Senior Clinical Psychologist

Job details

• Job reference: 251166
• Salary: Band 8B (£76,888 - £82,251)
• Job closing date: 03/08/2026
• Job Type: Other Therapeutic
• Location: Royal Edinburgh Hospital
• Employment type: Permanent
• Hours Per Week: 36
• Job posted date: 20/07/2026
• Employer (NHS Board): NHS Lothian
• Department: CMHT - Psychology

NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.

AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot can be great for planning and preparing your application—but your answers must be your own.

• Show us the real you: Your application should reflect your skills, experience, and motivations authentically.
• Use AI wisely: It’s fine to use AI for ideas or to check spelling and grammar, but don’t let it write your answers.
• Why this matters: Applications that rely on AI-generated content may be withdrawn. By applying, you confirm your responses are based on your own knowledge and achievements.

Tip: Think of AI as a helper, not a substitute. We want to understand you—not an AI tool

We are delighted to welcome applications for this 8B Principal Clinical Psychologist post within the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) Psychology Service. This post will be supported by the service lead and provide the opportunity to take a senior role within an innovative and motivated team.

You will hold a caseload of highly complex cases, including psychosis and will act as a highly specialist resource to multi-disciplinary and multi-agency colleagues through supervision, consultancy and training. In addition, you will provide supervision and line management to several psychology staff within the service.

The main base for this post will be within one of the Edinburgh Community Mental Health teams.

Audit/research is actively encouraged within the service and there is a commitment to the professional development of staff. There is the opportunity to be involved in several current service initiatives including the development of treatment pathways for patients with psychosis and complex mental health needs and supporting staff to work in trauma informed way.

The department is supported by Royal Edinburgh Associated Services (REAS), and there are reporting lines to the Services Director of Royal Edinburgh Associated Services (REAS), however all posts are managed within the Psychology Department. This is led by the Director of Psychology with a team of senior staff who are committed to supporting and developing staff alongside quality improvement and other programmes that enhance the quality of care provided.

You must have a Doctoral level degree (or equivalent) in Clinical Psychology and be registered with the HCPC and have experience of working within an MDT setting and with complex mental health presentations. Experience of working with psychosis and of providing supervision to qualified staff is desirable.

Enquiries to: loth.psychologyadminhub@nhs.scot

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. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.

This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.

Due to legislative changes from 1 April 2025, this post may require a different level of criminal records check done than is currently the case. If the post is assessed as a "regulated role", your appointment will be subject to joining the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. If there is any change to what is currently required, this will be confirmed by either the Hiring Manager or the Recruitment Team. For more details on these changes please visit: Disclosure Scotland Changes.

NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.

AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot can be great for planning and preparing your application—but your answers must be your own.

• Show us the real you: Your application should reflect your skills, experience, and motivations authentically.
• Use AI wisely: It’s fine to use AI for ideas or to check spelling and grammar, but don’t let it write your answers.
• Why this matters: Applications that rely on AI-generated content may be withdrawn. By applying, you confirm your responses are based on your own knowledge and achievements.

Tip: Think of AI as a helper, not a substitute. We want to understand you—not an AI tool

We are delighted to welcome applications for this 8B Principal Clinical Psychologist post within the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) Psychology Service. This post will be supported by the service lead and provide the opportunity to take a senior role within an innovative and motivated team.

You will hold a caseload of highly complex cases, including psychosis and will act as a highly specialist resource to multi-disciplinary and multi-agency colleagues through supervision, consultancy and training. In addition, you will provide supervision and line management to several psychology staff within the service.

The main base for this post will be within one of the Edinburgh Community Mental Health teams.

Audit/research is actively encouraged within the service and there is a commitment to the professional development of staff. There is the opportunity to be involved in several current service initiatives including the development of treatment pathways for patients with psychosis and complex mental health needs and supporting staff to work in trauma informed way.

The department is supported by Royal Edinburgh Associated Services (REAS), and there are reporting lines to the Services Director of Royal Edinburgh Associated Services (REAS), however all posts are managed within the Psychology Department. This is led by the Director of Psychology with a team of senior staff who are committed to supporting and developing staff alongside quality improvement and other programmes that enhance the quality of care provided.

You must have a Doctoral level degree (or equivalent) in Clinical Psychology and be registered with the HCPC and have experience of working within an MDT setting and with complex mental health presentations. Experience of working with psychosis and of providing supervision to qualified staff is desirable.

Enquiries to: loth.psychologyadminhub@nhs.scot

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. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.

This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.

Due to legislative changes from 1 April 2025, this post may require a different level of criminal records check done than is currently the case. If the post is assessed as a "regulated role", your appointment will be subject to joining the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. If there is any change to what is currently required, this will be confirmed by either the Hiring Manager or the Recruitment Team. For more details on these changes please visit: Disclosure Scotland Changes.