Consultant Medical Microbiologist, London, England, United Kingdom

Consultant Medical Microbiologist

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This role is being offered as hybrid working based at our Scientific Campus at Colindale, London. 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).

If based at one of our scientific campuses, you will be required to have a minimum of a Counter Terrorism Check security vetting check as a minimum. For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years as the role requires Counter Terrorism Check (CTC) clearance. In exceptional circumstances UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Job Summary

The Gastrointestinal Infections, Food Safety & One Health Division is located within UKHSA’s Chief Medical Adviser Group at Colindale. The Division’s main functions constitute providing specialist (including clinical and genomic) epidemiology and surveillance for Gastrointestinal Infections (GI), coordinating the investigation of national outbreaks, advising government on the risks posed by various gastrointestinal pathogens and responding to national and international health concerns. The Division manages the above functions across a broad range of pathogens including enteric and food borne bacteria, viruses and parasites. It plays an important role in Food safety and One Health and has several years’ experience in using advanced techniques such as whole genome sequencing to track national and internal outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance in food borne bacteria.

This is a national post within the Gastrointestinal Infections and Food Safety (One Health) Division (GIFSOH), based at Colindale, UKHSA. The successful candidate with join a team of Medical Microbiologists, 1 Medical Epidemiologist, Epidemiologists, Bioinformaticians and Scientist Pathogen Leads to provide a clinical and public health service.

The postholder will work closely with the Gastrointestinal Bacterial Reference Laboratory and various Parasitology laboratories to support certain clinical functions, risk assessment and management for cases (e.g. food poisoning, botulism, tetanus).

Job Description

The Consultant Medical Microbiologist/Infectious Diseases physician will be expected to fulfil the following duties and responsibilities:

Accountable to the Deputy Director, GIFSOH Division
Lead and direct the designated deliverables within GIFSOH Division.
Participate as a member of GIFSOH Division and EEI Leadership & Management structures and represent GIFSOH and EEI within relevant cross-organisational groups
Ensure that the Health & Safety of staff is paramount, that the H&S arrangements for your service are of the highest standards, and that you work closely with the HSE to address any recommendations that they may have in a timely fashion.
Ensure that the GIFSOH Division works to the highest standards of Clinical Governance.
Support and develop the workforce across the whole system, in line with UKHSA’s remit, to support capability and capacity, including technical and professional skills to meet the challenges involved in protecting and improving the public’s health.
Participate in an On-Call rota as required by the Deputy Director of GIFSOH Division

The Consultant Medical Microbiologist/Infectious Diseases physician will be expected to fulfil the following duties and responsibilities:

Accountable to the Deputy Director, GIFSOH Division
Lead and direct the designated deliverables within GIFSOH Division.
Participate as a member of GIFSOH Division and EEI Leadership & Management structures and represent GIFSOH and EEI within relevant cross-organisational groups
Ensure that the Health & Safety of staff is paramount, that the H&S arrangements for your service are of the highest standards, and that you work closely with the HSE to address any recommendations that they may have in a timely fashion.
Ensure that the GIFSOH Division works to the highest standards of Clinical Governance.
Support and develop the workforce across the whole system, in line with UKHSA’s remit, to support capability and capacity, including technical and professional skills to meet the challenges involved in protecting and improving the public’s health.
Participate in an On-Call rota as required by the Deputy Director of GIFSOH Division

Person specification

Providing specialist clinical advice to a range of stakeholders e.g. NHS clinicians, health protection teams, partner agencies (Food Standards Agency and Animal and Plant Health Agency) and international agencies (ECDC, WHO and CDC). The role includes medical leadership for national gastrointestinal outbreaks and food safety incidents. The postholder will contribute to generation of national guidance on management of various gastrointestinal infections (e.g. Enteric fever guidance, BASSH guidance on enteric pathogens, Shigellosis, STEC, amoebiasis). They will contribute to various national reports on antimicrobial resistance (e.g. One Health and ESPAUR).

The postholder will be advising government on the risks posed by various gastrointestinal pathogens and responding to national and international health concerns.

The post holder will present at major national and international infection and pathogen specific conferences and multiagency meetings.

The Job Is Designed To Cover The Full Range Of Clinical And Public Health Infection In The UKHSA Gastrointestinal Infections, Food Safety & One Health Division (GIFSOH). The Purpose Of This Post Covers Eight Broad Areas

Contribute intellectual and scientific leadership to the GIFSOH Division.
Participate in Division and Directorate management activities.
Line manage GIFSOH Division staff as delegated by the Deputy Director GIFSOH.
Contribute to education and training of clinical and scientific staff.
Develop and execute clinical and epidemiological studies in gastrointestinal infection.
Supporting the Gastrointestinal Bacteria Reference Unit (GBRU) - for clinical interpretation of results, clinical liaison with external stakeholders.
Contribute to relevant public health policies and guidance.
Provide medical input and leadership to incidents and outbreaks related to gastrointestinal infections.
Ensure that the GIFSOH Division works to the highest standards of Clinical Governance.
Support and develop the Epidemic and Emerging Infections (EEI) workforce, in line with UKHSA’s remit, to support capability and capacity, including technical and professional skills to meet the challenges involved in protecting and improving the public’s health.
Ensure that the Health & Safety of staff is paramount, that the H&S arrangements for your service are of the highest standards, and that you work closely with the HSE to address any recommendations that they may have in a timely fashion.

The postholder will have a CCT in Medical Microbiology/Infectious Diseases, or be within 6 months at interview date of achieving CCT.

This 5PA post (includes 1 supplementary PA) will provide an excellent opportunity for experienced NHS Consultants wanting to explore a national role, equally new Consultants within 6 months of CCT are also welcome to apply. The job requires specialist knowledge and appropriate pathogen specific knowledge and outbreak response training will be provided.

Please see attached job Description & Person Specification for full list of essential criteria and further details.

Learning and development tailored to your role
An environment with flexible working options
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

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/

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Selection process details

External

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Stage 1: Application & Sift - competency based

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on essential criteria, and this will be in the form of

an Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
an 1100 word Statement of Suitability.

This should outline how your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible.

The Application Form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment

Please do not exceed 1100 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

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.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview (competency based)

You will be invited to a remote interview held by MS Teams with camera on.

Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview.

Interviews will be held from week commencing 11th August 2025. Please note, these dates are subject to change.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security 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.

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.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

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).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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 : Gauri Godbole, Deputy Director, GIFSOH
Email : gauri.godbole@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : scs.mdrecruitment@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

Seniority level

Seniority level
Mid-Senior level

Employment type

Employment type
Contract

Job function

Job function
Health Care Provider
Industries
Hospitals and Health Care

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Location:: London, England, United Kingdom
Salary:: £100,000 - £125,000
Category:: Bio & Pharmacology & Health

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