Senior Clinical Scientist in Artificial Intelligence

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS foundation trust in London is seeking a Senior Clinical Scientist in Artificial Intelligence to support the implementation of AI solutions in patient care. The role involves project delivery across the software development lifecycle with significant remote work opportunities. Candidates should have strong coding skills in Python and familiarity with clinical scientific computing systems and methods. Join a dynamic team dedicated to improving healthcare access and quality.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Access to professional development

Collaborative team environment

Qualifications

• Strong background in coding to translate research into clinical practice.
• Ability to effectively use Version Control tools (GitHub).
• Experience with data handling and protection legislation.

Responsibilities

• Support the team in developing and implementing AI solutions.
• Collect and curate data for AI development and testing.
• Work independently and manage time productively.

Skills

Advanced knowledge of problems arising from system errors

Experience in software development

Strong coding skills in Python

Effective communication within a team

Education

Good (1st or Upper 2nd class) Honours degree in a relevant subject

Relevant MSc or equivalent

Tools

GitHub

Python

Docker

Linux

Job description

Overview

Guy's and St Thomas' is among the UK's busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services. Guy's is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas' has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children's Hospital. Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions. Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research. We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King\'s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King\'s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit. Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of \'good\'. Our adult community services achieved a rating of \'outstanding\'.

We have the commitment of our 23,500 staff as a key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.

Job overview

Applications are invited for a Band 8A Senior Clinical Scientist in Artificial Intelligence (AI) post at Guy\'s and St Thomas\' NHS Foundation Trust.

You will join the Clinical Scientific Computing (CSC) team which consists of clinical scientists, AI engineers, data scientists, radiologists, clinicians, and programme managers, with close links to King\'s College London, AI Centre for Valued Based Healthcare and nearby NHS Trusts. You will support the team in evaluating, developing and implementing digital solutions to facilitate quicker and higher quality access to healthcare for patients, with a strong emphasis on AI.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will support the team in investigating, evaluating, developing and implementing a host of AI solutions to support patient care at the Trust. The postholder will have the opportunity to participate in every part of the software development lifecycle, work in multidisciplinary teams to design, develop and deliver digital solutions in the NHS. They will also be able to learn about different project management styles, attend international and national conferences, and help support a national educational programme in clinical AI.

This is an exciting opportunity for AI developers, software engineers, data scientists and clinical scientists with strong background in coding to translate their research and ideas into clinical practice.

The majority of the work is done remotely and the postholder must be able to work effectively under these conditions. The team works from an office one day per week in London and holds fortnightly workshops which must be attended in person.

Working for our organisation

The CSC team at GSTT is a small team working together to improve access and quality of patient care at our Trust and throughout the NHS. The team ethos is firmly grounded in a desire to improve the patient care provided by our NHS Trust and beyond. We\'re a highly dynamic team with a benevolent approach to proposed projects and ideas. While we do work remotely, we are a very unified team and meet often both socially and professionally, with regular post-work events and group lunches. There is an atmosphere of openness and collaboration.

We have a quality management system certified by the BSI which allows us to develop Software As a Medical Device; we have an MLOPs created in-house which we use to train our models, and we have a deployment platform through which our AI applications are hosted and used. We have a DGX and associated server which we maintain within the team and use for machine learning purposes. We have a straightforward and robust way of accessing, analysing and cleaning data. With this combination of platforms we translate clinical research into clinical practice across many different departments.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As a Senior Clinical Scientist in Artificial Intelligence you will be responsible for project delivery from inception to post-deployment surveillance.

You will manage stakeholders, including effectively communicating and regularly engaging with a variety of clinical and non-clinical staff. You will work in the best interest of the patients and service users at GSTT.

You will collect and curate data for AI development and testing and critically appraise their quality.

You will effectively use Version Control tools (GitHub) and program in Python and C# to a high standard including following CI/CD and TDD principles. You will help maintain two Linux servers including upgrading, installing, troubleshooting and managing user access. You will work with Docker and virtual environments.

You will work as part of a team and receive and give constructive feedback. You will occasionally need to concentrate on a piece of work for many hours at a time and persist in troubleshooting when problems arise. You will work independently and be self-motivated in managing your own time as productively as possible.

You will work under several pieces of legislation and guidance pertaining to data handling and protection, medical devices maintenance and IT acceptance and deployment in the NHS. You will need to be able to both understand and explain those principles and raise alarm if risks are detected.

You will help support the delivery of training programmes including the NHS Fellowship in Clinical AI and the Scientist Training Programme in Clinical Scientific Computing and Clinical Informatics. You will help support the development of junior and of temporary staff.

For further details please see the attached job description or get in touch!

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Good (1st or Upper 2nd class) Honours degree in a relevant subject
• Relevant MSc or equivalent

Desirable criteria

• Completion of Scientist Training Programme in a relevant discipline, or equivalent
• Relevant PhD

Professional / Statutory Registration

Desirable criteria

• State registration as a Clinical Scientist (gained or achievable within an acceptable timeframe)

Experience

Essential criteria

• Highly developed specialist knowledge across the full range of working procedures and practices in clinical scientific computing, building on theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
• Specialist training and practical experience with a wide range of clinical scientific computing systems and software
• Experience in software development

Desirable criteria

• Previous research experience
• Previous experience of working in NHS

Skills

Essential criteria

• Advanced knowledge of problems arising from system errors, equipment failure and clinical factors.
• Advanced specialist knowledge of techniques and clinical applications.
• Extensive experience of software engineering and the software development life-cycle, including issue tracking, testing, documentation, version control and continuous integration.
• Able to prioritise and manage own work.
• Able to exercise own initiative when dealing with issues within own specialist area of competence and within broader areas of clinical scientific computing.
• In depth understanding of relevant legislation, national standards, professional and other guidelines.
• Able to work and communicate effectively within a team.
• Able to troubleshoot errors and independently find solutions to problems.

Desirable criteria

• In-depth knowledge of at least one high-level language used in data science, such as Python.
• Familiarity with containerisation technologies e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, etc.
• Familiarity with server management.
• Understanding of distributed software applications.
• Up to date with new approaches in software development.
• Demonstrable experience with SQL e.g., PostgreSQL or other modern SQL platforms.
• Experience with HL7 messaging or other healthcare enterprise integration standards.
• Knowledge of and commitment to software development best practice.
• Working knowledge of GitHub for version control.

Physical Requirements

Essential criteria

• Able to concentrate frequently when subject to unpredictable working patterns.
• Able to concentrate for prolonged periods [eg debugging software].
• Able to deal with occasional distressing circumstances [work occasionally involves contact with patients].

Additional Information

Essential criteria

• Able to effectively communicate highly complex information to a variety of stakeholders.
• Able to present scientific papers at national and international conferences.
• Able to develop and deliver teaching and training on complex subjects.
• Able to deal with complex and unpredictable situations.
• Able to work without direct supervision and instruction.
• Able to work remotely.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of organising and delivering teaching and training to a multidisciplinary audience.

Guy\'s and St Thomas\' celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study\'s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

Flexible working

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual\'s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Due to recent changes in the UK immigration rules which affect Skilled Worker Visas, Global Business Mobility, Higher Skill Level and Increased Salary Thresholds, please ensure that you are able to meet the requirements to live and work in the UK before applying. Further information about eligibility is available on the UK Government website.

Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 256.4KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 144.4KB)
• Functional Requirements (PDF, 376.6KB)