Scrum Master

UK Health Security Agency

Information:

This job is now closed

Job summary

Job title - Scrum Master

Profession- Digital Data & Technology

Directorate - Data Operations

Full Time equivalent - 37.5 hours

No of Roles - 1

Contract Type - Permanent

Location - Home Working

UKHSA offers hybrid working or home working for its employees - this means that whilst the role will be based in one of our UKHSA offices, there will be opportunities for an element of working from home. The balance between home and workplace working is to be agreed with the line manager, determined primarily by business need and in line with departmental policy. Some business travel will be required to other UKHSA offices.Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas. Relocation expenses are not available

Working Pattern - Full Time / Part Time / Job Share / Flexible Working / Hybrid Working

Grade & Salary - Grade 7. National banding - £49,592 - £58,769 per annum. Outer London -£51,494- £60,528 per annum. Inner London - £53,396 - £62,286 per annum.

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.

The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Main duties of the job

COVID-19 has reinforced the impact that threats to health can have on society and the economy and driven health security as a critical component of our national security architecture. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a system leader for health security; taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.

UKHSA's remit, as an agency with a global-to-local reach, is to protect the health of the nation from infectious diseases and other external threats to health. As the nation's expert national health security agency UKHSA will:

  1. Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation's readiness, defences and health security
  2. Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
  3. Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
  4. Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
  5. Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats,

About us

UKHSA will build on the legacy of the COVID-19 response to ensure resilient and scalable infrastructure to secure the UK in the strongest position to protect the public from future threats to health.

UKHSA mission is challenging, innovative and in the spotlight. To achieve our objectives effectively and fairly, we commit to representing modern Britain and all its diversity. UKHSA recognises that diversity of background and life experience brings different insights, creates challenge and encourages change and innovation. This in turn produces more accountable and trusted public services and better decisions; better because they are more attuned to the needs and interests of all our communities. Differences of thought and outlook are not only respected but expected. We want all our employees to feel that they can be themselves at work and that they are valued.

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.

Date posted

04 August 2023

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£49,592 to £58,769 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working, Home or remote working

Reference number

UKHSA00175

Job locations

Colindale

London

NW95EQ


Job description

Job responsibilities

You will have the ability to drive change and overcome obstacles and resistance. You will be constructive and collaborative but with the ability to step in and take decisions in a timely manner to move the team forward.

You will have excellent people management skills, able to engage and lead, with a passion for stretching and improving both teams and processes.

Communication and key working relationships

Internal

  • Product Owners
  • Delivery Leads
  • Scrum masters
  • Architect/solution leads

External

  • Business Partners
  • UKHSA leadership team
  • Analytics and Reporting
  • Central delivery team
  • Surveillance and Covid Testing teams
  • ONS

You will work in the Data Engineering and Enablement Division that reports into the Data Operations Directorate and you will report into the Head of Engineering Enablement and Product. Its an exciting time to join as we seek to create leading Health Protection data capabilities that enable data scientists and data analysts to develop insights that inform public health decisions with resilience platforms and curated data assets.

The core activities of Engineering and Enablement include the ingestion of data sources, building data pipelines, curated data views and data capabilities fused from data, models and software that enable the exploitation of data by analysts, data scientists and MI teams.

The role requires the facilitation of multi-disciplinary teams to develop a wide range of data assets, building acquisition, orchestration, data pipelines and curated data marts and data egresses. We are seeking to mature our advanced capabilities with standardised practices, machine learning and agility needed to pro-active detect and respond to new public health issues.

You will be responsible for the enablement and empowerment of squads to self-organise, self-manage and deliver in an agile way of working. You will ensure that the teams you work with are functioning smoothly and deals with any blockers and issues that come up. Takes responsibility for making sure the teams work is well run and well documented. Responsible for the execution of a teams roadmap, highlighting any risks to delivery.

You will be involved in the delivery lifecycle facilitating teams to business partner with stakeholders on new initiatives, to analyse use cases, develop optimal designs that where possible re-use and extend capabilities, and implement and operate the design. Our teams work collaboratively in an agile multi-disciplinary team mode and we are looking for a Scrum Master to optimize team/squad delivery performance and support the development of our engineering community of practice to share knowledge, enhance our standards and processes to provide a strong foundation to develop individuals, teams and innovation.

