Principal Clinical Scientist

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Maternity cover until 24/12/2027

Job summary

Synnovis is seeking a Principal Clinical Scientist for its Steroid laboratory in London. You will lead scientific direction for urine steroid profiling using GC-MS and LC-MS/MS, provide expert interpretation, and support UKAS accreditation targets within a busy, high‑quality service.

The role combines leadership, training, quality oversight and strategic development of new assays, with responsibilities reporting to the Consultant Clinical Scientist and enabling excellent patient care.

Qualifications

• MSc in relevant scientific subject (or equivalent).
• HCPC registration as a Clinical Scientist.
• PhD or equivalent in relevant subject or FRCPath Part 1; experience as a registered clinical scientist.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership to the steroid laboratory and interpret urine steroid profiles.
• Lead training and development of scientists; quality processes and CAPA activities.
• Oversee routine GC-MS and LC-MS platform maintenance and troubleshooting.

Skills

Leadership

Quality management

Mentoring

Education

MSc in relevant scientific subject

HCPC Registration

PhD or equivalent / FRCPath Part 1

Tools

GC-MS

LC-MS/MS

Job description

Are you a Clinical Scientist looking to develop expertise in a highly specialised area within a nationally renowned service? This is a rare opportunity to join one of the UK's leading steroid diagnostic laboratories, investigating inherited disorders of steroid metabolism and steroid-secreting tumours. Once trained in the interpretation and reporting of urine steroid profiles, you will play a pivotal role in delivering complex diagnostic services. The work is intellectually challenging but exceptionally rewarding, offering the chance to make a meaningful difference to patient care, while developing your skills in a unique and highly respected field. You will work as a Principal Clinical Scientist within our Steroid laboratory, Blackfriars Hub, London, utilising both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The Steroid laboratory is home to the Supra Regional Assay and Advisory Service (SAAS) designated urine steroid profiling service, one of only two such services in the UK. Using GC-MS, urine steroid profiling is an especially powerful diagnostic tool for the investigation of inborn errors of adrenal and gonadal steroid metabolism, as well as in the diagnosis of steroid-secreting adrenal tumours in order to identify malignancy. A significant part of your role will be to support this area of the service, by becoming proficient in the interpretation and reporting of urine steroid profiles. The job holder will have a large degree of individual responsibility and must be HCPC-registered as a Clinical Scientist. You should also be in possession of FRCPath Part 1. You will be expected to provide scientific leadership to our complimentary LC-MS/MS steroid assays that target specific steroids in serum, along with urine free cortisol. Whilst the subject matter can be complex, it is highly rewarding, providing an opportunity to directly benefit patient management and clinical decision making on a regular basis. Whilst prior experience of steroid profile interpretation and/or application of GC-MS/LC-MS/MS techniques in clinical laboratories is highly desirable, it is not essential as full training will be provided.The Steroid laboratory is part of the wider Reference Chemistry department, which also includes Toxicology, Immunochemistry, Metabolic, Porphyrin and Inherited Metabolic Diseases. The successful candidate may also contribute to the scientific leadership across one or more of these sections as required.

• Work as principal clinical scientist contributing to the scientific leadership the steroid laboratory.
• Develop in urine steroid profile interpretation and reporting
• Assist in the routine running, maintenance and trouble‑shooting of GC-MS and LC-MS platforms.
• Work as part of a team of 8: clinical scientists, biomedical scientists and MLAs.
• Work towards UKAS 15189 re‑accreditation following move of the Steroid Laboratory to hub location earlier this year, This role is key to the delivery of clinical authorisation as part of the laboratory team in Synnovis.

Reporting to the Consultant Clinical Scientist you will have a high level of responsibility, including being a source of expert advice (technical and clinical), quality processes and training to ensure the successful day‑to‑day delivery of pathology services, in line with our corporate objectives.

What you will do

You will hold a variety of accountabilities in the laboratory environment. These include, but are not limited to:

