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Job summary

Main area
Systems Engineering
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8c
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Job share
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
990-TDD-D&A-EC881-E
Employer
NHS England
Employer type
NHS
Site
Wellington Place / Wellington House
Town
Leeds / London
Salary
£99,380 - £114,511.25 per annum (this includes RRP of 25%)(Excluding London HCAS)
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
18/03/2026 23:59

Employer heading

NHS England logo

Principal Systems Engineer

NHS AfC: Band 8c

Our Organisation

The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.

As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.

As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

We are an accredited Living Wage Employer which means that every colleague working for our organisation and third-party contractors will earn a real Living Wage.  We are one of over 15,000 organisations, who voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage.

Job overview

The Data Platforms team is an engineering team within the Data & Analytics division of the Transformation directorate. The role relates to our work in both maintaining our legacy data platforms estate and transforming how the NHS uses data through the Federated Data Platform.

Principal Systems Engineers are responsible for national systems, leading the development and operation of these key systems. Principal System Engineers will work closely with and provide mentorship for Lead Systems Engineers and Senior Systems Engineers while guiding the technical delivery across multidisciplinary teams. We utilise Agile, Lean and DevOps delivery practices, with an emphasis on internet facing services utilising Cloud and open standards to create large scale national solutions for the NHS.

The post of Principal Systems Engineer has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts an additional monthly RRP payment equal to 25% per annum. 

Please be aware that RRP is none contractual and subject to review. 

Main duties of the job

This role will report into the Assistant Director of System Engineering

As a Principal Systems Engineer you will focus on:

  • providing technical leadership for national, highly available distributed systems being built and run within NHS England
  •           driving up the engineering maturity for these systems
  •           responsible for cyber security
  •           identifying and implementing efficiencies in the running these systems
  •          leading and contributing to broader engineering improvement initiatives across the directorate / organisation, and the ongoing refinement of the engineering principles

Working for our organisation

Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.

We lead the NHS in England by:

  • Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities
  • Making the NHS a great place to work, where people can develop and make a difference
  • Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
  • Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
  • Delivering value for money

Earlier this year, the Government announced that NHS England will gradually merge with the Department of Health and Social Care, to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and waste.

If successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.

Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.

Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Applicants should demonstrate experience in:

  • Strong cloud-based platform engineering experience – across AWS and/or Azure adopting PaaS and SaaS services
  • Implementing security and resilience techniques at system level
  • Designing and leading the development of highly available systems
  •          Working within a team to deliver software in a collaborative way
  •          Experience of taking a lead role, for example driving design decisions or managing stakeholders effectively.

It would be advantageous to have experience of:

  • Working on enterprise level data platforms in a regulated environment
  • Hands‑on full‑stack engineering, including cloud infrastructure
  • Coaching and developing engineers
  • Managing senior and non‑technical stakeholders
  • Agile delivery

At interview, we will also explore the following competencies: INFLUENCE: Uses evidence to make decisions and build alignment; KNOWLEDGE: Grows and shares expertise; understands evolving user needs
BUSINESS SKILLS: Introduces and leads on new technologies, collaborates with peers across the wider organisation; COMPLEXITY: Synthesises complex information and communicates it effectively; 
AUTONOMY: Empowers others, develops talent, and drives accountability

You can find further details about the role in the attached JD.

Important: Please be aware there are residency requirements you need to meet:

To meet National Security Vetting requirements, SC clearances require 5 years continuous UK residency. In certain cases, this can be reduced to three years continuous UK residency, with additional overseas checks for the previous two years.

All NHS England Principal Systems Engineer personnel must hold SC level as a minimum

You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

Please make sure you meet these requirements before applying for this role.  

 You don’t need to have SC already, however, failure to achieve the requirements for SC after offer, will result in the job offer being withdrawn. 

 

 

 

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • • Masters or equivalent qualification, specifically in a computer, scientific or mathematical subject or equivalent experience.

Experience

Essential criteria
  • • Working within a team to deliver software in a collaborative way
  • • Experience of taking a lead role, for example driving design decisions or managing stakeholders effectively.
Desirable criteria
  • • Working on enterprise level data platforms in a regulated environment
  • • Hands on full stack engineering, including cloud infrastructure

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • • Strong cloud-based platform engineering – across AWS and/or Azure adopting PaaS and SaaS services
  • • Implementing security and resilience techniques at system level
  • • Designing and leading the development of highly available systems
Desirable criteria
  • • Coaching and developing engineers
  • • Managing senior and non technical stakeholders
  • • Agile delivery

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoDisability confident committedStep into healthAccredited Living Wage Employer

Applicant requirements

This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Chris Ward
Job title
Assistant Director of System Engineering
Email address
[email protected]
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