Head of Infectious Disease Modelling

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key responsibilities include

• Provide leadership for a team of 15-20 highly technical and multi-disciplinary analysts and data scientists to develop and deliver a range of analysis and data products on health security and public health threats in the UK.
• Ability to design and provide leadership of complex modelling solutions that include Bayesian analysis, deep learning, and spatial modelling.
• Oversee the development of a comprehensive modelling analytical programme, ensuring key customer demands are understood, prioritised and resourced appropriately.
• Deliver analytical outputs (such as statistical analysis and mathematical modelling) to key stakeholders, often working to tight timescales and whilst managing competing demands.
• Communicate and clearly present key insights, up to the most senior levels, from a variety of analytical sources.
• Engage with partners in wider government, academia, and the private sector to gain access to new data sources and information.
• Building and sustaining key partnerships, within UKHSA, nationally and internationally, including the establishment of analytical collaborations.
• Assist communicable disease control, health protection and public health colleagues across the UK during major health protection incidents.
• Supporting the Division and Directorate on responses to Parliamentary Questions and FOI requests.
• Developing the analytical capability across the Division and wider Directorate.
• Supporting wider corporate transformation as a member of the senior leadership team.

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.

Essential Criteria:

• Proven assessment and analytical skills (in a government public health policy context) and ensuring analytical outputs (including complex data and analysis) are policy suitable and have clear so what implications for decision-making.
• Experienced manager and leader of a large team, demonstrating competencies expected at Grade 6 level. This includes inspiring and motivating staff, promoting diversity, building capability, innovation and managing conflicting pressures.
• Experience of building and validating complex Bayesian numerical mathematical/statistical models.
• Proficiency coding in Stan.
• Proficiency coding in R.
• Experience in creating and maintaining cloud-based analysis platforms, with a preference for AWS (Amazon Web Services).
• Expertise in implementing best practice security solutions on cloud-based analysis platforms.
• Experience of leading and designing modelling projects in public health, health protection or epidemiology, including epidemiology for outbreak investigations.
• Experience of working at pace with short deadlines across multiple projects, being flexible and adaptable to change.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working with a wide range of epidemiological data, such as genomic sequences, spatial distributions, and healthcare data.
• PhD (or equivalent experience) in a quantitative discipline.
• Experience in publishing of research papers in academic journals.
• Experience in spatial modelling and/or network analysis.
• Experience in SQL and processing large datasets.
• Experience in coding bespoke statistical models in probabilistic programming languages.
• Knowledge of data management, data transmission, data security, data quality, data analysis including descriptive statistics and data reporting.
• DV clearance or willingness to undergo the vetting process to obtain DV clearance

Qualifications required:

• You will need, as a minimum to meet one of the following qualification standards:
• A generic qualification in a field with relevant quantitative or qualitative analysis competencies, or a specialist qualification in subjects such as:
• Epidemiology: as an MSc or a significant proportion of your degree.
• Economist: A degree at 2.1 (or above) or an MSc in Economics and be able to demonstrate substantial current experience in your career as a professional economist.
• Statistician: A degree at 2.1 (or above) or an MSc in a subject with substantial statistical content, or equivalent experience, and be able to demonstrate relevant experience in your career as a professional statistician.
• Operational Research: A degree at 2.1 (or above) or an MSc in a highly numerate discipline, or equivalent experience, and be able to demonstrate relevant experience in your career in the relevant profession.
• Social Research: A degree at 2.1 (or above) in a relevant social science discipline or a MSc/MA and will need to have completed the social research knowledge test.
• Or equivalent professional experience.

Selection Process

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your behaviours and technical skills. We will be assessing your statement of suitability at sift.

The interview process will involve a staff engagement exercise where you will be asked to present on a technical analytical project you have led to a group of analysts from across UKHSA. This will be followed by an interview, where we will assess the behaviours: Leadership, Seeing the bigger picture, Communicating and Influencing and Working Together.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a statement of suitability of at most 1000 words which should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role. You should make particular reference to how you align to the main duties section.

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 the sifting process and will be scored.

All applicants that progress to interview will be assessed on behaviours, strengths and technical skills through Success Profiles.

The interview will comprise of two elements. A staff engagement exercise where you will be asked to present on a technical analytical project you have led to a group of analysts from across UKHSA. This will be followed by an interview, where we will assess behaviours.

When assessing strengths, we want to find out whether you and the job role are a good fit. We will look at what you enjoy doing and what you do well and often. By ensuring that the role is the right fit for you, you are more likely to enjoy it and perform well.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Seeing the bigger picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £65,302 UK Health Security Agency contributes £17,631 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

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must completebasic personnel security standardchecks.

Successful candidates mus meet the security requirements before they can be appointed.

Some roles advertised may require Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). It is therefore preferable but not essential for candidates to hold Security Check or Developed Vetting already or be willing to gain it while in post if necessary. Please indicate your level of clearance on your application.

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

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• oProven assessment and analytical skills (in a government public health policy context) and ensuring analytical outputs (including complex data and analysis) are policy suitable and have clear 'so what' implications for decision-making.

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

Hybrid

Hybrid

NW9 5EQ

Employer's website

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