Job summary
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust includes major teaching hospitals.TheClinical Data Science Unit(CDSU)is a joint venture between MFT Group Informatics and Research and Innovation department, workingcollaboratively with colleagues from The University of Manchester and MFTto drive forward data driven innovation across academichealthresearch and clinical practice. Areas of collaborative focus will be around modelling, health informatics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality approaches, natural language processing and clinical imagingand data science techniques.
Main duties of the job
The Principal Data Scientist is a crucial role within the MFT Clinical Data Science Unit (CDSU). The post holder will be responsible for developing pipelines for curating and extracting clinical data from data models and databases to support the provision of routinely collected clinical data for clinical and research purposes. The post holder will have the opportunity to shape this work providing expert technical input.
The CDSU will apply data science techniques to routinely collected clinical data for externally funded research projects, collaborations with industry and innovation developments. The post holder will ensure the integrity of data across datasets curated and managed within the CDSU. The post holder will act as an expert, extracting data fit for research purposes.
About us
MFT is one of the largest NHS Trust In England with a turnover of £2.6bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We're creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.
Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 28,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you'll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.
We've also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.
We're proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What's more, we're excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.
At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.
Job description
Job responsibilities
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience youll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the Supporting Documents heading. So that youre even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, youll need to take time to read the Candidate Essentials Guide that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how we care for you as you care for others. Most importantly, it also contains critical information youll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.
Diversity Matters
MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at resourcing@mft.nhs.uk.
Were looking forward to hearing from you!
Job description
Job responsibilities
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience youll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the Supporting Documents heading. So that youre even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, youll need to take time to read the Candidate Essentials Guide that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how we care for you as you care for others. Most importantly, it also contains critical information youll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.
Diversity Matters
MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at resourcing@mft.nhs.uk.
Were looking forward to hearing from you!
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Post-graduate degree or equivalent or relevant experience
- Evidence of Personal Development
Desirable
- Degree or equivalent qualification in an IT related subject
- Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Certificate
- MRC Course Certificate 'Research, GDPR and Confidentiality - what you really need to know'
- Management Qualification
Experience/Knowledge
Essential
- Extensive experience of producing research extracts from health data
- Ability to communicate a range of informatics and data science issues which can be complex and multi-stranded
- Experience of designing/ contributing to quality and governance frameworks for data science
- Experience of reproducible pipelines and shared services
- Advanced competence of Microsoft SQL Server (or equivalent)
- Experience of making datasets easily accessible and packaged for research
- Knowledge and experience of designing information reports adhering requests to optimise reporting and analysis
- Ability to make judgements on multi-stranded or complex Informatics problems which may have no precedent or where there are conflicting opinions
- Fluency in one or more modern programming languages used in research in data science and artificial intelligence
- Ability to plan and organise broad range of complex activities, formulate and adjust plans which impact beyond own area
- Working experience of where pseudonymisation/ anonymisation processes have been utilised/ set up
- Awareness and working experience of frameworks and practices surrounding research data extracts; information governance IG, data security, data transfer agreements (DTA); the Data Protection act DPA, Data regulations, NHS data dictionary standards, Data Quality checks, GDPR
- Significant experience of statistical disclosure checks on research data
- Significant experience of designing algorithms and using statistical and problem structuring methods
- Confident networker with the ability to identify new potential collaborators and progress interest in new projects
- Extensive experience of the use of observational data for research
- An understanding of data federation and different methods for secure processing of sensitive health data
- Experience working with customers to identify, understand and refine problems, scoping data science work to solve them
Desirable
- Experience working as part of a TRE/SDE/Safe Haven team
- Experience of working in NHS / academic - clinical/ health environment
- Data science/ analysis outputs in an NHS / Research / Health Data environment
- Experience of writing SOPs/templates/guidelines to domain standards
- Experience of audit (ISO, MHRA, Accreditation, etc.)
- Experience of using GitHub
- An understanding of the importance of good practices for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses, such as version control, issue tracking, automated testing, package management and literate analysis tools such as Jupyter and Rmarkdown
- Experience of analysing research datasets/ databases
- Knowledge of Research, data controls & processes in this area
- Ability to manipulate and interpret data with different approaches (understanding the constraints and best approaches for the data task in hand)
- Experience of implementing privacy-enhancing technologies
- Worked in an environment adhering to GDPR
- Experience in contributing to public engagement, academic outreach and research publications
- Knowledge of federated solutions would be helpful such as i2b2, leaf, TriNetx, BCPlatfoms, OMOP etc
Other Requirements
Essential
- Ability to manage, motivate and develop staff
- Collaborative approach and good team working
- Ability to work effectively and efficiently under pressure
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Post-graduate degree or equivalent or relevant experience
- Evidence of Personal Development
Desirable
- Degree or equivalent qualification in an IT related subject
- Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Certificate
- MRC Course Certificate 'Research, GDPR and Confidentiality - what you really need to know'
- Management Qualification
Experience/Knowledge
Essential
- Extensive experience of producing research extracts from health data
- Ability to communicate a range of informatics and data science issues which can be complex and multi-stranded
- Experience of designing/ contributing to quality and governance frameworks for data science
- Experience of reproducible pipelines and shared services
- Advanced competence of Microsoft SQL Server (or equivalent)
- Experience of making datasets easily accessible and packaged for research
- Knowledge and experience of designing information reports adhering requests to optimise reporting and analysis
- Ability to make judgements on multi-stranded or complex Informatics problems which may have no precedent or where there are conflicting opinions
- Fluency in one or more modern programming languages used in research in data science and artificial intelligence
- Ability to plan and organise broad range of complex activities, formulate and adjust plans which impact beyond own area
- Working experience of where pseudonymisation/ anonymisation processes have been utilised/ set up
- Awareness and working experience of frameworks and practices surrounding research data extracts; information governance IG, data security, data transfer agreements (DTA); the Data Protection act DPA, Data regulations, NHS data dictionary standards, Data Quality checks, GDPR
- Significant experience of statistical disclosure checks on research data
- Significant experience of designing algorithms and using statistical and problem structuring methods
- Confident networker with the ability to identify new potential collaborators and progress interest in new projects
- Extensive experience of the use of observational data for research
- An understanding of data federation and different methods for secure processing of sensitive health data
- Experience working with customers to identify, understand and refine problems, scoping data science work to solve them
Desirable
- Experience working as part of a TRE/SDE/Safe Haven team
- Experience of working in NHS / academic - clinical/ health environment
- Data science/ analysis outputs in an NHS / Research / Health Data environment
- Experience of writing SOPs/templates/guidelines to domain standards
- Experience of audit (ISO, MHRA, Accreditation, etc.)
- Experience of using GitHub
- An understanding of the importance of good practices for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses, such as version control, issue tracking, automated testing, package management and literate analysis tools such as Jupyter and Rmarkdown
- Experience of analysing research datasets/ databases
- Knowledge of Research, data controls & processes in this area
- Ability to manipulate and interpret data with different approaches (understanding the constraints and best approaches for the data task in hand)
- Experience of implementing privacy-enhancing technologies
- Worked in an environment adhering to GDPR
- Experience in contributing to public engagement, academic outreach and research publications
- Knowledge of federated solutions would be helpful such as i2b2, leaf, TriNetx, BCPlatfoms, OMOP etc
Other Requirements
Essential
- Ability to manage, motivate and develop staff
- Collaborative approach and good team working
- Ability to work effectively and efficiently under pressure
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).
