Public sector jobs in Cambridge

Health dominates public sector employment in Cambridge. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie maternity hospital, and Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust both sit on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the south of the city. Local government jobs are shared between Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council. Everything is paid on national scales, with no supplement for Cambridge’s high housing costs.

The hospitals on the biomedical campus

Addenbrooke’s is the main acute hospital for Cambridge and a regional centre for specialist services, including major trauma and transplant work. Royal Papworth is a specialist heart and lung hospital. Together they recruit across nursing, theatres, imaging, laboratories, pharmacy, estates and administration. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health services, and the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust covers 999 calls.

Specialist surgical hospitals like these run large theatre and critical care departments, which recruit operating department practitioners, anaesthetic and recovery nurses and theatre support workers (operating department practitioner).

Agenda for Change rates from 1 April 2026:

Band	Entry	Intermediate	Top
2	£25,272	n/a	£25,272
4	£28,392	n/a	£31,157
5	£32,073	£34,592	£39,043
6	£39,959	£42,170	£48,117
7	£49,387	£51,932	£56,515

Band 7 covers many senior specialist and team leader roles, and NHS band 7 pay and jobs explains what they involve.

Three councils and a combined authority

Cambridge is in a two-tier county. Cambridgeshire County Council runs adult and children’s social care, education services, highways and libraries. It moved its headquarters out of the city to Alconbury Weald, though staff work across the county. Cambridge City Council handles housing, waste, planning, environmental health and leisure for the city, and South Cambridgeshire District Council does the same for the villages around it. The city and South Cambridgeshire share several services, including planning, so some jobs are advertised jointly.

Planning and building control are steady sources of council vacancies in an area with this much development (how to become a planning officer). Council pay is on the NJC spine, which rose by 3.3 per cent from 1 April 2026. SCP 20 is £33,673 and SCP 30 is £42,123.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, led by an elected mayor, recruits for transport, skills and economic development.

Police, fire and schools

Cambridgeshire Constabulary covers the city and county. A constable starts at £32,255 (PP1) from 1 September 2026 and reaches £52,015 at PP7. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service pays firefighters £31,539 in development and £40,358 once competent from 1 July 2026.

Teachers in Cambridge are on the England scales outside London, starting at £34,069 (M1) from 1 September 2026 under the award the government accepted. Maintained schools apply it once the 2026 pay and conditions document is in force. School support staff are on the NJC spine and usually term-time only.

Checks before you start

Hospital, school and social care jobs need an enhanced DBS check. From 5 October 2026 an enhanced check costs £41, and joining the DBS Update Service costs £15 a year, which lets future employers check your certificate online. NHS employers also carry out identity, right to work, qualification and occupational health checks, and usually ask for references covering the last three years. The time from offer to start date depends on how quickly these come back, so start gathering documents as soon as you are offered the job.

Getting by on national pay

With no local weighting, many staff live outside the city and commute from surrounding towns. Cambridge is flat and well set up for cycling, and NHS trusts and councils commonly run cycle to work schemes, which let you pay for a bike from gross salary (cycle to work scheme). Some posts carry a recruitment and retention premium, which the advert will show. The take-home pay calculator shows what a salary leaves you after tax, National Insurance and pension.

Where to apply

CUH and Royal Papworth recruit through NHS Jobs and Trac. The three councils and the combined authority have their own careers pages, and Cambridgeshire Constabulary and the fire service recruit directly. School vacancies are on Teaching Vacancies.