Essential Criteria

  • At least 5 years of working experience as a Scrum Master in fast-moving environments
  • In-depth experience facilitating agile ceremonies and mentoring teams/individuals on agile values, design thinking, customer value, product management, etc.
  • Strong experience in driving agile transformations from design to implementation
  • Working knowledge and experience with several Agile methodologies SCRUM, XP, Kanban, SAFe and fluid.
  • Working knowledge of best practices in user-cantered design like user research, hypothesis-driven development, prototyping, usability testing
  • Demonstrable knowledge of agile and lean practices.
  • Excellent client-facing and internal communication skills.
  • Understanding of product delivery and of all the issues that can arise.

Desirable Criteria

  • Experience of working with JIRA (or Azure DevOps or similar tools) within an Agile/Scrum environment
  • Experience/understanding of software and data lifecycle management
  • Educated to degree level (not essential, experience is key). Relevant numerate, technical or computer science discipline would be an advantage
  • Knowledge of data management platforms and development with SQLServer
  • Analytical skill set with an ability to understand data requirements and support the development of data solutions

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.

Selection Process

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths

This part of the selection process should outline how you consider your skills, experience and achievements, and provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria outlined.

You will also be asked to provide information within the Employer/ Activity history section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history. This will be used in sifting process and will be scored.

Stage 1: Application & SiftAs part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Statement of Suitability in no more than 750 words regarding the following behaviours:

  • Changing and Improving
  • Working Together
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Delivering At Pace
  • Managing a quality Service

providing examples of how you meet the essential criteria. It should also detail what you and your experience can bring to the role. We suggest using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method to demonstrate real-life examples for the specified essential criteria. Please note, only information provided within the stated word count will be considered.

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

Stage 2: Panel Interview

All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will undertake a single video interview AND a presentation

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

  • Changing and Improving
  • Working Together
  • Communicating and influencing
  • Delivering at Pace
  • Managing a quality service

Benefits

  • Alongside your salary of £49,592, UK Health Security Agency contributes £13,390 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
  • A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
  • Learning and development tailored to your role
  • An environment with flexible working options
  • A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
  • Range of health and wellbeing support

Any move to UKHSA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

Reserve List:

Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post will be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be contacted if similar roles become available.

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.

DBS - People working with government systems must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which includes a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed for this role is BPSS however there may be a requirement for this role to be SC cleared and you should familiarise yourself with the criteria of security clearance.

This role is Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants. Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rulesThis job is broadly open to the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
  • Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
  • Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

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.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

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

Government baseline personnel security standard

Its important to note that there are currently exceptions to applications being considered if your conviction relates to any of the following:

  • life sentences
  • arson
  • sexual offences
  • hate and terror offences

Some departments will also consider the specific offence against the nature of the business, i.e., a conviction for fraud may rule you out for a finance role

Contact Details Sophie.Rigney@reed.com

Job description

Job responsibilities

You will have the ability to drive change and overcome obstacles and resistance. You will be constructive and collaborative but with the ability to step in and take decisions in a timely manner to move the team forward.

You will have excellent people management skills, able to engage and lead, with a passion for stretching and improving both teams and processes.

Communication and key working relationships

Internal

  • Product Owners
  • Delivery Leads
  • Scrum masters
  • Architect/solution leads

External

  • Business Partners
  • UKHSA leadership team
  • Analytics and Reporting
  • Central delivery team
  • Surveillance and Covid Testing teams
  • ONS

You will work in the Data Engineering and Enablement Division that reports into the Data Operations Directorate and you will report into the Head of Engineering Enablement and Product. Its an exciting time to join as we seek to create leading Health Protection data capabilities that enable data scientists and data analysts to develop insights that inform public health decisions with resilience platforms and curated data assets.

The core activities of Engineering and Enablement include the ingestion of data sources, building data pipelines, curated data views and data capabilities fused from data, models and software that enable the exploitation of data by analysts, data scientists and MI teams.

The role requires the facilitation of multi-disciplinary teams to develop a wide range of data assets, building acquisition, orchestration, data pipelines and curated data marts and data egresses. We are seeking to mature our advanced capabilities with standardised practices, machine learning and agility needed to pro-active detect and respond to new public health issues.

