Principal Business Intelligence Developer

Transformationunitgm; City of London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS foundation trust in London is seeking a Principal Business Intelligence Developer. This role involves providing expert leadership in a complex technical environment, managing development projects, and designing solutions to meet user needs. Ideal candidates will possess substantial experience with SQL and database management systems as well as a Masters level education in a related discipline. This full-time position offers competitive salary and excellent working conditions.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in systems integration into large scale data warehouse.
• Experience developing Business Intelligence outputs using enterprise BI tools.
• Education to Masters level or related experience in IT.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert advice and guidance in project definition.
• Manage development projects to completion.
• Analyze and design solutions for operational issues.

Skills

SQL

Database management systems

Data modeling

Problem-solving

Communication

Education

Masters level in related discipline

Specialist training in database administration techniques

Tools

SQL Server

Microsoft SharePoint

Oracle

Job description

Main area Principal Business Intelligence Developer Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 196-COF10981-T

Employer Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Francis House, Health Informatics, 1st Floor Town London Salary £64,156 - £71,148 p.a inclusive of HCA Salary period Yearly Closing 07/12/2025 23:59 Interview date 15/12/2025

Principal Business Intelligence Developer

Band 8a

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

The Health Informatics Development Team consists of an agile DevOps team primarily focused on the delivery of IT enabled change and a DataOps team concerned with the effective technical operation of the complex information management environment.

This post is for a senior technical and development lead on the DevOps team, which currently consists of ten team members with varying levels of skills. The technology environment consists of newly developed Microsoft Business Intelligence systems using SQL Server BI stack tools like (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS), delivered via SharePoint and Power BI, as well as the new Trust EHR system (EPIC). The post holder will be expected to utilise the entire stack, including front-end EPIC reporting tools.

Technical development and maintenance may be required across any of these areas and therefore the department requires a breadth and depth of technical knowledge across the team to support this complex environment.

Interviews are provisionally scheduled to take place on 15th or 16th December

Main duties of the job

The role will require the post holder provide their expert advice and guidance in the definition of projects and the design of products to meet customer’s needs.

The post holder will be expected, within the context of the broader programme of work, to manage development projects to completion, overseeing the work required to achieve project goals and being involved in the design and implementation of processes to support the transition of those products into operation – e.g. support processes, documentation, user training etc.

Similarly the post holder will need to be able to analyse and design solutions for problems or issues with products and systems in operation – providing second/third line support and expertise for systems in operation.

The post holder may be called upon to train others or promote and explain products and systems to customers across the organisation.

You will be part of the development team responsible for developing BI technology to consolidate and professionalise our current estate, including the newly implemented EPIC stack.

Development tasks may be required across any of these technology and data operations areas and therefore you will need a breadth and depth of technical knowledge across the team to support this complex environment. You will have opportunity to learn and gain experience across technical areas that you may not have previously encountered.

Working for our organisation

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. Recent NHS staff survey results, show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The role is one of senior technical lead in a development function supporting the development of information systems and information resources across a broad and complex technical environment. It will involve the detailed analysis and understanding of complex technical and business requirements across multiple services within the Trust to deliver high quality products and facilitate their delivery into business as usual operation.

The role will require the post holder provide their expert advice and guidance in the definition of projects and the design of products to meet customer’s needs.

The post holder will be able to utilise their highly developed specialist knowledge, derived from knowledge of theory, training, and/or extensive experience, to suggest solutions to problems or business requirements and work these through from design to implementation.

The post holder will be expected, within the context of the broader programme of work, to manage development projects to completion, overseeing the work required to achieve project goals and being involved in the design and implementation of processes to support the transition of those products into operation – e.g. support processes, documentation, user training etc.

Similarly the post holder will need to be able to analyse and design solutions for problems or issues with products and systems in operation – providing second/third line support and expertise for systems in operation.

