King's College London

About us:

We have an exciting post within the Health Psychology Section at King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). The IoPPN promotes cutting-edge research and translation into practice, addressing a wide range of mental health challenges. You will work closely with an experienced clinical and research team and department, which includes postdoctoral researchers, PhD and MSc students, and clinical experts.

King's is currently ranked 31st best university in the world and 5th in the UK (2026 QS World University Rankings). We are the fourth oldest university in England and based in the heart of London, with more than 26,000 students from nearly 140 countries, and more than 7,000 employees.

About the role:

We are delighted to offer a combined practitioner psychology and research post in the field of binge eating disorder and bariatric treatment including weight loss surgery and GLP-1 injections.

This is a fantastic opportunity to help shape the future of obesity and mental health treatment and reduce health inequalities.

The role offers a unique platform to combine clinical work via Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust with leading-edge translational research at KCL funded by a King’s Health Partners Clinical Translational Medicine Award.

The post-holder will work with Dr Emily McBride and her team in the KCL Health Psychology Section, Department of Psychology (Guy’s Campus), as well as holding an NHS contract at University Hospital Lewisham and/or KCLH. Travel between KCL Guy’s Campus and the NHS site(s) will be required, where needed, to fulfil job responsibilities.

The post would suit someone with interests in developing a clinical academic profile in health/clinical psychology, who is passionate about obesity care and/or eating disorders.

As part of this role, you will:

• Refine and deliver an online binge eating group-based intervention for people with obesity who are preparing for weight loss surgery or injections (GLP-1), as part of an NHS Tier 4 bariatric pathway.
• Co-ordinate a feasibility trial assessing whether the binge eating intervention can be implemented, is acceptable to patients, and may improve readiness for obesity treatments among patients with binge eating.
• Manage trial delivery, including participant recruitment, data collection, monitoring, and analysis in collaboration with the Lead Psychologist/PI, statistician, and project clinical steering group.
• Engage with lived experience experts (patients and public) to help shape the intervention and future refinements.
• Conduct bariatric psychology clinical assessments for patients being considered for bariatric surgery and/or GLP-1 therapy in the trial.
• Supervise an MSc student on qualitative research examining patient engagement and acceptability of the intervention.
• Join a renowned academic research environment at KCL’s IoPPN with world-leading academics, PhD and MSc students, and access to regular psychology development seminars and research CPD.
• Work alongside a vibrant NHS team of psychology and bariatric clinical professionals including surgeons, dietitians, CNS, and psychologists (lead psychologist, assistant psychologist, and trainees).

This is a part time post (80% FTE; 28 hours/week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 30th September 2026. As the role is part time, the salary displayed on the advert will be amended accordingly (pro rata).

This position will require in-person working to meet the demands of the project as needed, and the post-holder will be expected to be on site for a minimum of 2 days per week. Provision for part-time hybrid/home working may be possible, where agreed.

The above list of responsibilities is not exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist with valid license to practice by the time of appointment of this post.
2. PhD and/or Professional Doctorate (or equivalent) in a relevant subject area, such as health psychology, clinical psychology, behavioural science, or obesity.
3. Experience of working with patients either in the field of bariatrics/weight management, obesity-related disease or LTCs, or eating disorders.
4. Experience delivering group-based psychological intervention using an established modality (e.g., CBT, CFT, ACT, DBT).
5. Experience performing specialist psychological assessment.
6. Experience of multidisciplinary team working, preferably in a health psychology setting.
7. Track record of research experience and/or research activities commensurate to career stage.

Desirable criteria

1. PhD in a relevant subject area (in addition to holding a professional Doctorate-level qualification needed for clinical practice).
2. Experience of independently managing a clinical research trial or NHS research project, including data collection and analysis.
3. Mixed-method research experience (i.e., quantitative and qualitative)
4. Supervision experience of psychology staff and/or students/trainees.
5. Peer-reviewed publications commensurate to career stage.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information:

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held in late July or August.