You will be responsible for the enablement and empowerment of squads to self-organise, self-manage and deliver in an agile way of working. You will ensure that the teams you work with are functioning smoothly and deals with any blockers and issues that come up. Takes responsibility for making sure the teams work is well run and well documented. Responsible for the execution of a teams roadmap, highlighting any risks to delivery.

You will be involved in the delivery lifecycle facilitating teams to business partner with stakeholders on new initiatives, to analyse use cases, develop optimal designs that where possible re-use and extend capabilities, and implement and operate the design. Our teams work collaboratively in an agile multi-disciplinary team mode and we are looking for a Scrum Master to optimize team/squad delivery performance and support the development of our engineering community of practice to share knowledge, enhance our standards and processes to provide a strong foundation to develop individuals, teams and innovation.

Essential Criteria

  • At least 5 years of working experience as a Scrum Master in fast-moving environments
  • In-depth experience facilitating agile ceremonies and mentoring teams/individuals on agile values, design thinking, customer value, product management, etc.
  • Strong experience in driving agile transformations from design to implementation
  • Working knowledge and experience with several Agile methodologies SCRUM, XP, Kanban, SAFe and fluid.
  • Working knowledge of best practices in user-cantered design like user research, hypothesis-driven development, prototyping, usability testing
  • Demonstrable knowledge of agile and lean practices.
  • Excellent client-facing and internal communication skills.
  • Understanding of product delivery and of all the issues that can arise.

Desirable Criteria

  • Experience of working with JIRA (or Azure DevOps or similar tools) within an Agile/Scrum environment
  • Experience/understanding of software and data lifecycle management
  • Educated to degree level (not essential, experience is key). Relevant numerate, technical or computer science discipline would be an advantage
  • Knowledge of data management platforms and development with SQLServer
  • Analytical skill set with an ability to understand data requirements and support the development of data solutions

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.

Selection Process

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths

This part of the selection process should outline how you consider your skills, experience and achievements, and provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria outlined.

You will also be asked to provide information within the Employer/ Activity history section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history. This will be used in sifting process and will be scored.

Stage 1: Application & SiftAs part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Statement of Suitability in no more than 750 words regarding the following behaviours:

  • Changing and Improving
  • Working Together
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Delivering At Pace
  • Managing a quality Service

providing examples of how you meet the essential criteria. It should also detail what you and your experience can bring to the role. We suggest using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method to demonstrate real-life examples for the specified essential criteria. Please note, only information provided within the stated word count will be considered.

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

Stage 2: Panel Interview

All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will undertake a single video interview AND a presentation

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

  • Changing and Improving
  • Working Together
  • Communicating and influencing
  • Delivering at Pace
  • Managing a quality service

Benefits

  • Alongside your salary of £49,592, UK Health Security Agency contributes £13,390 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
  • A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
  • Learning and development tailored to your role
  • An environment with flexible working options
  • A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
  • Range of health and wellbeing support

Any move to UKHSA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

Reserve List:

Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post will be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be contacted if similar roles become available.

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.

DBS - People working with government systems must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which includes a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed for this role is BPSS however there may be a requirement for this role to be SC cleared and you should familiarise yourself with the criteria of security clearance.

This role is Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants. Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rulesThis job is broadly open to the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
  • Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
  • Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

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.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

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

Government baseline personnel security standard

Its important to note that there are currently exceptions to applications being considered if your conviction relates to any of the following:

  • life sentences
  • arson
  • sexual offences
  • hate and terror offences

Some departments will also consider the specific offence against the nature of the business, i.e., a conviction for fraud may rule you out for a finance role

Contact Details Sophie.Rigney@reed.com

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • oAt least 5 years of working experience as a Scrum Master in fast-moving environments
Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • oAt least 5 years of working experience as a Scrum Master in fast-moving environments

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Employer details

Employer name

UK Health Security Agency

Address

Colindale

London

NW95EQ


Employer's website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

UK Health Security Agency

Address

Colindale

London

NW95EQ


Employer's website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency (Opens in a new tab)

For questions about the job, contact:

lead recruiter

sophie rigney

sophie.rigney@reed.com

Date posted

04 August 2023

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£49,592 to £58,769 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working, Home or remote working

Reference number

UKHSA00175

Job locations

Colindale

London

NW95EQ


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

UK Health Security Agency's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)