Job Advert
Location: Glasgow or Edinburgh
Office attendance is a requirement of this role - frequency is informed by business need.
Work Pattern: Fixed Term, Full Time, 37 hours per week
Fixed-term or Secondment** to 31st March 2026 in the first instance
**For NHS applicants, an NHS secondment will be offered in the first instance. For non-NHS applicants, a fixed-term or secondment would be considered.
You must have eligibility and entitlement to work in the UK which is required to be maintained throughout your period of employment.
Who We Are
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is the national health board with statutory responsibilities to effect sustainable change through workforce development, education and training across the health and social care system in Scotland, while working at UK level with partner organisations.
The NES Psychology Directorate has two major areas of responsibility:
- Training of psychologists for NHS Scotland
- Upskilling the existing multi-professional workforce in psychological care
NES has responsibility for commissioning pre-registration training for clinical and applied psychology for NHSScotland. Through partnership working with NHS Boards and Universities, we have been involved in ensuring training pathways reflect changing service needs. The Directorate has developed relationships with a wide range of other stakeholders in Scotland (e.g. Scottish Government, QAA) and across the UK (e.g. Department of Health, professional and regulatory bodies) to take forward its modernisation agenda for this professional group.
The directorate has a leading role in developing NES educational strategy to support increased availability of psychological interventions and therapies. NES has been directed to work in partnership with Scottish Government, the Scottish Social Services Council, NHS Boards and other key stakeholders to increase the capacity within the current workforce to deliver evidence based psychological interventions.
The Opportunity
We are looking for a Business Manager to join our talented team to play a key role in delivering the operational and business management function across the Directorate, supporting a team of business and administrative staff to work proactively and help the Directorate achieve its key aims.
Do you enjoy making a tangible difference, influencing improved ways of working, and sharing and implementing innovative ideas?
Do you enjoy working at pace and being adaptive to an ever changing environment?
Do you problem solving, identifying solutions and following through to an end result, as well as empowering teams to do the same?
Do you enjoy engaging with stakeholders, building strong relationships and contributing towards a shared vision for the future in order to support positive change?
Do you have strong leadership skills, continuously supporting and empowering your team to deliver results?
Working within the Psychology Directorate, you will have the opportunity to bring your unique skills and experience to the table, both working autonomously and collaborating across multiple workstreams, and proactively working to manage change and improvement across a number of key projects and programmes.
Does this sound like you?
What We Love to See
Business Managers offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we’d love you to apply:
- Track record in a business or operational management role, evidencing applied examples of practice;
- Experience in weighing up complex and often conflicting information, resulting in confidence in making professional judgements;
- Experience of delivering outcomes in a context of change and growth;
- Ability to work on your own initiative, prioritising your own and others’ workloads to meet strict and competing deadlines;
- Experienced in working across complex environments with multiple stakeholders, with a track record of collaborating and influencing at all levels;
- Ability to use influencing skills to ensure that agreed policies, standards and processes are applied consistently across the Directorate – can keep abreast of emerging corporate guidance and manage the flow of information appropriately;
- Demonstrate honesty, integrity, care and compassion when dealing with others, utilising tact and persuasion skills when necessary
- Ability to work on own initiative, to organise and prioritise own workloads, to meet strict deadlines
Benefits Which Matter
As a valued employee of NHS Scotland, you can enjoy an extensive range of benefits including:
- Life-work balance - with opportunities for flexible working and hybrid working
- Generous NHS pension scheme
- Annual incremental salary progression (up to the maximum of the salary band) plus annual NHS salary scale review
- Annual Leave - 27 Days increasing in line with service plus 8 days public holiday
- NHS discounts and more
Diversity and Inclusion
Developing a successful national service for Scotland is impossible without ensuring we consider the diverse needs, perspectives and backgrounds of everyone in Scotland in our work.
We are focused on hiring the very best talent available for NES, and actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and aim to ensure everyone is treated fairly, with respect and has a positive recruitment experience – regardless of the outcome.
It’s not essential to be in a Business Managerrole right now. You may be returning from a career break (e.g. maternity, paternity, caring for others) or returning after working in another field. Your experiences elsewhere can bring a fresh perspective to our work.
If you are considering applying and feel it would be helpful to discuss this initially, please contact Nicola Armstrong, nicola.armstrong@nhs.scot
Next Steps
**NHS candidates will be considered firstly on a secondment basis, and so are strongly encouraged to discuss this with their current NHS employer at the earliest opportunity, ideally prior to application.
Our recruitment process is currently 100% remote and if successful you would initially work remotely, working from our offices as operationally required.
All applicants who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail.
Online interviews (including a short presentation) will take place – Date to be confirmed. The presentation topic will be sent to candidates selected for interview.
For further information please refer to the Job Information Pack below.
Unless otherwise stated the deadline for applications is 23:59 hours on the closing date. Please note, CVs will not be accepted.
If you have any queries regarding the NHS Scotland National Recruitment Portal or the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to contact our recruitment partners, the East Region Recruitment Service, at: EoS.ERRS@nhs.scot