Job vacancy: Post-Doctoral Research Scientist, Welsh Blood Service, Pontyclun

Job summary

Main area: Research Science
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 7
Contract: 12 months (Fixed Term)
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 120-HS007-0726

Employer: Welsh Blood Service
Employer type: NHS
Site: Welsh Blood Service
Town: Pontyclun
Salary: £50,129 - £57,365 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 13/08/2026 23:59

Post-Doctoral Research Scientist

NHS AfC: Band 7

Here at Velindre University NHS Trust we are extremely proud of the specialist services we provide across the whole of Wales in our cutting-edge Velindre Cancer Centre and our award-winning Welsh Blood Service, as well as the expertise of our corporate functions that bring the two divisions together. We are also fortunate to host the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and Health Technology Wales and have developed strong partnership working with these expert services.

As a division of Velindre University NHS Trust, the Welsh Blood Service (WBS) is an amazing place to work and develop your career. Our caring and motivated staff are designing, developing and delivering improvements, which will enable the WBS to strive towards its vision of working with our staff & the people of Wales to deliver an easy to use, safe and sustainable service for blood and stem cell donation.

As a trusted healthcare provider, we work tirelessly to maintain the highest standards of quality, safety and donor experience.

We are currently embarking an ambitious 5 year strategy called “WBS Futures” where we have set out our vision for blood and transplant services in Wales for the next 5 years. It sets out where we are now, where we want to be in 2028 and the steps we will take to get there.

You can read more about our strategy here: www.welsh-blood.org.uk/welsh-blood-service-strategy-2023-2028

WBS is a committed equal opportunities employer.

Take a look at what we do. Our dedicated career pages can be found at https://welsh-blood.org.uk/careers/

Applications may be submitted in Welsh. Applications submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

Please check your email account regularly. Successful applicants will receive all recruitment related correspondence via the email account registered on the application form.

The salary scale for a Band 3 has been adjusted as part of the NHS Agenda for Change pay award for 2026/2027 and will be implemented in August 2026 backdated to 01 April 2026 where applicable.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click 'Apply now' to view in Trac.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Postgraduate qualification in a biological science

Desirable criteria

PhD in a biological science

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience of post-graduate research at a doctoral level
Experience of working in either a clinical or a research laboratory
Significant wet laboratory experience
Experience of verbal and written communication of complex information
Experience of training others in laboratory methods and supervising implementation of new processes
Experience of planning experiments to meet project objectives and delivering work within set timelines
Experience of writing academic publications in the life sciences
Experience of analysing and interpreting large and complex datasets
Knowledge of research methods

Desirable criteria

Knowledge of Good Practise Guidelines
Experience of manufacturing blood components
Demonstrable experience of optimising and validating either manufacturing technologies or testing platforms and adapting new technologies
Experience of working within a regulated environment (e.g. ISO 9001, GLP, UKAS, MHRA)
Experience of conducting research and evaluation in transfusion medicine field
Experience of contributing to external funding applications

Skills

Essential criteria

Clear verbal communicator with good scientific report writing and presentation skills.
Capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and complex information
Ability to analyse and interpret scientific data, pre-empt and evaluate issues and recommend appropriate course of action
Ability to work independently and within a team.
Can work on own initiative, is self-motivated, organised and meticulous
IT literate & willingness to develop IT skills using various software packages
Generic Laboratory skills e.g. pipetting, microscopy etc
Planning and organisational skills and ability to prioritise work and work to deadlines
Self-confident, motivated and reliable
Proven ability to take a leading role on multidisciplinary projects and ability to interact with external partners on fast paced projects Willing to travel overseas e.g. to conferences

Desirable criteria

Welsh is desirable at level 1
Knowledge of QMS inc. change control, CAPA & incident reporting

Other

Essential criteria

An interest in evidence-based medicine and practise
A desire to deliver high quality work
Proactive approach to tasks
Respectful of other people’s opinions and ideas
Flexible and creative, continuously improving
Able to take responsibility for own work
Ability to be flexible in hours worked in accordance with exigencies of the service

Desirable criteria

Awareness of the Velindre NHS Trust Values

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR APPLICANTS:

Applications for our roles are carefully reviewed and shortlisted based on specific criteria, which varies from job to job. Using a generic application to apply for multiple roles or relying on automated AI application services, such as Lazy Apply or AI Apply, may not provide the necessary information, leading to your application not demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria. To ensure your application meets the criteria, we recommend submitting a tailored application that directly addresses the criteria listed in the Person Specification section of the advert.

To work in the UK, all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care visa or Skilled Worker visa, unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply should self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship by visiting Work in the UK. If you are eligible for the Health and Care visa, application costs are lower and you do not need to pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.