Head of BMT Clinical Laboratory Services

NHS Blood and Transplant; Dodworth; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working options

Generous annual leave

Inclusive pension scheme

Supportive learning culture

Health and wellbeing support

Job summary

NHS Blood and Transplant is seeking a Head of Bone Marrow Transplant Clinical Laboratory Services on a 0.6 WTE basis. Based near Barnsley, the post leads a dedicated BMT laboratory and staff, coordinating services across hospitals in the region with on-site attendance three days per week.

The role requires leadership, advanced knowledge of stem cell therapies, and experience with GMP/GLP; it involves development work, staff training, and engagement with national standards.

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of stem cell or related cell therapies.
• Experience leading and training staff per licensing and accreditation requirements.
• Experience working to GMP and GLP standards.
• Ability to balance a routine service with clinical trials and/or cell therapy developments.
• Track record of development/research in stem cell transplantation or related fields.
• Experience writing and reviewing SOPs and controlled documents.
• Strong computer literacy: spreadsheets, databases, PowerPoint and Word

Responsibilities

• Organise and coordinate all aspects of the BMT Service Laboratory.
• Lead a team of scientists and support staff to deliver high quality services.
• Undertake development work in support of the BMT service provision.
• Maintain knowledge and provide help in staff shortages.
• Chair local operational meetings and represent the lab at national meetings.

Skills

Stem cell knowledge

Leadership experience

GMP/GLP experience

Balance routine vs trials

Stem cell research

SOP writing

Computer literacy

Education

PhD in relevant subject

HCPC registration candidate

CPD commitment

Job description

Head of Bone Marrow Transplant Clinical Laboratory Services (Job Share 0.6 WTE)

Job Summary

At NHS Blood and Transplant near Barnsley, you will lead a specialist BMT Service laboratory as a job share that plays a vital role in supporting stem cell transplantation and advanced cell therapies in the Yorkshire region. This post is available on a 3-day-per-week basis either as a fixed-term appointment or through an internal secondment for 18 months. The successful candidate will be required to attend the site for all 3 working days per week. You will provide leadership for a highly skilled team, ensuring services are safe, responsive, innovative and compliant with national and international standards. Working closely with clinicians, scientists and other partners, you will drive service improvements, support the development of new therapies and help ensure high-quality outcomes for patients. This is an opportunity to shape the future of a nationally important service, contribute to life-changing treatments and create an environment where people can learn, develop and deliver their best work every day.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will be responsible for providing a comprehensive range of BMT services to multiple hospitals whilst maintaining current good clinical practice to professional regulations and standards (e.g. HTA and JACIE) consistent with the NHSBT strategy. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Organisation and co-ordination of all aspects of a BMT Service Laboratory.
• Leading a team of experienced Scientists and support staff to deliver high quality services.
• Undertaking development work in support of the BMT service provision as agreed with the Assistant Director (AD) for CMT.
• Maintaining knowledge in all aspects of service provision and provide direct help in times of staff shortages.
• Organising and chairing local operational meetings involving laboratory staff, QA staff, hospital clinicians and nurses. Also attending national meeting to represent the laboratory under the direction of the AD for CMT along with other stakeholders e.g. Quality, Finance, Health & Safety Co-ordinators, Transplant Consultants and Medical Advisors.

Willingness and ability to travel and undertake occasional overnight stays away from base, where required to meet the needs of the role, with appropriate prior notice.

Ability to work flexibly, including participation in an out-of-hours on-call rota covering evenings, weekends, and public holidays, and to respond to short-notice requirements where necessary.

About You

Experience and Knowledge

• Demonstrates an advanced practical and theoretical knowledge of stem cell or related cell therapy fields.
• Demonstrates experience of leading and training staff and visitors at all levels in line with relevant licensing, and accreditation requirements.
• Demonstrates experience of working to GMP and GLP standards.
• Demonstrates the ability to balance a routine service with clinical trials and/or cell therapy related developments.
• Demonstrates a track record of development and/or research in stem cell transplantation or related fields.
• Demonstrates experience of writing and reviewing SOPs and other controlled documents.
• Demonstrates computer literacy with specific knowledge of spreadsheets, databases, power point and word processing.

Qualifications and Training

• PhD in a relevant subject with significant specialist knowledge relevant to BMT service provision and development.
• Requirement to be registered or actively working towards obtaining HCPC Biomedical or Clinical Scientist Registration within an agreed timeframe.
• Commitment to continuing professional development (CPD).

About Us

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you’ll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.

Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do.

By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work – and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever.

You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

What we offer:

• Flexible working options – we promote flexible working where the role allows. We’re happy to discuss what flexibility might look like for you.
• Generous annual leave - 27 days annual leave (pro rata for part‑time) plus Bank Holidays, increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and to 33 days after 10 years.
• Inclusive pension scheme - the NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme (not dependent on investment returns). Further details and outline of benefits can be found at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/information-about-nhs-pensions
• Supportive learning culture - we’ve fostered a culture of continuous learning where colleagues are well‑led, engaged, and encouraged to grow. We support you in reaching your full potential, both in your current role and future career. Our Thrive programme embodies our commitment to learning and development, offering a wide range of activities to support your personal and professional growth. It’s open to everyone at NHSBT, ensuring you have the resources to succeed and shine in your role.
• Health and wellbeing support – we offer confidential services including occupational health, employee assistance programme, and wellbeing resources. Our support is available to all colleagues and we endeavour to provide tailored workplace adjustments where possible.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applications from disabled candidates. We will talk with you to explore any adjustments that may help you during the recruitment process.

You can find more information about accessibility, our culture, and how we support applicants on the NHSBT Careers website:

• Read about our application process
• Learn more about our culture at NHSBT

Next steps

This vacancy will close at 23:59pm on 21st October 2026.

The assessment process for this role will include a personality questionnaire and a single interview, including a 10‑minute presentation, followed by a competency‑based interview. Further details will be shared with shortlisted candidates nearer the time.

Interviews are anticipated to be held on week commencing 2nd November 2026 – subject to confirmation.

For informal enquiries please contact –

Name: Sarah Evans, Job Title: Senior Business Administrator PA to Jon Smythe (Assistant Director – Cellular and Molecular Therapies), Contact detail: [e-mail]