The post holder may be called upon to train others or promote and explain products and systems to customers across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Guide less experienced developers, provide code reviews, and enforce best practices in coding and design.
• System Architecture: Collaborate with expert Trust colleagues to design the structure of applications, ensuring scalability and maintainability.
• Project Collaboration: Work closely with project managers, stakeholders, and other team members to ensure alignment with project goals.
• Collaboration with Cross-Trust Developers: Work with developers to understand application requirements and design efficient databases in standalone and shared environments.
• Database Management: Design and maintain database systems, configure hardware, and optimize database performance.
• Data Security and Integrity: Implement security protocols to protect data from unauthorized access or breaches.
• Performance Tuning: Optimize database performance through indexing, query tuning, and efficient resource management.
• Database Monitoring and Troubleshooting: Continuously monitor databases to identify and resolve issues before they impact users.
• Data Migration and Upgrades: Plan and execute database migrations, version upgrades, and transitions with minimal disruption.
• Software Design and Development: Write and review code, implement new features, and ensure the software meets functional and non-functional requirements.
• Documentation: Document code, design decisions, and development processes to ensure knowledge transfer and continuity.
• Continuous Improvement: Research new technologies, improve development processes, and contribute to optimizing the team’s workflow.

Key Skills Required

• Technical Skills: Proficiency in SQL, database management systems (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server), and familiarity with cloud databases (e.g., AWS RDS, Azure SQL).
• Data Modeling: Ability to design normalized, relational, and sometimes non-relational databases.
• Security Protocols: Knowledge of database encryption, access controls, and other security best practices.
• Performance Optimization: Experience in performance tuning techniques such as indexing, caching, and load balancing.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical skills for troubleshooting issues in database systems.
• Communication: Ability to explain complex technical issues to non-technical stakeholders.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters level in related discipline or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in Information Technology, informatics or related specialist discipline
• Plus, additional specialist training
• Specialist training in database administration techniques including either of Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server.
• Specialist training in Microsoft Active Directory domain environment.
• Specialist training in Microsoft SharePoint administration or development.
• Specialist training in an object orientated programming language.
• ITIL Foundation
• Prince Foundation or Practitioner

Experience

• Substantial experience of developing systems and processes to integrate data into a large scale (enterprise) data warehouse product.
• Substantial experience of designing and modelling complex datasets and information systems to meet with complex and changing customer requirements.
• Substantial experience of designing and developing Business Intelligence outputs using appropriate enterprise BI tools (Business Objects, MS SSRS, PowerView, Tableau, QlikView etc.)
• Experience of formal software development and testing tools and methodologies.
• Experience of working in a tightly controlled change management environment with source code control.
• Experience leading or advising technical and non-technical teams in good/best practice and innovation within the NHS or IT spheres.
• Experience of researching best practice, interpreting relevance, and identifying practice which could be implemented to achieve improvements.
• Experience working with NHS mental health, community and/or acute datasets.
• Experience of authoring high quality technical and user documentation to support the adoption and further development of Information systems.
• Experience of developing or designing solutions to deliver information content through Microsoft SharePoint.
• Experience of database administration and performance tuning at an enterprise level.
• Experience of Epic Cogito suite of tools including Caboodle, Clarity, Radar, Reporting Workbench, Data Gateway, and Slicer Dicer

Skills

• Ability to plan ahead and anticipate potential problem areas, devising and implementing appropriate solutions
• A comprehensive working knowledge of the Microsoft SQL Server product, including its services and their use.
• Comprehensive knowledge of different database schema designs and their preferred use. Including standard data modelling principals.
• Use of PowerShell (or similar scripting) to manipulate Windows or Oracle Server Services.
• Programming using T-SQL syntax to manipulate SQL Server databases and instance variables (DDL & DML).
• Use of Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services and Integration Services for data transformation and manipulation.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and team working/building skills.
• Ability to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information.
• Ability to negotiate with senior stakeholders on difficult and controversial issues, and present complex and sensitive information to large and influential groups.
• Ability to negotiate on difficult and controversial issues including performance and change.
• Understanding of IM&T within the NHS including understanding the information flows between NHS organisations
• Knowledge of all aspects of the information technology industry including hardware, software, security and telecoms.
• Knowledge of Microsoft High Availability technologies to support Database/Data warehouse operations.
• Knowledge of XML and/or XML-based messaging.

Additional Information

• Highly methodical and organised with ability to work on own initiative whilst planning team workload and priorities.
• High level of numeracy with good attention to detail.
• Flexibility to adapt working patterns to meet fluctuations in demand.
• Can maintain high levels of concentration whilst being interrupted.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personalcircumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Due to recent changes in the UK immigration rules which affect Skilled Worker Visas, Global Business Mobility, Higher Skill Level and Increased Salary Thresholds, please ensure that you are able to meet the requirements to live and work in the UK before applying. Further informationabout eligibility is available on the UK Government website.

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