Band 8a Senior Clinical Trials Research Pharmacist

Main area Clinical trials Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (inc. 1 in 6 Saturdays) Job ref 391-RFL-8074243

Employer Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Free Hospital Town London Salary £66,274 - £73,496 Per annum inclusive of HCAS Salary period Yearly Closing 10/09/2026 23:59

Band 8a Senior Clinical Trials Research Pharmacist

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Our trust has over 17,000 staff serving 2 million patients every year. It comprises Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital, North Middlesex University Hospital and more than 30 services in the community. This larger scale organisation provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue our pioneering work, particularly in finding ways to deliver even better care to our patients.

Our mission is to deliver world class care and expertise in our clinical services, underpinned by world class teaching and research and we will continue to measure our progress against our five governing objectives: excellent outcomes, excellent patient and staff experience, excellent value for taxpayers’ money, being safe and meeting our external duties, and building a strong organisation.

Everyone is welcome at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME, gender equality, staff carers and people with disabilities and lived experiences to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is committed to ensuring that its recruitment processes are carried out with integrity, transparency, and fairness for all applicants. To help maintain these standards, we ask candidates to provide accurate and truthful information throughout the recruitment process.

If incorrect or misleading information is identified, this may affect the progression of an application, any employment offer, or continued employment. As part of our due diligence, the company may verify the information provided by applicants and take appropriate act ion where necessary.

Senior Clinical Trials Research Pharmacist (Band 8a)

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and experienced pharmacist to join our Clinical Trials Pharmacy team as a Senior Clinical Trials Research Pharmacist (Band 8a).

In this role, you will support the delivery of a high-quality, compliant clinical trials pharmacy service across a broad portfolio of specialties, including early phase studies. Working closely with the Clinical Trials Pharmacy Manager and multidisciplinary research teams, you will lead on thepharmacy set-up, capacity and capability assessment, and ongoing delivery of clinical trials.

Working closely with R&D, investigators and sponsors, you will provide expert advice on clinical trial protocols, regulatory requirements, and safe medication use, ensuring compliance with GCP and all relevant legislation.

The role also includes a clinical component, including screening and checking trial prescriptions, patient counselling, and participation in dispensary and oncology rotas.

This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to innovative research and support the delivery of cutting-edge treatments within a collaborative NHS environment.

Main duties of the job

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading pharmacy input into clinical trial set-up and delivery
• Working across diverse specialties, including early phase research
• Collaborating with R&D teams, investigators, and sponsors
• Providing expert regulatory and clinical trials guidance
• Contributing to service development, audit, and governance
• Maintaining a clinical and patient-facing role with dispensary and oncology responsibilities

Working for our organisation

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s biggest and most innovative trusts. Across three main hospitals, our dedicated army of staff care for over 1.6million patients, treat more than 200,000 in A&E, deliver over 8,000 babies and carry out more than 17million tests.

Our size, scale and influence offer you unrivalled career opportunities and a forward-thinking approach to working that works around your lifestyle. From flexible hours and generous benefits, to next level training, we make it easier to take your career to the top.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description for more information about this role and working at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Royal Free World Class Values

• Demonstrable ability to meet Trust Values

Educational & Professional Qualitifications

• MPharm or equivalent
• GPhC registered
• Certificate in Pharmacy Practice or equivalent
• Diploma in Pharmacy Practice or equivalent
• Current Good Clinical Practice Certification

Experience

• Extensive experience working as a hospital pharmacist including a comprehensive band 6 rotation and demonstrable experience at band 7 working
• Demonstrable experience of working in clinical trials and undertaking capacity & capability review
• Experience of multidisciplinary working
• Experience in undertaking audit
• Experience in education and training
• Experience of writing and implementing clinical guidelines and standard operating procedures
• Knowledge of GCP, GMP, IMP and clinical trials medicines legislation
• Evidence of clinical trial GCP / GMP continual training
• Experience in the use of electronic prescribing systems
• Demonstrable experience of working in cancer services
• Demonstrable experience of working in technical services
• Experience in building treatment protocols / prescriptions on electronic prescribing systems

Skills and aptitudes

• Good written and verbal communication
• Good interpersonal skills when dealing with patients and staff
• Good negotiation skills and the ability to influence medical, pharmacy, and management staff
• Good management skills with respect to time, staff and available resources
• Good teaching and training skills
• Demonstration of advanced clinical knowledge and pharmaceutical skills
• Ability to manage risks
• Ability to implement best practice
• Ability to work both alone and as part of a team
• Ability to work accurately under pressure
• Ability to undertake audit
• Ability to evaluate service quality
• Ability to identify own training needs
• Ability to critically evaluate available literature
• Good understanding of current national standards and guidelines
• Good understanding of clinical risk and governance
• Computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft Office applications including Word and Excel

Personal Qualities & Attributes

• Enthusiastic, well motivated and hard working
• Demonstrates initiative
• Adaptable
• Approachable
• Resilient
• Self-aware & reflective
• Reliable

Other

• Flexible to work weekends, bank holidays, late duties and on-call
• AT* - Apprenticeship Training. Where AT* is entered next to the job title indicates that this vacancy is for an apprenticeship role.
• By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.Therefore we require you to complete your stat and Man e-learning modules prior to joining our organisation.
• If you are an EU/EEA citizen who does not have EU Settlement or Pre-Settled status, you will require a visa to work in the UK.
• You must already have the right to work in the United Kingdom or fully meet the eligibility criteria for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route. We welcome applications from candidates who require visa sponsorship; however, we can only consider these where all UKVI requirements are met. Before applying, please ensure that both you and the role satisfy the relevant UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) points‑based system criteria, as applications that do not meet these requirements cannot be progressed. For more information about the criteria, please click here
• If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks youridentity and right to work documentation will be verifiedremotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a "selfie" using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• The Trust will request a DBS (CRB) if post involves regulated activities. The Trust is compliant with the Disclosure and Barring Service Codes of practice and the Rehabilitation of offenders act.
• By applying for this post you are agreeing to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
• Please be aware of scams – unless specified above, we will only communicate with you via @recruit.trac.jobs or nhs.net e-mails and we will never ask you for any payments.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Please be advised that due to exceptionally high demand, all Royal Free accommodation is at full capacity and waiting lists are being held. Average waiting times are 12 months. Please do not rely on Trust accommodation when you commence your role and ensure you investigate alternative accommodation for your arrival.