Mathematical Modeller and Statistical Epidemiologist
UK Health Security AgencyThe United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a system leader for health security; taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.
UKHSA’s remit, as an agency with a global-to-local reach, is to protect the health of the nation from infectious diseases and other external threats to health. As the nation’s expert national health security agency UKHSA will:
- Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation’s readiness, defences and health security
- Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
- Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
- Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
- Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats and reduce inequalities.
Job overview
This permanent post sits within the Respiratory Section of the Immunisation and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Division (IVPD), within the Public Health Programmes directorate of UKHSA. The position is for an epidemiological modeller with skills in statistical epidemiology to work on respiratory virus preparedness in UKHSA, particularly influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunisation policy, with the potential to work in novel scientific and policy areas of respiratory disease immunisation and prevention, such as pandemic preparedness and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) pharmaceutical countermeasures. As well as requiring specific technical expertise, this post requires broad scientific knowledge and involves substantial interdisciplinary working (e.g., with medical, clinical, and scientific staff) within UKHSA and in other organisations, nationally and internationally.
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The post-holder will be responsible for providing high quality statistical analyses on the health burden associated with respiratory diseases, and to improve existing transmission-dynamic models to enable robust and reliable estimates of the impact and cost-effectiveness of interventions against vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases. The post-holder’s work will directly inform deliberations by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and UK policy. The position also carries considerable potential for original scientific work and requires a high degree of personal motivation.
The post-holder will develop working relationships with a wide range of individuals internal and external to UKHSA. They will be expected to work closely with staff in the Statistics, Modelling and Economics Department (SMED) of UKHSA, and to collaborate with academic institutions, including as part of the recently renewed Health Protection Research Units (HPRUs) for Respiratory Infections (Imperial College London), Vaccines and Immunisation (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, LSHTM), and Health Analytics & Modelling (Imperial College London/LSHTM). They will also communicate regularly with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) analysts/immunisation policy teams.
*HPRUs are research partnerships between UKHSA and UK universities, funded by DHSC and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Working for our organisation
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.
UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.
Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
In this role you will
- lead development of modelling and statistical analyses related to viral respiratory infections, contributing to the whole lifecycle of research, including accessing and processing large datasets, performing analyses in software such as R, and writing reports.
- design and build new models or adapt and extend existing models, as appropriate for application to immunisation policy questions.
- keep abreast of the latest scientific knowledge around the transmission of respiratory diseases and incorporate that knowledge into existing transmission-dynamic models/cost-effectiveness analyses, e.g., by performing new analyses to update model parameterisation.
- lead extraction and ingestion of data, data ethics and governance, development of processing pipelines and software development.
- participate in quality assurance of work, both reviewing teammates’ code and work, and asking for appropriate review of own work.
- manage own programme of work, using considerable initiative and independence.
- attend meetings, including team meetings, wider organisation meetings, and project specific meetings, including supporting project coordination in an appropriate framework and engaging with stakeholders and customers.
- work with colleagues in UKHSA’s IVPD division, SMED, JCVI, DHSC, academic institutions and other organisations as appropriate.
- give presentations at national and international meetings, as appropriate.
- write papers for high-quality peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Essential criteria
- An undergraduate degree in a quantitative discipline (e.g., mathematics, statistics, physics, biology or economics).
- A postgraduate qualification in infectious disease dynamics, infectious disease epidemiology or a relevant quantitative discipline, such as mathematical and statistical modelling.
- Significant experience of mathematical or statistical modelling in an epidemiological context, including extensive experience of transmission-dynamic modelling.
- Experience of building and validating numerical mathematical/statistical models and ability to apply these to immunisation policy questions.
- Experience of working with a wide range of data, such as healthcare data, serology and pathogen genomics.
- Extensive experience of coding using R, Python or C++.
- Ability to pay attention to detail and devise ways of checking own work carefully (including debugging code), and strong skills in developing robust workflows, including version control and reproducible research.
- Collaborate across scientific disciplines/organisations and identify, formulate, solve problems, all whilst being able to demonstrate capability to plan over short and medium timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
- Ability to work both with considerable initiative and independence, and as a team member (in a multidisciplinary team), including initiating, planning and executing own work programme and coordinating with collaborators.
- Demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the proven ability to (i) communicate complex ideas, methods, and results clearly and succinctly to a wide range of audiences, (ii) publish scientific papers in high-quality peer-reviewed journals, (iii) give presentations at international meetings (conferences and invited presentations).
Desirable criteria:
- Experience of developing packages in R or comparable languages/environments.
- Familiarity with health economics.
Selection Process
Stage 1: Application & Sift
This vacancy is assessed using competency.
At sift stage you will be assessed against the essential criteria listed in the job advert.
You will be required to complete an:
- Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
- Up to 1000-word statement of suitability
Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your statement of suitability must be no more than 1000 words.
This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role.
You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V – please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible)
If we receive a large number of applications an initial sift against the lead criteria will be conducted:
"Significant experience of mathematical or statistical modelling in an epidemiological context, including extensive experience of transmission-dynamic modelling."
Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we may longlist into 3 piles of:
- Meets all essential criteria
- Meets some essential criteria
- Meets no essential criteria
Candidates meeting none of the essential criteria will not be considered for shortlisting.
