NHS England

Senior Systems Engineer

The closing date is 12 October 2025

Job summary

Within NHS England, system engineering is about building in the whole-system space rather than focusing on a specialism such as application or infrastructure.

As a Senior Systems Engineer you will work on systems that improve healthcare for millions of people across the UK. These systems range from citizen facing web portals to internal back-end services and will typically feature complex application logic that requires robust, secure, quality-focussed development practices.

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Central Engineering team in Products and Platforms, which builds and operates a set of products, tools, blueprints, and good practice guides to support Engineers, Developers, and Testers across Products and Platforms. You will have a specific focus on improving resilience and reliability as well as improving developer experience. The role is collaborative with the opportunity to work with and across the many teams within the organisation working with our highly dedicated, committed and knowledgeable teams. You will drive forward initiatives to improve the way we work supporting technical services to deliver for patients and NHS front line staff.

The main technologies we use in this team are AWS, Terraform, and Python.

Main duties of the job

As a Senior Systems Engineer you will:

Developing, building, and operating national, highly available distributed systems being built and run within NHS England.

Operating within and contributing to the NHS England engineering principles.

Technical ownership across the system space, including application, environments, infrastructure and networks, pipelines, and operational tools.

Engage in peer-to-peer collaboration to solve engineering problems and drive-up organisation engineering standards.

Contributing to Engineering maturity within the team.

Coaching and mentoring colleagues.

Candidates will need to demonstrate experience of the following:

Infrastructure / application development experience

Experience working across all layers of the stack including application, infrastructure, CI/CD, testing, monitoring and alerting etc.

Implementing quality-focussed development practices

Evidence using appropriate testing techniques

Working within a team to deliver software in a collaborative way

If you would like to know more or require further information, please visithttps://www.england.nhs.uk/.

About us

Our work supports the NHS to deliver high quality services for patients and best value for taxpayers.

Our staff bring expertise across hundreds of specialisms -- including clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial -- 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 our people can make a difference and achieve their potential
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, leading to full integration. The aim is to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and eliminates 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 recruitment process.

Date posted

26 September 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£62,929 to £70,830 a year includes RRP payment of 13% (excluding London weighting)

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

10 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Job share, Flexible working

Reference number

990-TD-P&P-17533-E-A

Job locations

Any NHSE office

Nationally

LS1 4PL

Job description

Job responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post of Senior Systems Engineer has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts an additional monthly RRP payment equal to 13% per annum.

Please be aware that RRP is non-contractual and subject to review

Please note that the reason for the fixed term of this contract is - Short-term vacancy.

Earlier this year the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the Department. The purpose of this change is to create a smaller, more strategic centre which will reduce duplication and eliminate waste.

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.

Secondments

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.

On-call

Participation in a shared on-call rota is required to support a 24/7/365 service, this rota covers evenings, weekends, and public holidays.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please be aware that RRP is non-contractual and subject to review

Please note that the reason for the fixed term of this contract is - Short-term vacancy.

Secondments

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.

On-call

Participation in a shared on-call rota is required to support a 24/7/365 service, this rota covers evenings, weekends, and public holidays.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Qualified to Masters degree level in a suitable technical, scientific or mathematical subject (or equivalent experience)

Experience

Essential

Infrastructure / application development experience
Experience working across all layers of the stack including application, infrastructure, CI/CD, testing, monitoring and alerting etc.
Working within a team to deliver software in a collaborative way

Knowledge and skills

Essential

Implementing quality-focussed development practices
Evidence using appropriate testing techniques

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Qualified to Masters degree level in a suitable technical, scientific or mathematical subject (or equivalent experience)

Experience

Essential

Infrastructure / application development experience
Experience working across all layers of the stack including application, infrastructure, CI/CD, testing, monitoring and alerting etc.
Working within a team to deliver software in a collaborative way

Knowledge and skills

Essential

Implementing quality-focussed development practices
Evidence using appropriate testing techniques

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.

Employer details

Employer name

NHS England

Address

Any NHSE office

Nationally

LS1 4PL

Employer's website

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

NHS England

Address

Any NHSE office

Nationally

LS1 4PL

Employer's website

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/ (Opens in a new tab)