Lead Psychologist

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Milton Keynes is looking for a Lead Psychologist to enhance autism assessments for children and support a multidisciplinary team. The role involves leadership in quality improvement, clinical governance compliance, and training for staff in psychological practices. Candidates must have extensive clinical experience, leadership skills, and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. This position offers a salary range of £64,455 to £74,896, pro rata.

Qualifications

• Extensive post qualification experience in mental health for children.
• Experience in leading autism diagnostic assessments.
• Skills in complex case management.

Responsibilities

• Lead clinical practice within the service.
• Provide expert consultation to the multidisciplinary team.
• Drive quality improvement and service development.

Skills

Leadership

Expert psychological consultation

Team management

Training and supervision

Quality improvement

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Current HCPC registration as Practitioner Psychologist

Formal training in Autism assessment

Management or leadership training

Job description

Lead Psychologist

The closing date is 06 January 2026

Are you an experienced Clinical Psychologist ready to lead and innovate? We are seeking a highly motivated Professional Lead to join our Milton Keynes Autism Assessment and Community Paediatrics Service. This senior role offers the opportunity to shape a multidisciplinary autism pathway, ensuring timely, high-quality assessments and post-diagnostic support for children and young people.

About the Role

As Professional Lead Clinical Psychologist, you will:

• Lead autism/ASD assessments and neurodevelopmental formulations within a multidisciplinary framework.
• Provide expert psychological input and consultation across the team.
• Line manage psychologists and psychological practitioners, including recruitment, supervision, job planning, and performance management.
• Deliver teaching, training, and supervision to psychology staff and wider professionals.
• Drive service development, quality improvement, and co‑production initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with clinical governance, safeguarding, and Trust policies.

You will lead a small team of MDT practitioners offering assessment and brief psychological intervention, ensuring safety and quality of their work. You will inspire and support colleagues within a busy service and work closely with the MDT to deliver high‑quality assessments and interventions for children and young people.

Main duties of the job

• Lead Clinical Practice
• Oversee autism/ASD assessments and neurodevelopmental formulations within a multidisciplinary framework.
• Ensure high-quality, evidence-based psychological interventions for children and young people.

Provide Expert Consultation

• Offer specialist psychological input and advice to the multidisciplinary team.
• Support complex case discussions and clinical decision‑making.

Leadership and Management

• Line manage psychologists and psychological practitioners, including recruitment, supervision, job planning, and performance management.
• Maintain compliance with clinical governance, safeguarding, and Trust policies.

Teaching and Training

• Deliver training and supervision to psychology staff and wider professionals.
• Promote continuous professional development and best practice across the service.

Service Development

• Drive quality improvement, innovation, and co‑production initiatives.
• Lead implementation of digital tools and contribute to CNWL's Neurodevelopmental Pathway Transformation programme.

Job responsibilities

• Act as the professional lead for clinical psychology within the service.
• Oversee psychological governance and ensure compliance with Trust policies, clinical governance, and safeguarding standards.
• Lead service planning and development for neurodevelopmental pathways across the county.
• Provide expert, highly specialist assessments for neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly autism.
• Ensure timely access to assessments, post‑diagnostic support, and interventions.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines, maintaining the highest standards of clinical care.
• Line manage psychologists and psychological practitioners, including recruitment, supervision, appraisal, and training.
• Coordinate workload and support staff development to maintain service quality.
• Work closely with the Specialist Childrens Service Manager, Service Manager, and Clinical Director.
• Participate in CNWL networks related to ASD and Community Paediatrics.
• Provide consultation, training, and teaching within and beyond the team.
• Lead quality improvement initiatives, service evaluation, research, and audit.
• Monitor service effectiveness against key deliverables such as patient safety and care quality.
• Report regularly to the Service Manager and Clinical Director.
• Promote inclusive practices and foster good relations across diverse communities.
• Encourage applications from all sectors of the community to ensure the workforce reflects the populations served.
• Lead quality improvement initiatives, service evaluation, research, and audit.

CNWL Neurodevelopmental Pathway Transformation

This is an exciting time to join CNWL. We are implementing a new Neurodevelopmental (ND) pathway transformation programme, designed to improve access, consistency, and quality of care for children and young people with neurodevelopmental needs. As part of this initiative, the autism assessment service is adopting innovative digital tools and platforms to streamline processes, enhance multidisciplinary collaboration, and improve patient experience. The postholder will play a key role in embedding these digital solutions and contributing to the ongoing development and evaluation of the ND pathway transformation.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology. Two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan development psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS)
• Current registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical Psychologist)
• Further specialist post qualification training relevant to the client group
• Formal training in the assessment of Autism, including ADOS-2 and ADI-R or 3DiR.
• Formal training in supervision of trainee clinical psychologists
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
• Management / leadership training / Quality Improvement Training.

Experience

• Extensive post qualification experience of working clinically in a mental health and/or learning disability setting for children and young people, assessing, containing and managing complex cases in a multidisciplinary setting.
• Experience and skills in psychological assessment and interventions with children & young people with learning disabilities and/or social and communication difficulties.
• Extensive experience of leading on autism diagnostic assessments and informing families and the system of the outcome.
• Experience of providing Line Management.
• Experience of multi-disciplinary team working and inter-agency collaboration.
• Experience of contributing to service development projects.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole course of presenting concerns that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the treat of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client’s psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co‑ordinator and within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
• Experience of service quality monitoring i.e. clinical audit, evaluative research etc.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision of trainee clinical psychologists.
• Experience of dealing with Safeguarding Incidents.
• Experience of developing and delivering training and/or groups.
• Experience of taking a proactive role in service development.
• Evidence of continued professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology. Familiarity with use of databases and other statistical packages.
• Experience of leading on and reporting against Clinical Governance.
• Experience of managing complaints.

Knowledge and Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non‑professional groups.
• Ability to make judgements involving highly complex facts or situations which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options, which may be conflicting and where expert opinion differs or some information is unavailable.
• Able to independently plan, organise and prioritise a number of competing demands on an individual and service level.
• Able to manage highly emotive situations including distress and aggression and communicate complex information in this context.
• Up to date knowledge of policies and procedures and clinical issues relating to specific client group.
• Knowledge of current developments and national agendas specific to the Autism Assessment remit and professional background.
• An ability to utilise research evidence and design and implement research activities to inform service development and clinical practice.
• An ability to make autonomous clinical judgements involving highly complex facts and situations.
• Able to establish and maintain relationships with stakeholders, service user groups etc.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£64,455 to £74,896 a year per annum pro rata