Senior Biomedical Scientist – Application Specialist

Job summary

As a category 1 responder UKHSA has a critical responsibility to scale laboratory diagnostic capacity within the first 6 weeks of an emerging threat with epidemic or pandemic potential. One way in which this will be delivered is through a new standby semi-automated and high throughput PCR testing facility at our Porton Down scientific campus. We are therefore looking for HCPC registered Senior Biomedical Scientists to lead validation and implementation of this vital capability.

Main duties of the job

• Lead evaluation, validation and implementation of diagnostic assays and high throughput testing workflows to enable delivery of a new ISO 15189 accredited testing facility.
• Provide senior technical expertise and supervision on platform and assay performance and troubleshooting, including delivery of training, non-conformance investigation, root cause analysis, and implementation of technical improvements and solutions.
• Perform a range of diagnostic assays and techniques as required to meet the needs of testing provision within UKHSA. This will include diagnostic testing and sub-contracted testing for research activities.
• Prioritise, co-ordinate, and supervise the workload staff, including line management responsibilities, to maintain standards and ensure the delivery of a critical diagnostic capability.
• Undertake general laboratory duties such as the disposal of waste, equipment maintenance, stock control and ensuring a safe working environment.
• Ensure all work is undertaken in accordance with safety and ISO15189 quality requirements and complete any training requirements as required for this post.
• Participate in out of hours rota to provide increased testing capacity when required.

Working for your organisation

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

Job description

Successful applicants will join a new team, Amplify, within the Diagnostic and Pathogen Characterisation Division and work alongside colleagues in the Rare and Imported Pathogen Laboratory and Diagnostic Development and Implementation team. You will be responsible for developing a new testing facility to meet ISO 15189 accreditation standards ensuring validation, maintenance and implementation of responsive, adaptable high throughput molecular testing workflows.

As a Senior Biomedical Scientist and Application Specialist you will work with the Facility Manager and other senior team members to establish new testing workflows, protocols and procedures, designing and troubleshooting processes and assays from the ground up and overseeing technical performance.

The Post Holder will be expected to be flexible to the demands of the project area, have excellent communication skills and use their technical experience to ensure the service is delivered on time and remains ready to respond. This will include changing patterns of work to include out of hours shifts when incident or outbreak response mode is activated and research and training delivery in support of wider organisational priorities.

The main responsibilities will include:

• Lead in the adaptation, evaluation and validation of technologies compatible with high throughput testing to enhance the facility’s capabilities and to ensure the project area works to a high scientific standard.
• Lead in the design, implementation and troubleshooting of testing workflows and protocols from sample receipt to result authorisation.
• Provide technical expertise and oversight on the scientific methods employed, including laboratory automation and assay performance.
• Oversee the evaluation, validation and implementation of diagnostic assays as required to meet the needs of the testing service.
• Deliver training to internal and external scientists in support of wider pandemic preparedness activities.
• Perform a range of diagnostic assays and techniques as required to meet the needs of testing provision within UKHSA. This will include diagnostic testing with result validation and sub-contracted testing for research activities.
• Participate in out of hour testing rotas to ensure provision of sufficient testing capacity in line with business needs.
• Line manage junior team members, and ensure effective prioritisation, co-ordination and supervision of work.
• Deputise as appropriate for senior staff and act as head BMS in the absence of the facility manager.
• Supply data to agreed timescales and as required by project contracts and service level agreements.
• Undertake general laboratory duties including disposal of waste, equipment maintenance, stock control and ensuring a safe working environment.
• Maintain HCPC registration as a condition of employment.
• Fulfil all training requirements as required for the post, including subsequent maintenance of required competencies.
• Maintain high professional standards by continual professional development keeping up to date with advances in medical microbiology.
• Ensure all work in undertaken in accordance with the UKHSA’s Code of Safety Practice and to work within ISO15189 quality standards.
• Ensure health, safety and welfare are afforded priority and demonstrate a commitment to health, safety and welfare of self, staff and visitors and comply with relevant UKHSA health and safety policies at all times.
• Notify accidents, near misses, dangerous situations and shortcomings in health and safety via the appropriate management structure.
• Escalate risks that cannot be controlled to the Facility Manager.
• Fully engage with the performance process, including objective setting and preparing for performance conversations, as described on the UKHSA intranet.
• Fulfil the requirements of UKHSA Values and Behaviours and the Civil Service Code.
• Comply with all UKHSA policy and procedures.
• Perform any other duties required by the line manager commensurate with grade.

