Head of Clinical Scientific Computing Consultant Clinical Scientist

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

The use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it, then they are required to declare this in their supporting statement.

Job overview

UCLH is a leading healthcare provider committed to delivering world-class patient care, research, and education. We are seeking a highly skilled, experienced and motivated scientist to lead, manage and develop our Clinical Scientific Computing Team within the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at UCLH.

This role presents a fantastic opportunity which comes at an exciting time, as we have just completed an extensive engagement exercise with stakeholders across our clinical services, our existing team, advocates of change within the UCLH Digital Innovation Hub, the UCL Advanced Computing Centre and with the visionary research leaders within UCLH.

As the Head of Clinical Scientific Computing, you will bring energy and passion as you provide strategic leadership and management to the Clinical Scientific Computing Section. You will oversee the delivery of essential clinical scientific computing support, drive innovation, and collaborate with key stakeholders to advance the Trust's digital healthcare initiatives.

You will have a strong academic background, significant experience in clinical scientific computing, including healthcare IT systems, software development, and data science, proven leadership and management skills, a strong understanding of healthcare regulations and standards, excellent communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with diverse teams

Main duties of the job

You will work closely with the Head of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, with the Senior Management Team within Medical Physics and with senior leaders of clinical, research and digital services across the Trust, developing strong and productive working relationships focussed on delivering and implementing strategic plans that align with the Trust's vision for digital technology.

You will benefit from an associate position within University College London's Advanced Research Computing Centre, one of the UK's leading research and service institutes for computational science and digital scholarship. There, you will join a 100-strong community of research technology professionals - data stewards, data scientists, and infrastructure and software engineers, benefitting from collaboration, mentorship and peer-support.

Your team have significant commitments to support clinical services and systems in Neurophysiology, Women's Health, Radiotherapy, Proton Beam Therapy, Nuclear Medicine and Sterile Services. You will be accountable for the performance of your team and for business planning to manage the quality, risks, resources and expectations of the service users. You will ensure your team effectively and efficiently manage programmes of work in the areas of innovation and system support

Working for our organisation

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is one of the most complex NHS trusts in the UK, serving a large and diverse population. We provide academically led acute and specialist services, to people from the local area, from throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. Our vision is to deliver top-quality patient care, excellent education, and world-class research.

We provide first-class acute and specialist services across eight sites:

• University College Hospital (incorporating the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing)

• National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

• Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals

• University College Hospital Grafton Way Building

• Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine

• University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre

• The Hospital for Tropical Diseases

• University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street

We are dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of many complex illnesses. UCLH specialises in women's health and the treatment of cancer, infection, neurological, gastrointestinal and oral disease. It has world class support services including critical care, imaging, nuclear medicine and pathology.

We are committed to sustainability and have pledged to become a carbon net zero health service, embedding sustainable practice throughout UCLH. We have set an ambitious target of net zero for our direct emissions by 2031 and indirect emissions by 2040.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For the full Person Specification and more information regarding the main responsibilities of this role, please refer to the attached Job Description.

The Department of Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering is a central resource of professional scientific and engineering knowledge and skills within UCLH. Our services support clinical services and research and development throughout UCLH.

The Clinical Scientific Computing Section provides services to clinical and scientific teams and to researchers, predominantly throughout UCLH, across the following areas of work:
• Whole life cycle support of medical IT systems.
• Management of computing infrastructure including desktops, servers, and file storage.
• Medical device software and healthcare software development.
• Healthcare data science and healthcare informatics.
• Support for research, development and digital innovation.

Come and be a part of the best NHS trust in England to work for, according to our staff*

UCLH top trust to work at in England - for the second year running! : University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

*In the most recent NHS staff survey UCLH had the highest percentage of staff who said they would recommend us as a place to work, out of all general acute or acute/community NHS trusts in England - for the second year in a row.

UCLH top trust to work at in England - for the second year running! University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Once again, UCLH has received the highest score of all general acute and acute/community NHS trusts in England for staff that would recommend us as a place to work.