• Contribute to the leadership group within your discipline requiring a very high level of clinical and scientific expertise, providing advice and guidance to clinicians on the correct investigations to perform and interpret complex results. Also perform complex and specialised scientific work that demands high levels of clinical and analytical expertise.
• Play a key role in the training and professional development of less experienced scientists. This could take the form of mentoring or carrying out development needs analysis.
• Undertake continuous professional development and be a role model for professional excellence that inspires others.
• Spend a proportion of your time focused on quality and UKAS orientated activities.
• Communicate across clinical and operational teams within reference services
• Deputise for the Consultant Clinical Scientist as required.
• Provide professional leadership to laboratory scientists, junior clinicians and Medical Laboratory Assistants.
• Perform investigations in line with local Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) including but not limited to checking and validating the analysis, accuracy, interpretation of results, wording of reports and ordering follow‑up laboratory procedures.
• Perform necessary actions on the Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), ensuring all Information Governance (IG) requirements are met.
• Provide expert technical advice and specialist scientific information to laboratory colleagues and clinicians as to the appropriateness of investigations, timescales and guidance as required.
• Assess the clinical importance and urgency of test requests and results which impact on patient care and communicate these effectively to appropriate agencies.
• Communicate complex results including making clinical and differential judgements, involving complicated facts or situations that impact on patients. This will include exchanging specialist information with colleagues from your own and other disciplines.
• Demonstrate professionalism, patience and empathy when explaining complex subjects, and in particular when communicating with people who do not share same level of knowledge or understanding.
• Ensure all incidents and events are correctly reported by junior staff in Q‑Pulse quality management data base and other relevant software and support them in learning quality procedures and investigations.
• In conjunction with the Quality team, supervise the monitoring, reporting and actions of errors, hazards, and incidents logged in the CAPA module of Q‑Pulse. This may include taking part in investigations of incidents and providing expert insight into making improvements based on outcomes. Participate in appropriate clinical audits as required.
• Supervise and monitor, EQA and IQC reports and ensure any required corrective action is taken.
• Ensure compliance with all legislative and quality requirements of regulatory directives, accreditation bodies, and local management including: + Care Quality Commission + UKAS + Synnovis policies and SOPs + Any other body in area of responsibility.
• Lead in the strategic development of the analytical service. Manage the introduction and implementation of new techniques, equipment and tests to realise patient and corporate benefits.
• Initiate and oversee the implementation of new techniques, equipment, and tests includingall verification and validation work. Where necessary, including analysing clinical trial samples.
• Participate in continuous service improvement initiatives including development, reviewing and authorising of relevant documents, including SOPs, COSHH and risk assessments in line with the ISO 15189 standard.
• Keep up to date with new developments and be an ambassador for your area of expertisethrough regular literature reviews, attendance and presenting at conferences and seminars to share developments, innovations and training.
• Participate in training and development of scientific and clinical colleagues.
• Liaise with Consultant Clinical Scientist, Clinical Leads, Operational Service Leads and Operational Managers on a regular basis to resolve issues which impact on service delivery.
• Prioritise and plan laboratory workload and communicate own work priorities within the team.
• Demonstrate flexibility in carrying out own work priorities within the team context.
• Participate in the recruitment and selection of staff as and when appropriate.
• Responsible for the scientific overview of procurement of equipment and reagents within the laboratory
• Deputise for the Consultant Clinical Scientist as required.
• Attend, and where required, chair regular departmental meetings and contribute to effective communication within the department.
• Take part in CPD activities to ensure that your practices and knowledge are always relevant and up to date to your specific area.

This is a maternity cover until 24/12/2027 which provides the perfect opportunity to enhance your knowledge, gain experience within a nationally recognised specialist service and take your career to the next level. Synnovis is a pathology partnership between SYNLAB UK and Ireland, and the NHS, including sites, Guys & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, to deliver and transform pathology services across South East London. The partnership provides services to 1.7 million people living in South East London, as well as to hundreds of thousands of patients from outside the region who use local healthcare services. The partnership provides diagnostics, testing and digital pathology for hospital trusts, GP services and other healthcare providers. The hub is an eight‑storey building, and we are working across 10 floors including the ground and lower ground floors. Synnovis corporate function operates from the hub on the 8th floor, above the laboratories underneath. This is a total net internal area of almost 10,000m squared across the 10 floors. Based in Blackfriars, its less than a 5 minute walk from Southwark Tube or Blackfriars station and nestled closely to a vast array of entertainment and fabulous places to dine, relax and meet people.

Qualifications

• MSc in relevant scientific subject or equivalent
• HCPC State registration as a Clinical Scientist
• PhD or equivalent in relevant subject or FRCPath Part 1 in relevant subject, Experience as a registered clinical scientist with a detailed working knowledge of the specific discipline
• Resolving troubleshooting activity for highly technical and precision equipment and assays
• Knowledge of the correct policies and procedures to implement in relation to quality systems, with reference to ISO/UKAS
• Education of physiology, pathology, and scientific principles relevant to specialism at an expert level, Experience of assay design, evaluation and validation; and translation into diagnostic service, Demonstrates expert degree of skill, knowledge and judgement where interpretation of results can be highly subjective
• Day-to-day management of scientific team
  You will have a suite of learning opportunities available through The ACCE competencies programme, the Scientific Learning and Development Fund and the Synnovis Academy through which you can receive funding / support for advanced qualifications.