This is not an exhaustive list.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• BSc Degree (or equivalent qualification) in an appropriate medical/microbiology/biological science discipline
• MSc or higher qualification in an appropriate medical/microbiology/biological science or relevant experience as a specialist biomedical scientist.
• Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Biomedical Scientist.
• Technical knowledge and extensive experience in leading implementation and troubleshooting of molecular laboratory techniques, including RT-PCR, in the diagnostic environment.
• Proven experience working in a diagnostic or reference virology laboratory.
• Experience in leading and managing teams and/or projects ensuring delivery of organisational and departmental goals, with the ability to organise own workload and of those staff often working to tight deadlines.
• Resilience and ability to work at pace to ensure delivery of a highly responsive diagnostic service with an out of hours testing capability.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge and experience of handling high hazard pathogens, including Hazard Group 3, SAPO and CTSA agents.
• Previous experience leading technical support for a high throughput PCR testing facility.
• Programming experience and knowledge of data integration and workflows, particularly with laboratory equipment.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,387, UK Health Security Agency contributes £14,307 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

This 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.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your behaviours, experience and technical skills.

Stage 1: Application & Sift

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 7 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of:

• an application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• a 1000 word supporting statement.

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

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). Please do not email us your CV.

Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 1000 words. We will not consider any words over 1000 words.

Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

• Meets all essential criteria
• Meets some essential criteria
• Meets no essential criteria

Only those meeting all essential criteria will be taken through to shortlisting.

Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on:

• Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Biomedical Scientist.

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications / large amount of successful candidates.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview and assessment.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview

You will be invited to a face to face interview in Porton Down. In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview.

Behaviours, experience and technical skills.will be tested at interview.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Managing a quality service (Lead behaviour)
• Changing and improving
• Delivering at pace
• Making effective decisions

Interview dates are planned for w/c 12th and 19th October. Please note these dates are subject to change.

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

Location

This role is lab based at our Scientific Campus in Porton Down, Salisbury. Please note that hybrid working is not available with this role.

Eligibility criteria

Option 1 - External

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

Security clearance level requirement

Part 1

Successful candidates must pass a basic Disclosure and Barring Security (DBS) check before they can be appointed.

Part 2

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Counter-Terrorism Check clearance.

For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years to obtain Counter Terrorism Check (CTC) clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting at this higher level and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Salary information

If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary. Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms.

Incident response activity

From time to time, the role holder may be required to support UKHSA’s incident response activity by contributing their appropriate expertise within an Incident Cell during such periods, supported by the line manager, this work will take priority over normal day-to-day responsibilities, commensurate with their grade, skills and experience.

Future location

UKHSA is investing in a new state-of-the-art National Biosecurity Centre in Harlow, Essex, which will eventually bring together teams currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale and Porton Down. For more details, please see: Huge biosecurity centre investment to boost pandemic protection - GOV.UK.

The new facilities will start becoming operational in the mid-2030s, with full completion by 2038. Staff will move in phases as facilities become available. If you're appointed to a role currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale or Porton Down, please note that we'll continue investing in these sites for the next decade. As we get closer to the transition, we'll provide full information about relocation support available to staff.

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/

International Police 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.

Internal Fraud check

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.

Careers website

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

Reserve list

If more than the required number of suitable candidates pass the interview criteria, you may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months subject to your agreement. You may be contacted, in merit-order, if similar roles with closely matching essential criteria become available and the department choose to appoint from a reserve list. The panel will assess if candidates meet the requirement of the role first, using a specific benchmark system. If you are interviewed for the post and do not meet the required threshold for the specified grade, your application may be assessed against a similar, lower grade role and you may be offered the post should one be available.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : Jon Payne
• Email : jonathan.payne@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@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