To discover more about what makes UCLH a great place to work, visit: Why Choose UCLH?

Person specification

Knowledge and Qualifications

Essential criteria

• 1st or 2nd class honours degree in computer science, a physical science, engineering, or equivalent
• Relevant PhD or equivalent (MSc / MEng with research experience)
• State Registration as a Clinical Scientist
• Corporate Membership or Fellowship of relevant professional institutes (eg IPEM, IET)
• Registered, or eligible to register, as a Higher Specialist Scientist with the Academy for Healthcare Science
• Evidence of training and development in Leadership & Management

Desirable criteria

• Chartered Engineer or Chartered Scientist
• Level 7 Post Graduate Diploma in Leadership & Management

Scientific & Technical

Essential criteria

• Expert knowledge across the full range of working procedures and practices in clinical scientific computing including relevant legislation, national and international standards, NHS policy, and professional and other guidelines.
• Expert or Advanced knowledge in the majority of the following areas:• Software engineering best practices (including issue tracking, testing, documentation, version control and continuous integration) that enable the delivery of reliable, sustainable and trustworthy outputs • Statistics and mathematics applied to acquiring reliable insight from data. • Computer hardware and software at both operating system and application level and also of medical device IT systems. • Architecture, configuration, security and performance management of networks using TCP/IP protocols • Security issues associated with computer systems within the Trust, NHS and health sector, and the measures required to address these. • Data management, including storage, archive, backup and data publication technologies
• Broad knowledge of medical devices and of other areas of medical physics and clinical engineering practice and procedure.

Clinical

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of clinical practice and the implications for clinical scientific computing.
• Basic knowledge of relevant anatomy, physiology and pathology.
• Advanced understanding of the potential risks to patients, staff and organisations arising from system failure, human error and clinical scientific computing practice
• Advanced knowledge and understanding of quality and risk management as they apply to clinical scientific computing.

Managerial

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of good people management practice including recruitment, performance and disciplinary policy.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of financial matters relating to service costings and income management, including full costs recovery and rules for VAT charging.

Knowledge and Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Understanding of quality and performance management and their application to a clinical scientific computing service.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive experience of a scientific healthcare environment
• Extensive experience of managing computer operating systems especially Unix and Windows
• Extensive experience of a wide variety of computing systems and application packages
• Extensive experience of managing IT systems in a clinical environment
• Significant experience of managing high value, high profile, IT projects
• Significant experience in several of the following areas: • Applying the core tools of data science and analytics, in a programmatic framework such as R, Python, or Julia • Applying at least one specialist technique or tool in data analytics, such as natural language processing, neural networks, Bayesian inference, Gaussian processes. • The authorship, development, testing and maintenance of software for clinical research & development. This might include (but is not limited to) software supporting data processing and statistical analysis, image analysis tools, front- and back-end web development, mobile apps, high-performance simulation software, or mathematical software. • At least one programming language used for research (such as C, C++, Fortran, Javascript, Julia, Python, or R) at a level and breadth commensurate with seniority. • Programming both applications and systems
• Experience in the supervision of research and development work.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of holding grants and supervising research workers.

Managerial

Essential criteria

• Significant experience of providing services in a scientific healthcare environment.
• Significant experience of people management, including staff appraisal.
• Experience of budgetary control and management of resources.
• Experience of identifying service development opportunities and progressing business plans.
• Experience of participating in, leading discussions and taking minutes at committees / working groups involving complex scientific and technical information.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of involvement in national committees relating to science in healthcare.

