Head of Department at the Center for Prevention and Communities

Head of Department in the Center for Prevention and Communities

Do you want to lead and bring together a new department with 17 experienced and professionally strong prevention consultants with diverse health backgrounds? And would you like to help shape the preventive efforts for the elderly in the City of Copenhagen?

We are in the midst of an exciting development of both our organization and the preventive efforts for the elderly. As head of the newly established Center for Prevention and Communities in the Health and Care Administration (SUF), you will play a central role in bringing five teams together into one department and creating a clear common direction.

At the same time, you will have the opportunity to influence the development of preventive efforts at a time when the new Elderly Act provides new frameworks and opportunities to think prevention and communities together.

Your leadership role

One of your first and most important tasks will be to unite five existing teams into one new department. The prevention consultants have so far been organized under the municipality's five home care units and will in the future have a shared organizational, professional, and physical framework, possibly with satellite functions in the city. The prevention consultants have strong professional competencies in citizen-facing prevention for older adults, high engagement and a high degree of independence, as well as experiences from different work cultures.

In addition, you will have a major strategic leadership task of linking the preventive efforts to the center's other work with public health and communities. You will do this in close collaboration with the center's other management group and with inclusion of the experiences and professional knowledge that already exist. This includes, among other things, the ability to listen and lead through dialogue while being clear when priorities must be set, decisions made, and a common direction created.

You will be responsible for personnel management and for creating good conditions for well-being, collaboration, and professional development. In addition, you will be responsible for the department's professional and strategic development as well as for stable operations, including capacity management, finances, monitoring, and ongoing evaluation.

A preventive effort in development

Today, the efforts primarily consist of preventive home visits, preventive conversations, collective events, and other activities for older residents.

The municipalities have, with the Elderly Act's § 4, gained greater freedom to plan the prevention in new ways. This provides an opportunity to further develop the effort based on citizens' needs and the politically decided frameworks.

We work, among other things, to strengthen opportunities for participation in communities, prevent loneliness, and build bridges to existing offers and local communities. This is done in collaboration with relevant actors in and outside the municipality, including civil society. Through, for example, preventive conversations, we help citizens who need guidance to find relevant opportunities and services.

There is ongoing political, strategic, and professional focus on strengthening the efforts for the target group, and there will be development projects in the department, across the center, and in collaboration with other parts of the municipality and external actors.

About you

You have several years of experience in staff management and a strong interest in leadership and staff development. As head of department, you are present, curious, and clear, and you can create direction even when everyday life is busy.

We particularly value that you

• can bring people together around a common task and create buy-in in a staff group with high professionalism and independence
• can set strategic direction, lead changes, and translate high-level decisions into practice with a focus on involvement, progress, professionalism, and experience
• have strong relational and process competencies and can balance the need for stable operations, professional development, and employee engagement
• collaborate well across disciplines and organizational boundaries and navigate confidently in a politically governed organization
• have knowledge of the target group and experience with prevention, health promotion, or elder care, including understanding of the broad health concept
• can make the efforts visible and exploit potential for collaboration with relevant actors, including in the municipality and civil society

We imagine that you have a relevant higher education degree. Your educational background can be health-related or in another area relevant to the task. The crucial factor is the combination of your leadership skills, your organizational understanding, and your motivation for the field.

A strong leadership community

The Center for Prevention and Communities is a newly established center in the Health and Care Administration and is created as part of a reorganization aimed at bringing the administration closer to the citizens, closer to operations, and closer to partners. The center's main tasks include strategic development in the public health field, development and operation of citizen-facing initiatives and services, and promotion of communities across civil society, local communities, other administrations, and other relevant actors.

As the head of department, you will be part of the center's new leadership team. Together with the other department heads and the center manager, you will share responsibility for the center's overall task and for developing collaboration and the common direction across the center.

In the Health and Care Administration, our leadership foundation is built on trust in employees' professionalism combined with clear direction, prioritization, and follow-up. We also place a strong emphasis on leadership development and on giving our leaders a good start. As a new leader you will receive a structured onboarding process and a mentor, and you will become part of a leadership environment with ongoing sparring and development of your leadership. Read more here about development opportunities and everyday life as a leader in SUF.

Employer terms

Salary and terms of employment according to the applicable collective agreement and negotiated based on qualifications. Start date December 1, 2026. References and a criminal record check will be obtained upon a job offer.

Want to know more?

If you want to hear more about the position, you are welcome to contact Chief Public Health Officer Katrine Schjønning at 30 34 56 32.

We expect to conduct 1st interview on Thursday, October 22 and 2nd interview on Wednesday, October 28. If you proceed to the 2nd interview, you must be prepared to undergo a test process and participate in an individual feedback session on Teams prior to the 2nd interview.

Apply via the link no later than Sunday, October 18, 2026

We look forward to receiving your application.

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