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, Full-time, 37 hours per week
Fixed-term or Secondment** until 31 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.
NES Technology Service (NTS) has created a strategic programme for the transformation of digital based services to allow NES to become a leading digital organisation in Scottish Health, digital by default and fully aligned with the Scottish Government’s technology strategies.
It is in pursuit of this aim that NTS are working with partners to develop digital-first solutions that utilise a National Digital Platform.
The The National Digital Platform is an open, standards-based platform, supporting technology and data for the health and social care environment. It underpins our commitment to making health and care information and services more accessible. The NDP is designed to be used by services and providers across the NHS in Scotland.
NTS also develop several products that actively using the NDP to provide a safer and more efficient service for our health and social care users.
Our Technology
We are in the business of providing safe, secure and innovative technology products and services that aim to improve outcomes across education, training, workforce, health and care in the public sector in Scotland. Using modern cloud-based technology we deliver sustainable products and services for the future.
The Opportunity
To deliver the NES Strategy 2023-2026 and assist in delivering against the Scottish Government Digital Health and Care Strategy and Data Strategy, NTS is seeking a skilled and motivated Software Engineer to help develop new and existing digital solutions for the Health and Social Care sectors within Scotland.
Do you enjoy working and collaborating as part of a highly skilled multi-disciplinary agile team?
Do you enjoy problem-solving and being adaptive to an ever-changing yet rewarding environment?
Do you want to play a key role in the development and maintenance of high quality, scalable web solutions, developed for a broad range of users across Scotland?
Do you have a passion for development best practices in areas such as cloud architecture, web application system design, security and debugging?
The future of health in Scotland requires new and innovative ways of delivering care and working with people’s data, and technology is one big piece of the puzzle on our journey to better healthcare for all.
In supporting the delivery of the NES strategy, you will have the opportunity to do work which has great societal benefit. Your work will directly influence the development of impactful technology services for health and care professionals and the general public.
Does this sound like you?
What We Love to See
Software Engineers offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we’d love you to apply:
- Ability to facilitate development of complex software and contribute to the technical direction of a project
- An understanding of agile software development practices
- Ability to collaboratively design, code, test, and document software using modern industry standards and tools
- Experience in cloud provider technologies (e.g. from AWS/Azure), serverless solutions and continuous deployment best practices
- Experience in maintenance and querying database technologies, either relational (e.g. SQL Server, MySQL) or non-relational (e.g. DynamoDB)
- Ability to comprehend and extract meaning from large datasets and the relationships between them
- Effective communication skills, knowing how to make complex technical information and language simple for diverse senior internal and external stakeholders (both verbally and in writing)
- Ability to work on own initiative, to organise and prioritise own workload and that of your team, and to meet strict deadlines
- Mentoring and/or coaching experience
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 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 working as a Software Engineer right now. You may be returning from a career break (e.g. maternity, paternity, caring for others) or returning to delivery management 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 Fraser Lennon, Senior Software Engineer, fraser.lennon@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 and/or practical exercise) will take place between 27 and 30 August 2024.The presentation and/or exercise topic will be sent to candidates selected for interview in advance.
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