HCAI & AMR Senior Scientist (Epidemiology)

Job description

Job responsibilities

As the Senior Scientist (Epidemiology) your main responsibilities will include:

Surveillance and Data Analysis

1. Identify surveillance needs within given lead areas, create surveillance system specifications, conduct complex statistical analyses and interpret surveillance data, making appropriate recommendations, develop automated routines and solutions and supervise / assure on the preparation, quality and delivery of routine and ad hoc surveillance reports.

2. Develop and utilise information and intelligence systems to underpin public health action, including outbreak and incident response, across disciplines and organisations, and lead collation and interpretation of relevant data to develop the most appropriate analyses from a range of sources.

3. Respond to complex or sensitive data requests including Parliamentary Questions.

Enhanced surveillance and Epidemiological Investigations

4. Where appropriate, lead and manage the technical and analytical (including data management) aspects of enhanced surveillance within the HCAI & AMR Division, e.g. write protocol of analytical studies, contribute to the data collection, develop questionnaires and train interviewers.

5. Analyse and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data and research evidence from a range of sources to make recommendations and inform decision making which may have long term impact

Statistical and software skills

6. Apply a range of common statistical tests and algorithms and translate statistical processes into automated solutions where appropriate

7. Use common statistical/database/mapping/web tools such as Stata, R, ArcGIS, Access, SQL and SharePoint in routine reports, surveillance activities and the development of solutions and undertake complex analytical and programming tasks using common and specialist software packages to support data extractions, analysis and validation

Audit, Quality and Governance

8. Advise on quality and governance issues including information security for all aspects of surveillance work, evaluating existing systems, and use to improve standards and consistency across the team.

9. Contribute to the HCAI & AMR Division quality programme such as through audit and be responsible for the quality of data collected, stored and extracted and transferred.

Research

10. Project manage research studies, analysing datasets with appropriate methodology to answer research questions, supported by the systematic review of literature and with knowledge of how to develop a grant proposal, and apply for ethical approval.

11. Present at scientific conferences, programme area meetings and other for a and publish and present scientific papers on public health surveillance, respiratory viruses and infectious disease control in collaboration with health, public health, academic and other partners.

Management / workforce / HR

12. Effectively manage others and yourself: lead, supervise and motivate team members; effectively appraise, manage performance, and address HR/disciplinary issues for staff line managed; be recruiting manager for posts, update JDs, be responsible for managing own workload, including developing objectives and reviewing progress against these.

Teaching / Training

13. Contribute to teaching/training programmes and activities (including to the development of teaching material and courses) on surveillance, epidemiology information science, data management, information governance and quality and support ongoing training activities within the team and Division.

Strategic thinking

14. Build and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders and partners, actively engage in meetings with internal and external colleagues, identify potential problems and seek to resolve and undertake a lead role for a specific topic or function area, as requested by the Section Lead/Lead Epidemiologist.

Project management

15. Coordinate and lead projects such as the implementation of new systems and processes

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may benecessary.

Selection process details

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION & SIFT:

You will be required to complete an application form. This will be assessed in line with the advertised essential criteria please do provide evidence of how you meet this.

Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 1000 words and outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria (outlined in the person specification 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.

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

STAGE 2 INTERVIEW

This competition will involve an interview by video.

As part of the process, candidates will be invited to interview which will involve an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification. You will be asked to complete a short R code interpretation test during your interview (slides will be provided on the day)

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on 5th April 2023 unfortunately, late applications will not be considered. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Shortlist: 12th April 2023

Interviews: w/c 17th and 24th April 2023

Please note these dates could be subject to change.

Eligibility Criteria

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

Nationality requirements

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.

Security clearance level requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard. People working with government assets must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard checks.

For posts on UKHSA Civil Service terms and conditions, new entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. For existing Civil Servants and roles advertised across government, the rules of transfer apply, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive a 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Please note

This role is to be appointed under Civil Service Terms & Conditions. Full details on the T&Cs are found https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

Are you already a civil servant, or employed by a Civil Service Commission accredited public body? Please state home department on your application form.

Do you meet the nationality requirements for this post? https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

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:Complaints1@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.

Please use the Application Link in the Supporting Information to submit your application or you will be contacted with a link to submit a full application / provide your statement of suitabilityonce this advert campaign has closed, you will have 24 hours to complete. Only full applications received in this way will be considered.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• -Educated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in specialist area (in the maintenance, analysis of data)
• -MSc in Epidemiology, public health or allied discipline or equivalent level of experience/education

Desirable

• -PhD or equivalent experience in public health, epidemiology, health-care research or similar

Experience

Essential

• -Completion of the Field Epidemiology Training Programme or equivalent training and experience
• -Knowledge of principles and practice of surveillance, including data management, data transmission, data security, data quality, data analysis including descriptive statistics and graphics and data reporting
• -Experience of interpreting and evaluating epidemiological data, sensitive health data analyses
• -Demonstrable experience of public health, health protection or epidemiology including experience of complex and/or sensitive health data analyses
• -Knowledge and experience of common statistical tests, modelling and analyses and interpret results appropriately, including for surveillance and research purposes
• -Experience of using epidemiological and statistical software packages
• -Knowledge of health and social care environment, and roles and responsibilities within it including information flows in the NHS and allied services
• -Understand of information governance including data protection and confidentiality requirements
• -Excellent oral and written communication skills with proven presentation and scientific report writing skills
• -Proficient in common statistical/database/mapping tools such as STATA, R, GIS, network analysis, SQL, etc.
• -Able to build and maintain effective relationships with co-workers and key stakeholders
• -Able to work under own initiative, respond to sudden unexpected demands whilst maintaining a professional calm and efficient manner

Desirable

• -Experience of teaching epidemiology and/or surveillance
• -Experience of research activities with one or more first author publications in peer reviewed journals
• -Experience of effective line management

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

Health Protection Agency

61 Colindale Avenue

London

NW9 5HT

Employer's website

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