Job Advert
On 1 April 2026, NSS and NES became one national organisation, focused on continuity today and a stronger, more connected service for tomorrow.
As part of this transformation, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) have joined to form a new organisation: Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland). This new organisation will play a pivotal role in supporting the renewal and ensuring the long-term sustainability of health and care services across Scotland.
Flexible Location: PSD Scotland is a remote friendly employer although the base for this post will be in Edinburgh or Glasgow. The post will require the successful applicant to attend regular meetings in either city. The post also requires travel throughout Scotland and occasionally to other UK countries.
Work Pattern: Fixed Term, Part Time, up to 36 hours per week (minimum of 18 hours per week)
Fixed-term or Secondment** 23 months 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
PSD Scotland unites expertise from NES and NSS in a way that will allow us to accelerate national programmes to support the NHS to deliver better care, now and in the future.
We support staff with education and training, provide the tools and data that improve services, and run vital national functions such as procurement, logistics and blood, tissue and cell services.
The PSD Scotland Psychology Directorate has two major areas of responsibility:
Training of psychologists for NHS Scotland
Upskilling the existing multi-professional workforce in psychological care and practice
PSD Scotland 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, Scottish Social Services Council, Higher Education Institutes) 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 PSD Scotland educational strategy to support increased availability of psychological interventions and therapies. PSD Scotland 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
This is an exciting opportunity to join the Psychology Directorate in PSD Scotland. We are seeking experienced and highly motivated practitioners to deliver a portfolio of national educational initiatives in psychological therapies and interventions primarily for an adult population. Portfolios are likely to include (but not be limited to) contributing to the delivery of programmes of education and training for instance focussed on adult mental health (anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorders & suicide prevention), substance use services, older adults & forensic services, as well as delivery of the Enhanced Psychological Practice Programme (EPP-A) to Psychological Intervention Assistants learners.
Do you want to contribute to the agenda for increasing capacity for the delivery of psychological therapies and interventions in NHS Scotland?
Do you bring experience, innovation and high levels of motivation?
Do you bring high levels of expertise in providing evidence based psychological therapies and/or interventions in a health or social care setting?
Do you have experience of delivering education and training in this context?
Does this sound like you?
What We Love to See
Principal Educators offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we’d love you to apply:
Qualified to a minimum of masters level and experienced in delivering psychological therapies and interventions to specialist practice type;
Experience and expertise in the delivery of evidence based psychological therapies and interventions;
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 means considering the diverse needs, perspectives, and backgrounds of everyone in Scotland. We are focused on hiring the very best talent and actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. Our aim to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, with respect, and has a positive recruitment experience—regardless of the outcome.
We welcome applications from all under-represented groups, including racially minoritised people and disabled people. It is not essential to be in Principal Educator role right now—you may be returning from a career break (e.g., maternity, paternity, caring) or coming from another field. Your experiences can bring a fresh perspective to our work.
If you are considering applying and would like to discuss the opportunity, any adjustments or alternative work patterns, please contact Anne Joice, Head of Programme, (Anne.Joice@nhs.scot), or Laura Freeman, Head of Programme, (Laura.Freeman@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.
All applicants who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail.
In person OR online interviews (including a presentation) will take place on 15th and 16th July 2026. 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.
Please be advised that if you are successful in being offered the role following the recruitment process, you will be expected to attend the office prior to your start date to complete face-to-face pre-employment checks. If you require any adjustments to support this, please let us know.
To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service.
As part of the pre-employment checks for a preferred candidate, NHS Scotland Boards will check your entitlement to work in the UK. It can be evidenced through a number of routes including specific types of visa as well as EU settled and pre-settled status. To find out more about these routes of permission, please refer to the GOV.UK website here.
For specific types of post, if you do not have the necessary eligibility to work in the UK, it might be possible (though not guaranteed) to secure sponsorship via a UK Skilled Worker/Health & Care Worker Visa. However, this is only possible if the employer is a licenced Sponsor, and if the post does not fall below the current minimum salary threshold or ‘going rate’. Further information on these criteria can be found here.
It is ESSENTIAL that you have checked that you either already have an appropriate right to work in the UK or that the post would be eligible to be sponsored BEFORE submitting your application form.
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