Senior Educator

NHS Ayrshire & Arran; West Virginia; Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 87,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Hybrid working

NHS pension

Annual leave 27 days

Job summary

NHS Scotland is seeking a Senior Educator within the General Practice Nursing Education function to shape and deliver a coherent, high‑quality approach to nursing education across primary care. You will lead educational programmes, develop career pathways, and work with health boards, primary care stakeholders, and national programmes to align training with policy and evolving models of care.

The role offers remote-friendly, hybrid working and the chance to influence workforce planning at a

Qualifications

• Experience leading education programmes in healthcare.
• Ability to design curricula and development pathways.
• Strong stakeholder engagement across organisations.

Responsibilities

• Lead and shape the GPN education strategy.
• Coordinate national education programmes for primary care.
• Align education provisions with policy and service priorities.

Skills

Educational leadership

Programme design

Curriculum development

Stakeholder influence

Education

Healthcare education experience

Job description

On 1 April 2026, NSS and NES became one national organisation, focused on continuity today and a stronger, more connected service for tomorrow.

As part of this transformation, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) have joined to form a new organisation: Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland). This new organisation will play a pivotal role in supporting the renewal and ensuring the long‑term sustainability of health and care services across Scotland.

Flexible Location: PSD Scotland is a remote‑friendly employer with staff based throughout Scotland. We support office‑based and hybrid working arrangements. We welcome conversations about alternative working patterns—please get in touch during the application process to discuss.

Work Pattern: Permanent, Full Time, 36 hours per week

You must have eligibility and entitlement to work in the UK which is required to be maintained throughout your period of employment.

PSD Scotland unites expertise from NES and NSS in a way that will allow us to accelerate national programmes to support the NHS to deliver better care, now and in the future.

We support staff with education and training, provide the tools and data that improve services, and run vital national functions such as procurement, logistics and blood, tissue and cell services.

The General Practice Nursing (GPN) Education function within PSDS provides strategic leadership, development, and delivery of education and training for nurses working in general practice. It supports the full GPN career pathway, from entry‑level roles through to advanced and specialist practice, ensuring that education provision is structured, accessible, and responsive to service needs.

The function works in close partnership with health boards, primary care stakeholders, and national programmes to identify learning needs, design relevant educational frameworks, and support workforce planning across Scotland.

These activities directly contribute to PSDS objectives by enabling a sustainable, skilled, and adaptable primary care nursing workforce. By aligning education with national priorities, service redesign, and evolving models of care, the function helps ensure that practitioners are equipped to deliver safe, effective, and person‑centred care.

The establishment of a Senior Educator post strengthens leadership, improves coordination of educational provision, and enhances the strategic impact of GPN education, ensuring consistency, quality, and long‑term workforce stability across Scotland. The GPN educator team is embedded in the NMAHP Directorate but work across organisational boundaries day to day with the continuing professional development aspects of the education being delivered through CPD Connect within the Medical Directorate. This postholder is required to provide the leadership and direction of the work across both Directorates

The Opportunity

Do you have experience in leading and developing education programmes within a complex healthcare environment?

Do you have a strong understanding of workforce planning, career pathways, and the educational needs and continuing professional development needs of general practice nursing?

Do you have the ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders to design and deliver high‑quality learning solutions?

Do you have experience aligning education provision with national policy, service priorities, and evolving models of care?

Do you have the leadership skills to influence, coordinate, and drive strategic improvement across a national portfolio?

Working within the General Practice Nursing (GPN) Education function at PSD Scotland you will play a key role in shaping and delivering a coherent, high‑quality approach to nursing education across primary care.

Does this sound like you?

What We Love To See

Senior Educators offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we’d love you to apply:

• Experience in educational leadership, programme design, and curriculum development within healthcare.
• Knowledge of primary care nursing, including GPN career pathways, workforce challenges, and service delivery models.
• Ability to build effective partnerships and influence across organisational and professional boundaries
• Demonstrate honesty, integrity, care and compassion when dealing with others, utilising tact and persuasion skills when necessary
• Ability to work on own initiative, to organise and prioritise own workloads, to meet strict deadlines

Benefits Which Matter

As a valued employee of NHS Scotland, you can enjoy an extensive range of benefits including:

• Life‑work balance - with opportunities for flexible working and hybrid working
• Generous NHS pension scheme
• Annual incremental salary progression (up to the maximum of the salary band) plus annual NHS salary scale review
• Annual Leave - 27 Days increasing in line with service plus 8 days public holiday
• NHS discounts and more

Diversity and Inclusion

Developing a successful national service for Scotland means considering the diverse needs, perspectives, and backgrounds of everyone in Scotland. We are focused on hiring the very best talent and actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. Our aim to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, with respect, and has a positive recruitment experience—regardless of the outcome.

We welcome applications from all under‑represented groups, including racially minoritised people and disabled people. It is not essential to be in a Senior Educator role right now—you may be returning from a career break (e.g., maternity, paternity, caring) or coming from another field. Your experiences can bring a fresh perspective to our work.

If you are considering applying and would like to discuss the opportunity, any adjustments or alternative work patterns, please contact Dr Christopher Rice (Head of programme. [e-mail]

Please be advised that if you are successful in being offered the role following the recruitment process, you will be expected to attend the office prior to your start date to complete face‑to‑face pre‑employment checks. If you require any adjustments to support this, please let us know.

To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service.

As part of the pre‑employment checks for a preferred candidate, NHS Scotland Boards willcheck your entitlement to work in the UK. It can be evidenced through a number of routes including specific types of visa as well as EU settled and pre‑settled status. To find out more about these routes of permission, please refer to the GOV.UK websitehere.

For specific types of post, if you do not have the necessary eligibility to work in the UK, it might be possible (though not guaranteed) to secure sponsorship via a UK Skilled Worker/Health & Care Worker Visa. However, this is only possible if the employer is a licenced Sponsor, and if the post does not fall below the current minimum salary threshold or ‘going rate’. Further information on these criteria can be foundhere.

It is ESSENTIAL that you have checked that you either already have an appropriate right to work in the UK or that the post would be eligible to be sponsored before submitting your application form.

If you have any queries regarding the NHS Scotland National Recruitment Portal or the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to contact our recruitment partners, the East Region Recruitment Service, at: [e-mail]