Chemical Risk Assessor
| Posting date: | 12 November 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £36,944 to £42,244 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 10 December 2025 |
| Location: | AB11 5RL |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 4 days per week |
| Company: | Scottish Government |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 2721 |
Summary
Would you like to use your scientific expertise to help improve food safety and public health in Scotland?
The Risk Assessment Branch sits within the wider Science Division at Food Standards Scotland (FSS), and is a multidisciplinary team of around 20 professionals specialising in biology, chemistry, social science, and data science. Within the Branch, the Chemical Risk Assessment Team is responsible for providing chemical risk assessments and technical advice to support FSS’s work on food and feed safety.
The Chemical Risk Assessor role works under the direction of the two Senior Scientific Advisors in chemical food and feed safety. The purpose of the role is to deliver risk assessment and technical advice to policy and other colleagues in the area of chemical food safety so that robust risk management decisions can be made, as well as to manage research to deliver the evidence required to perform risk assessment.
Responsibilities
Provide specialist scientific advice and risk assessment on the chemical safety of food and feed. This will be both reactively in response to food incidents, and proactively as part of strategic risk assessments to inform the risk analysis process.
Provide internal scientific expertise to support other teams within FSS for example scientific briefings, training materials and scientific support around external communications.
Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the current status of chemical food safety topics across the UK and internationally as it relates to risk assessment, identifying data and knowledge gaps.
Undertake structured reviews of relevant datasets, published literature, and intelligence obtained through engagement with the scientific community and the food industry to address FSS’s evidence needs on the chemical safety of food.
Design, commission and manage external research identified to address knowledge gaps that cannot be delivered in-house. This will include presenting business cases on research needs and risks, estimating budgets, and managing contractors to ensure work is delivered on time and on budget.
Communication and presentation of scientific data and findings both internally and externally to a range of technical and non-technical audiences.
Build and maintain working relationships with individuals within FSS, in other government departments and external experts such as researchers and industry representatives to raise the profile of FSS and ensure Scottish interests are represented.
The Risk Assessment Branch sits within the wider Science Division at Food Standards Scotland (FSS), and is a multidisciplinary team of around 20 professionals specialising in biology, chemistry, social science, and data science. Within the Branch, the Chemical Risk Assessment Team is responsible for providing chemical risk assessments and technical advice to support FSS’s work on food and feed safety.
The Chemical Risk Assessor role works under the direction of the two Senior Scientific Advisors in chemical food and feed safety. The purpose of the role is to deliver risk assessment and technical advice to policy and other colleagues in the area of chemical food safety so that robust risk management decisions can be made, as well as to manage research to deliver the evidence required to perform risk assessment.
Responsibilities
Provide specialist scientific advice and risk assessment on the chemical safety of food and feed. This will be both reactively in response to food incidents, and proactively as part of strategic risk assessments to inform the risk analysis process.
Provide internal scientific expertise to support other teams within FSS for example scientific briefings, training materials and scientific support around external communications.
Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the current status of chemical food safety topics across the UK and internationally as it relates to risk assessment, identifying data and knowledge gaps.
Undertake structured reviews of relevant datasets, published literature, and intelligence obtained through engagement with the scientific community and the food industry to address FSS’s evidence needs on the chemical safety of food.
Design, commission and manage external research identified to address knowledge gaps that cannot be delivered in-house. This will include presenting business cases on research needs and risks, estimating budgets, and managing contractors to ensure work is delivered on time and on budget.
Communication and presentation of scientific data and findings both internally and externally to a range of technical and non-technical audiences.
Build and maintain working relationships with individuals within FSS, in other government departments and external experts such as researchers and industry representatives to raise the profile of FSS and ensure Scottish interests are represented.