multi-stakeholder environment
• Writing skills, use of AI tools and the ability to understand technical documents.
• Analytical skills and the ability to apply them in the context of the railway system.
• Competent with Microsoft Tools – MS Teams, SharePoint, Excel, Word etc.
• Communicate effectively and share thoughts and ideas through methods appropriate to the audience.
• Adapt and respond effectively when embracing new opportunities, change and in navigating uncertainty.
• Actively contribute as part of a team and work towards achieving team goals and outcomes.
• Take responsibility and demonstrate accountability in completing tasks and achieving objectives, actively seeking to resolve problems and identify opportunities.
• Committed to customer service and placing customer satisfaction at the heart of our success to ensure we deliver against our shared goals.
• Incorporate an inclusive leadership style, developing and retaining talent and constructively challenging habits and assumptions whilst remaining inclusive and ensuring everyone is heard.
• Act and make decisions based on a good understanding of the current and future needs of the organisation to perform to a high standard and focus on delivering outcomes.
• Positively communicates and delivers with impact and influence.

Desirable:

• An understanding of the operational railway with demonstratable ability to apply specialist knowledge where appropriate.

Don't meet all the criteria but feel you still have relevant skills and experience? We would still welcome your application and have included a space for you to explain and evidence how your experience will allow you to succeed in this role.

We are committed to investing in our staff and offer formal and informal learning opportunities for development.

We value diversity and equal opportunities in employment and are committed to creating a workplace which is inclusive to everyone. As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, we encourage candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria, to apply for our jobs. If you have applied under the Disability Confident Scheme, please let us know in advance by emailing. Find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at RSSB: Rail Safety and Standards Board Careers - VERCIDA

If you require any reasonable adjustments with respect to our selection process including information in an alternative format, please contact us.

We understand the importance of work-life balance and we offer our staff the flexibility to work within our core hours and the option to vary their location between both the office and home. If you are looking for further flexibility, speak to us at interview stage so that we can consider your request.

We value our staff and we offer a competitive benefits package to ensure our staff can achieve their best throughout their journey with us. This includes 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays); a holiday buy and sell scheme; private medical and dental cover; a season ticket loan and travel subsidy; access to a cycle to work scheme; volunteer leave; a performance related bonus and pension.