Work Pattern: Fixed Term, Full Time, 37 hours per week
Fixed-term or Secondment** until 31 August 2027
**For NHS applicants, an NHS secondment will be offered in the first instance. For non-NHS applicants, a fixed-term or secondment would be considered.
You must have eligibility and entitlement to work in the UK which is required to be maintained throughout your period of employment.
Who We Are
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is the national health board with statutory responsibilities to effect sustainable change through workforce development, education and training across the health and social care system in Scotland, while working at UK level with partner organisations.
The core function of the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions (NMAHP) Directorate is to support the education, training and continuing professional development of nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, health and social care chaplains and their support workers. The Directorate is also responsible for providing education, training and workforce development across wider professional groups and disciplines, often in partnership with other agencies, to support key policy imperatives.
The Opportunity
This is an exciting opportunity to join the NMAHP Directorate within NHS Education for Scotland. We are looking to appoint a Head of Programme to join the Public Health team.
Providing first point of contact, line management and budgetary responsibility and business oversight, this post holder will have responsibilities for workstreams including Infection Prevention and Control, Health Protection, Vaccination and AHP Public Health.
Do you want to work in partnership across NES Directorates, NHS Scotland Assure and ARHAI Scotland, influencing and supporting workforce education to enact national policy working with colleagues from the Scottish Government (CNOD)?
Do you aspire to leading and operationally managing a range of high profile educational initiatives at national level with an emphasis on technology enhanced learning and digital skills?
Do you enjoy liaising with a range of partners from health, social care, education, independent and third sectors, including Higher Education Institutions, Scottish Government and strategic leads in Health Boards ?
Do you want to develop and maintain effective links with key stakeholders in order to support wider NES activity?
Working within the Public Health Team you will actively contribute to NES NMAHP Directorate and corporate planning activities ensuring that plans are progressed within agreed budgets and timelines
Does this sound like you?
What We Love to See
Heads of Programme offer a broad range of skills and experience, if you can offer some or all of these, we’d love you to apply:
1. Nursing registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council / AHP Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or equivalent
2. Master’s degree or equivalent experience
3. Nationally recognised education qualification (at Post Graduate certificate or Diploma level)
4. Well developed digital knowledge and skills and experience in technology enhanced learning
5. Substantial postgraduate education experience and will have held enhanced responsibility in an educational or healthcare post
6. Knowledge of and expertise in organisational, leadership and management development and models for delivery of leadership development.
7. Experience of working with key NMAHP stakeholders e.g. the Scottish Government, National Workstream Leads, Territorial and National Board representatives
8. 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:
9. Life-work balance - with opportunities for flexible working and hybrid working
10. Generous NHS pension scheme
11. Annual incremental salary progression (up to the maximum of the salary band) plus annual NHS salary scale review
12. Annual Leave - 27 Days increasing in line with service plus 8 days public holiday
13. NHS discounts and more
Diversity and Inclusion
Developing a successful national service for Scotland is impossible without ensuring we consider the diverse needs, perspectives and backgrounds of everyone in Scotland in our work.
It’s not essential to be in a Head of Programme role right now. You may be returning from a career break (e.g. maternity, paternity, caring for others) or returning after working in another field. Your experiences elsewhere can bring a fresh perspective to our work.
If you are considering applying and feel it would be helpful to discuss this initially, please contact Diane Dickson, Associate Director NMAHP;
Next Steps
**NHS candidates will be considered firstly on a secondment basis, and so are strongly encouraged to discuss this with their current NHS employer at the earliest opportunity, ideally prior to application.
All applicants who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail.
In person OR online interviews (including a presentation) will take place on Wednesday 29th October OR Friday 31st October 2025. The presentation topic will be sent to candidates selected for interview.
For further information please refer to the Job Information Pack below.
Unless otherwise stated the deadline for applications is 23:59 hours on the closing date. Please note, CVs will not be accepted.
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 will check 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 website .
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 found .
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.