Job Advert
Flexible Location: Based throughout Scotland, NES is a remote friendly employer supporting office and hybrid working. We’re happy to talk about how you want to work.
Work Pattern: Fixed Term, Fixed Term, Full time, 37 hours hours per week
Fixed-term or Secondment Until March 2026
**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 Planning, Performance & Transformation Directorate provides a range of key functions to support the overall effectiveness of NES such as:
- Leading on the development of NES Corporate Strategy, corporate planning and performance, governance responsibilities including direct support to the Chair and Chief Executive.
- Developing and implementing communication and engagement strategies and plans to promote and increase understanding of and engagement in our work and the impact of the organisation.
- Leading the development and delivery of NES’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy and developing education and training for the wider health and social care workforce on equality, diversity and human rights.
The Opportunity
This is an exciting opportunity to help increase the human rights knowledge and understanding in the health and social care workforce. We are looking for an enthusiastic and self-motivated individual to join our dynamic team to build the capacity in the workforce to deliver rights-based quality health and care for people in Scotland. This will require building effective relationships with NHS Boards and the social care sector to understand learning needs and to develop and deliver learning products that will engage, motivate and support the workforce on human rights, specifically the rights and principles contained in international human rights treaties.
Working as a Specialist Lead within the NES Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Team, you will have the opportunity to work across the organisation and with other key partners. Identifying opportunities to embed human rights into learning and education and develop digital products will be important aspects in this project.
Do you enjoy working at pace and being creative and adaptive within the ever-changing environment of Health and Social Care?
Do you want to play a key role in making a difference to people’s lives by increasing the capability of the workforce on human rights?
Do you enjoy collaborating with a range of partners at all levels, communicating a shared vision and sense of purpose?
Working within the Equality, Diversity and Human Rights team at NES you will be able to bring your unique skills and experience to help drive meaningful change. As part of the team, you'll collaborate with a wide range of colleagues and stakeholders across multiple sectors, working together to advance equality, uphold human rights, and make a real difference to people’s lives across Scotland.
Does this sound like you?
What We Love to See
Specialist Leads offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we’d love you to apply:
- A confident influencer and negotiator, able to quickly establish trust and credibility with a wide range of stakeholders.
- Strong knowledge of international, UK, and Scottish legislative and policy frameworks relating to human rights.
- The ability to foster a proactive culture of everyday accountability in the context of human rights.
- A proven track record in supporting meaningful participation and empowerment of individuals and communities.
- Experience in designing and delivering engaging digital learning sessions to diverse audiences at both local and national levels.
- An understanding of group dynamics and the processes involved in organisational change.
- 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 specialist lead role 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 Katy Hetherington, Principal Lead, Katy.Hetherington@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 presentation) will take place on 16th June 2025.
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