Head of Department for Preventive Initiatives for the Elderly at 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 different health backgrounds? And are you eager to help shape the future preventive efforts for the elderly in the City of Copenhagen?

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

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

Your leadership task

One of your first and most important tasks will be to unite five existing teams into one new department. The prevention consultants have hitherto 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-centered prevention for the elderly, high engagement and a high degree of independence, as well as experiences from different work cultures.

In addition, you will have a large strategic leadership task in tying the preventive effort 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 expertise 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 wellbeing, 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 effort mainly consists of preventive home visits, preventive conversations, collective events and other activities for elderly citizens.

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

We work, for instance, on strengthening opportunities for participation in communities, preventing loneliness, and building bridges to existing services and local communities. This is done in collaboration with relevant actors in and outside the municipality, including civil society. Through preventive conversations, for example, citizens who need guidance are helped to find relevant opportunities and services.

There is a persistent political, strategic and professional focus on strengthening the effort for the target group, and there will continuously 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 leading people and a strong interest in leadership and employee development. As the head of department, you are presence, curious and clear, and you are able to create direction, even when daily life is busy.

We place particular emphasis on the fact that you

• can bring people together around a common task and create following in a workforce with high professionalism and independence
• can set strategic direction, lead changes and translate overarching decisions into practice with a view to involvement, progress, professionalism and experience
• have strong relational and process competencies and can reconcile the need for stable operations, professional development and employee participation
• collaborate well across professional and organizational boundaries and navigate confidently in a politically guided organization
• have knowledge of the target group and experience with prevention, health promotion or elderly care, including understanding of the broad health concept
• can make the effort visible and exploit potential for collaboration with relevant actors, including in the municipality and civil society

We anticipate that you have a relevant higher education. Your educational background may be health-related or lie within another area that is relevant to the task. The decisive factor is the combination of your leadership competencies, your organizational understanding and your motivation for the area.

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 of the administration to bring 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-centered initiatives and offerings, and the 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 framework is built on trust in employees' professionalism combined with clear direction, prioritization and follow-up. We also have a strong focus 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.

Terms of employment

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 when offering employment.

Want to know more?

If you would like to hear more about the position, you are welcome to contact the 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 should be prepared to complete a test process and participate in an individual feedback session on Teams prior to the 2nd interview.

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

We look forward to receiving your application.

Application deadline: Oct 18, 2026

Department: Borups Allé 41 2200 Copenhagen N

Location: Health and Care Administration