Job Advert
*** COVID-19 – Please note that during this time all interviews will be conducted remotely. If successful, you will also initially be working remotely in line with the guidance from the Scottish Government***
Band 8b
£60,730 to £65,377 per annum (or pro rata)
Hours of Work: 37.5 hours per week, Full Time (We are happy to consider applicants seeking reduced working hours down to 80% / 30 hours per week)
Fixed-term until 31/03/2023
Flexible Location: NES is a remote friendly employer supporting office, remote and hybrid working. We’re happy to talk about how you want to work.
Join us in building the National Digital Platform
empowering NHS Scotland and its partners in improving Health & Care nationwide
THE NATIONAL DIGITAL PLATFORM
Information is at the heart of great health care. Our mission is to build the National Digital Platform (NDP) – the source of truth for every person in Scotland’s health data.
Designed to be both safe and secure, the NDP supports the provision of excellent care at the point of contact, increases the range and speed at which new digital services become available and accelerates opportunities for research, planning and predictive modelling.
YOUR ROLE
Currently, we are focussed on building out the components of a National Digital Platform, while continuing to deliver our successful health products – of which Eyecare is one. This is a complex task and as such the role is varied, including both:
- Enhancing and integrating the Eyecare product, leveraging platform services where appropriate, and;
- Designing and developing platform services e.g. Clinical Data Repository, API Management, Media Store, Authentication & Authorisation, Developer Tooling
Health and care is a complex domain, and that complexity is compounded when building technology in this space. In other words, there are no perfect candidates for this role and we would like to set realistic expectations for your journey at NES.
After 3 Months…
You will have more questions than answers, but you will have developed an understanding of your team’s product and architecture and will be beginning to understand the wider organisation’s work. You’ll be establishing good relationships within your team and with key colleagues across the organisation. You’ll be able to work independently on well-defined tasks.
After 6 Months…
You’ll be well integrated with the team, helping to guide the technical roadmap and engineering delivery. You’ll have identified key blockers and proposed solutions to address these and other areas helping your team initially while sharing lessons more widely across engineering.
You’re recognised by many as a subject matter expert and looking at opportunities to scale your knowledge more widely.
ABOUT YOU
You will have a keen eye for delivery and be able to make (and recommend) solutions and trade-offs which will help your teams’ overall delivery. You’ll be able to constructively suggest alternative solutions where necessary and identify root issues and opportunities to continually improve.
You enjoy developing those around you and contributing to the wider development of engineering practices and the NDP
As such we are interested in Senior Software Engineers with practical and/or theoretical experience of: -
- Leading and mentoring more junior developers
- Leading and participating in planning and prioritisation of software delivery
- Version control, CI/CD, unit testing, and test-driven development
- Cloud platforms and tools like Kubernetes to design, build and deploy functioning systems in the cloud
- Diagnosing and fixing issues in a production system
We are more interested in your core engineering experience than the tools and languages you use
Our stack includes – Java, Node, AWS, Kubernetes, Jira and Confluence. If you lack experience with aspects of our stack and are keen to develop your skills, we would still encourage you to apply. We will provide the support to help you quickly learn these.
We’d LOVE you to apply!
We recognise Software Engineers are a diverse bunch! If you feel you may be light in some areas don’t be put off – you may have strengths in other areas which could be valuable. If you’re considering applying and have any questions, please contact daniel.mccafferty2@nhs.scot and david.mccoll@nhs.scot who will be happy to assist.
It’s not essential to be in a Software Engineering role right now
You may be returning from a career break (e.g. maternity, paternity, caring for others) or returning to Software Engineering after working in another field. Your experiences elsewhere can bring a fresh perspective to our work.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Developing a truly 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 NDS, 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.
BENEFITS
As a valued employee of NHS Scotland, your benefits include…
- Life-work balance - with opportunities for flexible working, remote working, compressed and reduced hours
- 35+ Days Annual Holiday – 27 Days Annual Leave (increasing in line with service) plus 8 days public holiday
The Opportunity to Learn and Grow – including funded AWS training (and certification if you wish), frequent knowledge sharing sessions with Clinicians and experts in the healthcare field, and a strong engineering department with a diverse background to learn from - Financial Benefits
- Generous NHS pension scheme
- Extensive NHS discounts
APPLICANTS SHOULD NOTE….
- This position is offered on a Fixed Term Contract Basis until 31st March 2023
- During COVID-19, our recruitment process is 100% remote and if successful you would work remotely, only working from our offices once official guidance supports this
- For NHS employees considering this post, appointments will only be considered on a secondment or SLA basis, in the first instance
- Applicants who wish to apply on a secondment basis are strongly encouraged to discuss this with their current employer at the earliest opportunity.
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.
Closing date: 3rd February 2022
Interview date: from the14th February 2022
We actively encourage applicants from a range of backgrounds, regardless of gender, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, religion or belief. https://www.careers.nhs.scot/about/who-we-are/
If you have any queries regarding the application portal or the recruitment process, please contact us at: NES HR Recruitment: recruitment.hr@nes.scot.nhs.uk