Job summary
- Main area
- Senior Scientific Advisor
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8d
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 990-MED-19761-E-A
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wellington House, London or Wellington Place, Leeds
- Town
- London/Leeds
- Salary
- £91,342 - £105,337 per annum (exclusive of London Weighting)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 26/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Scientific Advisor
NHS AfC: Band 8d
Our Organisation
We share the core values set out in the NHS Constitution, which all colleagues are expected to demonstrate.
We support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you and your colleagues. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement, whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern.
Job overview
The Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) provides clinical and professional advice and leadership in healthcare science across the health and care system, is head of profession for a workforce of over 56,000 working in healthcare science in the NHS, embracing more than 54 scientific specialisms. The Office of the CSO encourages better use of science to address our greatest health challenges and shape technological advances to help ensure that people are living happier and healthier lives.
The NHS healthcare science workforce use science and their technical skills to help prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases. They are in a unique position as a scientific workforce, working as part of an integrated health system that is a world leader in transformational science such as genomics, to deliver this work. The team also work to develop the professional, clinical and system leadership capacity and capability of healthcare scientists, who are well placed to provide frontline scientific leadership and science-based intelligence for innovation, service planning and delivery.
By ensuring the NHS operates at the limits of science, the Office of the CSO can improve the integration of services, develop new ways of working for delivering care, give patients greater control of their own care and improve the NHS’s ability to undertake research and innovation, and adoption of new state of the art health technology.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior Scientific Advisor, the post holder will work as part of a dynamic team in delivering an effective service supporting managers and staff across the Medical Directorate. The post holder(s) will work closely with the Chief Scientific Officer and Deputy CSO supporting, offering scientific advice, expertise and undertaking responsibilities as and when required.
The post holder(s) will be part of a broad leadership team, provide evidence-based advice and guidance to the NHS and wider healthcare and social system inclusive of science in health and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The individual will provide Healthcare science advice into the CSO office particularly as we finalise the HCS strategy and supporting the Chief Scientific Officer’s programme team and the whole programme of work.
The post holder will lead and advise on work relating to scientific, clinical leadership, diagnostics, accreditation and professional regulation, as well as other work areas as required.
Working in collaboration, the post holder will adopt an integrated approach with colleagues across the system, influencing and advising the system to improve quality and outcomes for patients and contribute to the embedding of innovation in healthcare.
Working for our organisation
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
We lead the NHS in England by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where people can develop and make a difference
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money
Earlier this year, the Government announced that NHS England will gradually merge with the Department of Health and Social Care, to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and waste.
If successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Main duties of the job
- Drive the strategy for, supporting and ensuring alignment across the system
- Drive reform and support organisational change and uptake of initiatives that support excellence
- Develop and communicate the vision for the role of innovation, and the development of strategy and operational policies to support this vision
- Engage with key strategic regional and national policy makers to inform development of strategy and policies
- Identify examples of national and international best practice and to ensure that NHS England benefits from relevant innovations in healthcare
- Support development by developing the innovation infrastructure and capacity in organisation
You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to degree level in healthcare science or other clinical discipline
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Proven and significant leadership experience and/or formal management qualification
- Must understand the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this on engagement
- Experienced clinician with credibility and the ability to command the respect of all clinical and non-clinical professionals
Skills Capabilities & Attributes
Essential criteria
- Experience of developing and leading strategy and policy
- Highly developed communication skills with the ability to communicate on highly complex matters and difficult situations
Values and behaviours Commitment
Essential criteria
- Able to make a connection between their work and the benefit to patients and the public.
- Values diversity and difference; operates with integrity and openness
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Peter Liu
- Job title
- Head of Scientific Programmes
- Email address
- [email protected]
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