Birmingham Job Summary Field Services Division The Field Services Division was established to provide a national comprehensive service which is geographically dispersed and integrates epidemiological, microbiological, data science and other public health capacity and skills to consistently deliver high-quality disease surveillance, public health intelligence and outbreak response. Field Services provides an effector arm for UKHSA, supporting the translation of evidence into practice as well as having a role in strengthening disease surveillance and outbreak response through closer links with the NHS and other partners. It also maintains valuable links to academic centres to support the advancement of the evidence base for health protection and provides effective leadership and coordination of the UKHSA field epidemiology training function. The Real-Time Syndromic Surveillance Team The UKHSA national Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team is part of the Field Services and comprised of consultant epidemiologists, senior scientists, a statistician, information analysts, administrative support and trainees. The team is responsible for leading, developing and delivering a national real-time syndromic surveillance service (systems currently composing GP in and out of hours, emergency departments, ambulance and NHS 111). The aims of the service are to provide: early warning of infectious and non-infectious incidents; to provide situational awareness in the event of an incident; and reassurance of lack of public health impacts as appropriate in the event of a mass gathering. Working for your organisation We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all. Job Description The Senior Statistician post is based within the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and contributes to priorities identified through business as usual syndromic surveillance activities and as part of Field Services incident response and collaborating with other internal and external partners. This will include developing and maintaining statistical exceedance systems for the national real-time syndromic surveillance programme, evaluations, epidemiological science projects and research activities. The post holder will • Lead on the statistical aspects of the design, management and analysis of syndromic and epidemiological data. • Be expected to write analysis plans, perform complex analyses in packages such as R or Stata, and write reports for UKHSA groups, cross-Government committees and manuscripts for publication in peer reviewed journals. • Work with minimal supervision • Be expected to contribute to statistical training of epidemiology staff within Field Services and contribute to the statistical support of wider divisional activities. • Be expected to present findings at national and international conferences and meetings. You will have an excellent numerical background, be a good team player with good written and oral communication skills. You should have some statistical programming experience. Awareness of modelling infectious disease processes would be an advantage. This post may require regular travel within the geographical area of responsibility and travel elsewhere/nationally. Main Duties And Responsibilities Will Include: • Writing statistical analysis plans, extracting and organising data, and devising, using programmes to perform more complex analyses. • To write clear and concise reports for key deliverables. • To lead and contribute to grant applications and peer reviewed publications relevant to the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and of general statistical interest. • To present findings to internal and external audiences. • To supervise non-statisticians on data analysis as required and contribute to teaching and training as required for the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and Field Services Division. • To contribute to the development and implementation of statistical and computing facilities relevant to the work of the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and Division and the project through developing and writing statistical tools and programs. • To develop expertise in statistical methodologies relevant to the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and to research relevant non-statistical areas such as laboratory methods, immunology and epidemiology. • Maintain an awareness of new methodological developments relevant to the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team. • To provide statistical reviews for scientific and medical journals as agreed with the line manager. The Senior Statistician post is based within the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and contributes to priorities identified through business as usual syndromic surveillance activities and as part of Field Services incident response and collaborating with other internal and external partners. This will include developing and maintaining statistical exceedance systems for the national real-time syndromic surveillance programme, evaluations, epidemiological science projects and research activities. The post holder will • Lead on the statistical aspects of the design, management and analysis of syndromic and epidemiological data. • Be expected to write analysis plans, perform complex analyses in packages such as R or Stata, and write reports for UKHSA groups, cross-Government committees and manuscripts for publication in peer reviewed journals. • Work with minimal supervision • Be expected to contribute to statistical training of epidemiology staff within Field Services and contribute to the statistical support of wider divisional activities. • Be expected to present findings at national and international conferences and meetings. You will have an excellent numerical background, be a good team player with good written and oral communication skills. You should have some statistical programming experience. Awareness of modelling infectious disease processes would be an advantage. This post may require regular travel within the geographical area of responsibility and travel elsewhere/nationally. Main Duties And Responsibilities Will Include: • Writing statistical analysis plans, extracting and organising data, and devising, using programmes to perform more complex analyses. • To write clear and concise reports for key deliverables. • To lead and contribute to grant applications and peer reviewed publications relevant to the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and of general statistical interest. • To present findings to internal and external audiences. • To supervise non-statisticians on data analysis as required and contribute to teaching and training as required for the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and Field Services Division. • To contribute to the development and implementation of statistical and computing facilities relevant to the work of the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and Division and the project through developing and writing statistical tools and programs. • To develop expertise in statistical methodologies relevant to the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team and to research relevant non-statistical areas such as laboratory methods, immunology and epidemiology. • Maintain an awareness of new methodological developments relevant to the Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team. • To provide statistical reviews for scientific and medical journals as agreed with the line manager. Person specification Essential Criteria • Either a PhD with substantial statistical/mathematical content or a postgraduate qualification with substantial statistical/mathematical content along with a strong research track record • Significant experience in statistical modelling and in epidemiological analysis • Demonstrated experience of coordinating projects in complex and challenging environments • Demonstrated experience of programming using STATA and/or R • Writing/evaluating scientific work, grant applications and scientific publications in statistical/epidemiological field • Communicate highly complex ideas and methods clearly and succinctly to a non-technical audience • Collaborate across scientific disciplines, identify, formulate and solve problems • Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales • Demonstrated capability to plan over short and medium timeframes and accordingly adjust plans and resource requirements • An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships Desirable criteria • Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders Alongside your salary of £54,416, UK Health Security Agency contributes £15,764 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. • Learning and development tailored to your role • An environment with flexible working options • A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity • A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% Selection process details This vacancy will be assessed using a competency-based framework which will assess your qualifications, knowledge and experience and / or skills and abilities outlined in the essential criteria. Stage 1: Application & Sift You Will Be Required To Complete An Application Form. You Will Be Assessed On The Listed (10) Essential Criteria, And This Will Be In The Form Of A: • Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application) • 750 word Supporting Statement This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria. The Application form and Supporting Statement will be marked together. Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of: • Meets all essential criteria • Meets some essential criteria • Meets no essential criteria The following pile(s) will be taken through to the next stage: • Meets all essential criteria Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on the following: • Significant experience in statistical modelling and in epidemiological analysis • Communicate highly complex ideas and methods clearly and succinctly to a non-technical audience • Collaborate across scientific disciplines, identify, formulate and solve problems • Demonstrated experience of programming using STATA and/or R Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications / large amount of successful candidates. If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment. Please do not exceed 750 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number. Feedback will not be provided at this stage. Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible. Please do not email us your CV. Stage 2: Interview You will be invited to a (single) face to face interview at UKHSA Birmingham HQ. Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview. You will be asked to prepare and present a 10 minute presentation at the start of your interview. The subject of this will be sent to you prior to interview. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Eligibility Criteria - External Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants). Location This role is being offered as hybrid working based at our Core HQ in Birmingham. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month). Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). Security Clearance Level Requirement Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard. Reasonable Adjustments The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs. You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/ International Police check If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Your application may be rejected and/or you may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own. Internal Fraud check If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service. Careers website Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups: • UK nationals • nationals of the Republic of Ireland • nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) • individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 • Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job Contact : • Name : Gurkamal Bhambra • Email : gurkamal.bhambra@ukhsa.gov.uk Recruitment team • Email : recruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk Further information The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk