JOB SUMMARY

The Countermeasures and Preparedness Team (CPT) sits within Commercial, Vaccines and Countermeasures Delivery in UKHSA, reporting to its Chief Operating Officer. The CPT is responsible for ensuring the UK can respond effectively to new and emerging disease threats, pandemics, and emergency response situations. This includes risks to national and wider health security, such as the accidental or malicious release of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agent, and in incidents involving certain venoms and toxins.
The CPT is at the heart of the UKHSA’s mission to keep all our communities safe, save lives and protect livelihoods through effective prevention, preparedness and response to infectious diseases and environmental hazards. We achieve this through the effective oversight, procurement, supply and operationalisation of a range of medical countermeasures. We also manage key pandemic preparedness capability, including an advance purchase agreement with CSL Seqirus, the National Pandemic Flu Service and the Moderna-UK Strategic Partnership. The CPT has a serious remit, but we deliver this with a positive, supportive and fun working culture.
The Pandemic Preparedness team within CPT manages vaccines & countermeasures supply against priority pathogens, overseeing the end-to-end design, procurement and operational planning for all products necessary for effective responses to future pandemics. This role is responsible for overseeing the vaccines elements of this important work.
This role specifically leads the effective procurement and supply management for pandemic vaccines. The post holder will collaborate with counterparts in the UKHSA Centre for Pandemic Preparedness, DHSC, and wider HMG to identify the right interventions and investments for short, mid and long-term pandemic resilience.

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Lead the procurement of contractual arrangements that ensure the UK has a pandemic specific vaccine (PSV) when it is needed
• Development of strategies for demand management to prevent shortages of vaccines and work closely with contracted storage & distribution providers to implement in the event of a pandemic
• To lead operational engagement with the devolved administrations and crown dependencies to ensure that a UK wide supply is maintained in the event of a pandemic
• To ensure the procurement of pandemic specific vaccines arrangements are consistent with DHSC policy and support wider pandemic vaccine strategy
• To work closely with the ImmForm team who manage web-based product ordering service, to ensure products are available to customers and appropriately controlled and managed in the event of a pandemic
• To draft correspondence, briefing and other materials on operational and supply issues in addition to keeping senior officials and ministers informed and updated on issues as necessary
• Lead in the drafting of project related sections in associated business cases, utilising subject matter experts to produce robust cases
• Engage with a wide array of stakeholders including clinical, policy, operational and technical experts. Ensure effective communication with project stakeholders and senior sponsors/SROs
• Line management of the HEO Pandemic Vaccines role

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential criteria - you will be assessed on the below 6 essential criteria, which have been selected from the Job Description Document.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and ability to respond to sudden, unexpected demands and deliver on time.
• Ability to build constructive working and influential relationships internally and externally.
• Ability to analyse complex facts and situations and develop a range of options.
• Demonstrated capability to plan over short, medium, and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly in complex environments to manage competing priorities effectively.
• Be able to use initiative to decide relevant actions and make recommendations to senior managers, with the aim of improving deliverables and compliance to policies.
• Experience in roles which have a high degree of complexity and application of project management discipline, including in an operational or health security context

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Essential criteria - you will be assessed on the below 6 essential criteria, which have been selected from the Job Description Document.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and ability to respond to sudden, unexpected demands and deliver on time.
• Ability to build constructive working and influential relationships internally and externally.
• Ability to analyse complex facts and situations and develop a range of options.
• Demonstrated capability to plan over short, medium, and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly in complex environments to manage competing priorities effectively.
• Be able to use initiative to decide relevant actions and make recommendations to senior managers, with the aim of improving deliverables and compliance to policies.
• Experience in roles which have a high degree of complexity and application of project management discipline, including in an operational or health security contex