Scientific & Clinical

Essential criteria

• Ability to apply knowledge and experience in making judgements regarding the safe and optimal configuration and use of medical IT systems, involving objective assessment of benefits and risks associated with the available options.
• Ability to perform options appraisals in highly complex situations based on highly complex information and judgements.
• Ability to provide highly specialised advice on the use of medical IT systems for patient diagnosis, management and treatment, for routine care and when planning and implementing a research programme.
• Ability to do the majority of the following and to manage staff applying these skills: • Manage networks of Unix and Windows server and client computer systems • Write complex programs in a variety of high level languages such as C++ and VB • Develop, manage and support complex database applications using SQL server

Communication

Essential criteria

• Able to produce clear and unambiguous written reports, guidance, policies, procedures and business cases which can be understood by staff and stakeholders from a variety of professions.
• Able to communicate risk associated with cyber security and data management in a clear manner to persons with no specialist knowledge, including clinicians, managers and external stakeholders.
• Able to communicate highly complex information at postgraduate level to other professional groups.
• Able to present scientific papers at national and international conferences.
• Able to train groups of other professional staff.
• Able to deliver teaching and training on complex subjects.
• Ability to present information effectively to senior clinicians and Trust managers.
• Ability to chair meetings effectively.
• Ability to negotiate solutions to problems where conflicting views exist.
• Able to deal with complex and unpredictable situations.

Managerial AND Specific Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Ability to manage and develop staff effectively and sympathetically, to lead a multi-disciplinary team and to prioritise the workload of others.
• Able to motivate staff and inspire confidence.
• Able to manage change and introduce new technologies and working practices.
• Able to implement policies and procedures in own work and to advise on policy and procedure review, development and implementation in services provided by others.
• Able to assess impact of policy / procedure changes on safety and service provision.
• Ability to take and articulate a strategic view of the Section's work
• Able to exercise initiative to solve highly complex problems independently and with confidence when dealing with issues within own specialist area of competence.
• Able to prioritise and manage own time and workload under pressure.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Able to understand contracts and produce agreements to provide services.
• Great attention to detail.
• Commitment to develop and communicate the contribution of clinical scientific computing to healthcare and a vision of how to further realise benefits in this field.
• Ability to use computer software at an advanced level to gather, organise and process information.
• Record of presenting work at scientific meetings.

Desirable criteria

• Research / Development Track Record.

At UCLH, we have a real 'One Team' ethos, and our values - safety, kindness, teamwork and improving, are central to the way we work. This is supported by our staff, who voted us as the #1 NHS Acute Trust to work for in the whole of England.

At UCLH we take equality of opportunity seriously and are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer, with a culture that creates a real sense of belonging and trust. It is our fundamental aim, to recruit, retain and promote a diverse mix of people who are representative of our local communities. Applications are encouraged from candidates of all backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives to support our world class research, innovation and creativity.

UCLH recognises the benefits of flexible working for staff and has a dedicated policy which allows staff to apply for flexible working right from the beginning of employment. For more information please go to: https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/work-with-us/why-choose-uclh/flexible-working.

We offer our permanent staff an interest free season ticket loan for travel, all our staff have access to free independent and confidential support, large retail discounts, a staff discount platform, cycle to work scheme and on-site accommodation to name a few.

Additionally, UCLH Arts and Heritage's staff wellbeing programme, Creative Comfort, offers a variety of ways to engage with the arts as a member of UCLH staff. You can try out the weekly choir, weekly art club and join the Culture Club for exclusive access to free and discounted tickets for opera, exhibitions, theatre and more.

We recognise, reward and thank colleagues by nominating them for our annual Celebrating Excellence Awards, which are funded by UCLH Charity.

We are also members of www.mytrustbenefits.co.uk/ which offers discounts on high street retail stores, offers on travel deals, and also to take advantage of cash back schemes.

This vacancy may close before the current listed closing date. You are advised not to delay submitting your completed application.

Please note that all correspondence regarding your application will be via email. The emails will be sent to you via TRAC.jobs and not via NHS Jobs, we encourage you to check your inbox regularly.

Please note that if you are at present in a training position on the 2016 new junior doctor's contract and are applying for a Trust doctor role your salary will not be pay protected.

You will be placed on the appropriate point of the Trust Doctor pay scale based on your previous experience.

Please note that if you have not heard from us within 3 weeks of the closing date of the advert to assume that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion.

The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 696.3KB)
• Functional Requirements (PDF, 262.3KB)
• UCLH Values (PDF, 860.9KB)