Desirable criteria may be used if we receive a large number of applications.
Please note feedback will not be provided at this stage.
Interview stage (competency based):
You will be invited to a remote Teams interview.
During the interview we will assess against the below:
- Knowledge
- Experience
- Skills and Abilities
You will be asked to prepare and present a 5 minute presentation at the start of your interview.
- The subject of this will be “a recent piece of work you have led”.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Eligibility Criteria
External: Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including internal applicants).
Location
This role is being offered as hybrid working based at our Scientific Campus in Colindale, London. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, averaged over a month) working on site at Colindale
Salary Information
If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary. Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms.
Security Clearance Level Requirement
The level of security needed is
- Basic Personnel Security Standard
- Successful candidates must pass a standard disclosure and barring security check.
- Successful candidates also require a (CTC) Counter Terrorism Check
As you will be based at one of our scientific campuses, you will be required to have a Counter Terrorism Check security vetting check as a minimum. For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years as the role requires Counter Terrorism Check (CTC) clearance. In exceptional circumstances UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Link below:
Artificial intelligence and recruitment | Civil Service Careers
This is a Non-Reserved post under the Civil Service Nationality Rules. To be eligible for employment in the UK Civil Service applicants must meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules (CSNRs) which operate independently of and additionally to the Immigration Rules. Applicants must also meet necessary security and vetting requirements, along with any other relevant pre-employment checks.
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
For more information on job nationality requirements and the right to work in the UK, see the Civil Service Nationality rules (opens in a new window) and the UK Visas and Immigration rules (opens in a new window)
For posts on UKHSA Civil Service terms and conditions, new entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. For existing Civil Servants and roles advertised across government, the rules of transfer apply, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive a 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.
The Civil Service pay structure and progression is different from NHS Agenda for Change (AfC), most local authority pay grades and other systems that have annual pay increments. For further details, please refer to the Information Sheet- Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment.
For AfC or Medical/Dental posts, you must have the correct professional registration to be appointed. The pay will follow the AfC or Medical & Dental terms & conditions. You may be asked to provide evidence of previous service whilst we are conducting pre-employment checks to determine your starting salary.
For Temporary Appointments, if you are not currently a civil servant, you will take up the post on a Fixed Term appointment. You may be able to take this role up as a Secondment. If you are an existing Civil Servant, based outside of the UKHSA, you will take up the post as a loan which you will need your department to agree. You cannot take the post up as a fixed term. If you are an existing UKHSA member of staff, you will take up the post as either a level transfer or a temporary promotion as per the UKHSA’s Pay policy.
Given the nature of the work of the UKHSA, as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act, you may be required in an emergency, if deemed a necessity, to redeploy to another role at short notice. You may also be required to work at any other location, within reasonable travelling distance of your permanent home address, in line with the provisions set out in your contract of employment.
Late Applications will unfortunately not be considered.
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website here.
Reserve List - If more than the required number of suitable candidates pass the interview criteria, you may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months subject to your agreement. You may be contacted, in merit-order, if similar roles with closely matching essential criteria become available and the department choose to appoint from a reserve list.
The panel will assess if candidates meet the requirement of the role first, using a specific benchmark system. If you are interviewed for the post and do not meet the required threshold for the specified grade, your application may be assessed against a similar, lower grade role and you may be offered the post should one be available.
Interview expenses will not be reimbursed.
UKHSA is required to check employment and/or education history covering three consecutive years. Please ensure you give details of at least two different referees, even if you were employed in one company for three years or more.
If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.
Any move to UKHSA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
Benefits of working at UKHSA include:
- Generous annual leave:
-26 days for the first 5 years of continuous service
-28 days after 5 years of continuous service
-32 days after 10 years of continuous service
-Plus public holidays and one privilege day for the King’s birthday - Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
- Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving.
- Access to a retail discounts and cashback site.
- We also promote flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours). UKHSA views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including working from home, compressed hours and job sharing.
- We also offer a generous maternity/ paternity and adoption leave package.
Hybrid Working
UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce.
As a hybrid worker, you will usually spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted hours (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's locations (approximately 3 days a week pro rata) and the rest of your time working from home.
Disability Confident Scheme
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria at sift to ensure these candidates are invited to interview. If you wish to be included in this scheme please tick the box on your application form.
Reasonable Adjustments
The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone.
To help you during the recruitment process, we will take into account any reasonable adjustments that could help you.
An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work.
This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme.
If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should:
Contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.
You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/
International Police Check
If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and could be time accrued over that period.
Internal Fraud check
If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.
Security Vetting
Please check the Security Clearance needed for the role and follow the link for more information:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels
Future location
UKHSA is investing in a new state-of-the-art National Biosecurity Centre in Harlow, Essex, which will eventually bring together teams currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale and Porton Down. For more details, please see: Huge biosecurity centre investment to boost pandemic protection - GOV.UK.
The new facilities will start becoming operational in the mid-2030s, with full completion by 2038. Staff will move in phases as facilities become available. If you're appointed to a role currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale or Porton Down, please note that we'll continue investing in these sites for the next decade. As we get closer to the transition, we'll provide full information about relocation support available to staff.