Main area Senior Automation Developer Grade Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (From Start Date) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Mon-Fri 8-4 or 9-5) Job ref 390-COR-SO-0685
Employer Mid and South Essex NHS Trust Employer type NHS Site Southend Town Southend Salary £47,810 Per Annum (Pro Rata for Part Time) Salary period Yearly Closing 11/02/2026 23:59
Senior Automation Developer
Band 7
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is the only acute hospital provider in the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System (ICS), which is a system of health and care partners working together for our local population.
Within Mid and South Essex there are 149 GP practices, operating from over 200 sites, forming 27 Primary Care Networks and one Ambulance Trust. There are also three main community and mental health service providers who work together through a community collaborative.
We collaborate with other valuable partners, including three Healthwatch organisations, nine voluntary and community sector organisations and three top tier local authorities, with seven district, borough and city councils, as well as our local universities.
Job overview
We’re looking for a motivated Senior Automation Developer to join us on a 12‑month fixed‑term assignment, leading the redevelopment of our e‑Referral Service (eRS) automations funded by NHS England.
In this pivotal role, you will design, build and deliver high‑quality RPA solutions using Blue Prism Cloud, ensuring safe, reliable and efficient automation that directly enhances clinical and operational performance.
Experience within the NHS or eRS environment is highly desirable.
Depending on your background, you may also support BAU development, helping maintain and expand our automation pipeline—including automations that underpin our move to a single “NOVA” EPR.
This is a project‑linked, non‑substantive post ideal for someone who thrives on delivering impactful, well‑engineered solutions in a fast‑moving digital healthcare setting.
Main duties of the job
* Lead redesign and build of eRS automations on Blue Prism Cloud, following ROM best practice.
* Work with SMEs to capture requirements, map workflows and define acceptance criteria.
* Develop, test and deploy secure, supportable automations; create SOPs and technical docs.
* Operate and optimise processes in Control Room; monitor, triage and resolve exceptions.
* Support BAU pipeline delivery aligned to NOVA EPR, Finance, Cancer and Outpatients priorities.
* Adhere to Trust governance (Change, IG, Cyber), ITIL service management and PRINCE2.
* Share knowledge and mentor developers; contribute to KPIs and benefit tracking.
* Own the end‑to‑end automation lifecycle (discovery to deployment) for eRS processes.
* Plan and execute unit, system and UAT; manage releases via change control.
Working for our organisation
Our ambition is to deliver excellent local and specialist services, to improve the health and well‑being of our patients, and provide a vibrant place for staff to develop, innovate and build careers.
We aim to make the most of our skills and experiences so we can become the best we can be. As one organisation we will recruit the finest and retain more specialist staff due to more employment opportunities across our Trust.
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s Digital Services (Automation) team delivers cloud‑hosted Blue Prism solutions integrated with core clinical and non‑clinical systems. You’ll join a supportive, multi‑disciplinary environment with clear governance and a strong improvement focus, contributing to NOVA (our single EPR), financial efficiency and performance across Cancer and Outpatients. Work may involve travel to our hospital sites for meetings/collaboration across Basildon, Southend, Britannia Park and Broomfield.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For more information on this varied and rewarding role, please see the attached Job Description.
We look forward to your application!
Please be aware that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early should a high number of applications be received.
Person specification
Qualifications
* PRINCE2 Foundation and/or ITIL Foundation
Experience
* Knowledge of AI within Automation (OCR/ICR, document understanding, classification) and compliant use
Please be aware as per the new Immigration guidelines we cannot sponsor candidates with a salary (full time or pro Rata) under the current minimum threshold.
Please note, the selection processes at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right skills and values, please be advised that the use of AI in applications are monitored. We remain vigilant against candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills, and you will be required to declare on your application if AI has been used before submitting your application.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Name Stephen Whittle
Job title Head of Automation & AI
Email address Stephen.whittle@nhs.net
Telephone number 07769577795
Additional information
For informal enquiries or to discuss the role scope (eRS redevelopment and BAU pipeline), please contact Lisa Morcombe (lisa.morcombe@nhs.net) Automation Team Manager. Interviews may be scheduled at short notice.
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