Consultant Medical Virologist/Consultant Clinical Scientist

Job summary

This is a full-time post for virology services at UKHSA Clinical Network Laboratory, Birmingham, providing Consultant level input into the laboratory, clinical virology and public health service. The post is based at the Lead Public Health Laboratory for the Midlands which is situated at the Birmingham Heartlands Hospital in the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching). However, it is a requirement of employment that the post holder be prepared to work at any additional or different location owned or served by the trust, either on an on-going or temporary basis according to the demands of the service. The provision of clinical virology services at Good Hope, Solihull, Birmingham Heartlands Hospitals and Queen Elizabeth Hospital will be by rotation and in partnership with other infection service consultants. In addition to the clinical virology service, the post holder will be providing public health functions for the Midlands Region.

The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust is one of 96 Foundation Trusts in England. The Trust was established in the first of April 2018 by the merger of Heart of England and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation Trusts. The new organisation includes Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Good Hope Hospital, Solihull District General Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Birmingham Chest Clinic. It is a dynamic organisation that represents one of the largest trusts in the UK.

Job description

UKHSA CNL, Birmingham is situated at Heartlands Hospital and occupies 1500 square meters on both floors of a building which is part of the Pathology complex. The laboratory includes a purpose-built molecular biology suite and has extensive containment level 3 facilities. The laboratory has full microbiology, virology and molecular biology UKAS accreditation. The laboratory delivers a comprehensive diagnostic bacteriology and virology service to its host Trust and local community as well as a range of more specialist tests for hospitals and local authorities throughout the West Midlands. The laboratory is one of the two centres in the UK for the investigation of Hepatitis B infected health care workers. It has an annual workload of approximately 700,000 specimens per year. Approximately 420000 specimens are processed for bacteriological investigations, and 145000 and 114000 specimens respectively are processed for serological and molecular biology investigations. In addition, it houses the National Mycobacterial Reference Service (NMRS) North & Central (Director Dr Esther Robinson) which processes around 17000 and the Antiviral Susceptibility Reference Unit, which processes 3000 specimens per year.

Please refer to the attached Job Description & Person Specification for full details.

Person specification

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Identify, discuss and action own professional performance and training / development needs with your line manager through appraisal / individual development plan. Attending internal / external training events
• To participate in all mandatory training as required, i.e. fire safety, information governance and all other mandatory training.

Education and Development

The post holder is required to:

• Be subject to annual appraisal, if appropriate.
• Participate in mandatory training for Health and Safety and Clinical Governance appropriate for the role.

Clinical Governance

The post holder is required to:

• Maintain personal professional accreditation/registration.
• Be fully aware of the requirements of Clinical Governance, Patient Confidentiality and Patient Safety and to ensure that the service operates within these standards.
• Be responsible for the provision of expert input into the quality agenda for your Service, including influencing and delivering the Clinical Governance agenda.
• Inform and challenge established specialist opinion and public health management on the basis of specialist knowledge, expertise and best practice examples.

Professional obligations

The post-holder will be expected to:

• Practice in accordance with all relevant sections of the General Medical Council’s Good Medical Practice or the relevant professional body code of conduct.

Please refer to the attached Job Description & Person Specification for full details.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

NHS Pension

The role is offered under Agenda for Change (AFC) Terms and Conditions:

• If you are already on AFC T&Cs or accept the role on a fixed-term contract, you will be enrolled in the NHS Pension Scheme or keep your current AFC Pension.
• If you take the role on a loan or temporary promotion, you will retain your existing substantive T&Cs.
• If the role is available under either AFC or Civil Service T&Cs depending on your registration, your pension scheme will align accordingly.

Reasonable Adjustments

The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

BENEFITS

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

External
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Stage 1: Application & Sift

This vacancy is using Competency.

At sift stage you will be assessed against the essential criteria listed in the Job Description & Person Specification attached to this vacancy advert.

You will be required to complete an:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
  • Up to 1500 word Statement of Suitability

This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role.

Applicants are strongly advised to use the criteria in the Person Specification of the Job Description as sub-headings in their application to make it clear how they meet each of the selection criteria.

The successful candidate will be appointed to the point of the Consultant salary scale appropriate to their years of seniority or if from a background other than medicine to NHS Agenda for Change Band 8d.

Inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview).

Virology and virology/Infectious Diseases Specialty Registrar applicants who are not yet on the GMC Specialist Register must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry at the date of interview; all other applicants must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they have applied for inclusion in the GMC.

You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V –please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible)

Interview stage (competency based):

You will be invited to a face to face interview. If face to face interviews are planned, in exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview.

Interviews will be held 16th March 2026, please note this date is subject to change.

This vacancy is being assessed using Competency framework. During the interview we will assess against the below:

Knowledge
Experience
Skills and Abilities

You will be asked to prepare and present a 5-10 minute presentation at the start of your interview, around the subject of Developments in Virology. The specific topic of this will be sent to you prior to interview.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period.

If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Husam Osman, Consultant Medical Virologist
• Email : husam.osman@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.mdrecruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Attachments

UKHSA Con Virologist or CCS Birmingham 8d Janaury 2026 JD FINAL Opens in new window (pdf, 209kB)