Job summary
As the Deputy Chief Scientific Officer, you will play a pivotal national leadership role within NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). You will support the Chief Scientific Officer to shape and deliver our long-term scientific strategy, ensuring that our largest professional workforce, the scientific workforce, of over 1,500 staff continue to drive innovation in transfusion, transplantation, genomics and digital health.
You will lead multiyear scientific and clinical education programmes, align research with operational priorities, and represent NHSBT at senior national and international forums. Working collaboratively with partners across government, academia and the NHS, you will help ensure our services continue to save and improve lives. If you are a forward-thinking scientific leader who brings clarity, ambition and compassion, this is an opportunity to make a lasting impact.
Note: This is a national role requiring travel across the United Kingdom and abroad in line with business requirements. It offers hybrid working, and you will be assigned a base location at an NHSBT centre, to be mutually agreed with the hiring manager following the final interview and confirmed at the verbal offer stage.
Main duties of the job
1. Provide visible, strategic leadership for NHSBTs scientific workforce and act as a national ambassador for NHSBT science.
2. Lead scientific and clinical education strategies, including multiyear training plans and delivery frameworks.
3. Drive research translation, innovation and horizon scanning to keep NHSBT at the forefront of scientific developments.
4. Build strategic partnerships across the NHS, government, academia, industry and professional bodies.
5. Align scientific activity, research, and operational goals to improve patient outcomes and service quality.
6. Manage multimillion pound budgets and oversee funding portfolios for education and research activities.
7. Lead digital, scientific and educational systems integration, ensuring robust data governance and key performance indicators reporting.
8. Represent NHSBT at national and international conferences and policy discussions.
9. Oversee succession planning, talent development and an inclusive culture aligned with NHSBT values.
10. Contribute to risk management, corporate planning and regulatory compliance.
About us
It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, youll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.
Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do.
By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever.
You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.
Job description
Job responsibilities
To learn more, please see the job description and person specification for the role. This can be accessed via the link below, or by clicking ‘Apply’ if you are viewing this advert on another site.
Job description
Job responsibilities
To learn more, please see the job description and person specification for the role. This can be accessed via the link below, or by clicking ‘Apply’ if you are viewing this advert on another site.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoratelevel qualification.
- Broad understanding of the NHS and wider healthcare community.
- Commitment to ongoing professional development (CPD).
- Advanced leadership and management knowledge.
- Knowledge and experience of change management.
Experience
Essential
- Vast strategic scientific leadership, including shaping long term strategies, contributing expert insight to major initiatives and policy, and translating scientific vision into measurable organizational outcomes.
- Deep scientific and technical expertise across NHSBT specialist services with the ability to apply research, evidence and emerging science to improve donor and patient services.
- Innovation and future facing capability, demonstrated through horizon scanning, understanding of digital transformation in healthcare, and leading the adoption of new technologies or research.
- Extensive senior leadership of large, complex scientific teams, including workforce planning, talent and succession development, performance leadership and managing organizational change.
- Systems level leadership across healthcare, academia and industry, with a track record of delivering major programs, policies or initiatives requiring multi stakeholder collaboration.
- Operational awareness and performance improvement, including experience working with operational teams and using key performance indicators or performance metrics to drive service, workforce and training improvements.
- Experience designing and implementing scientific or clinical education and development programs, ensuring future skill needs are built into strategic workforce planning.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoratelevel qualification.
- Broad understanding of the NHS and wider healthcare community.
- Commitment to ongoing professional development (CPD).
- Advanced leadership and management knowledge.
- Knowledge and experience of change management.
Experience
Essential
- Vast strategic scientific leadership, including shaping long term strategies, contributing expert insight to major initiatives and policy, and translating scientific vision into measurable organizational outcomes.
- Deep scientific and technical expertise across NHSBT specialist services with the ability to apply research, evidence and emerging science to improve donor and patient services.
- Innovation and future facing capability, demonstrated through horizon scanning, understanding of digital transformation in healthcare, and leading the adoption of new technologies or research.
- Extensive senior leadership of large, complex scientific teams, including workforce planning, talent and succession development, performance leadership and managing organizational change.
- Systems level leadership across healthcare, academia and industry, with a track record of delivering major programs, policies or initiatives requiring multi stakeholder collaboration.
- Operational awareness and performance improvement, including experience working with operational teams and using key performance indicators or performance metrics to drive service, workforce and training improvements.
- Experience designing and implementing scientific or clinical education and development programs, ensuring future skill needs are built into strategic workforce planning.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
