Senior Biological Teaching Technician

Salary: £29,605 to £30,487 with progression to £32,982 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits . We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 23 April 2024

The Role

The Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE) is looking for an enthusiastic Senior Biology Teaching Technician to become part of our dedicated team supporting the delivery of practical classes in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. 

Your role as part of a technical support structure, affording you an opportunity to join a community of technicians working in a world class academic hub and supporting the faculty research, learning and teaching.

The successful candidate will have a good working knowledge of Health and Safety policies and procedures in a laboratory setting. You will preferably have some experience in a relevant technical role in a science environment.
with good organisation skills, be proactive, forward thinking and be able to meet tight deadlines.
You should be forward-thinking diligent with excellent attention to detail. We are seeking to appoint a positive individual who embraces team working and collaboration.

For informal enquiries, please contact David Whitaker by email: [email protected]

The position is available for a June start date for a fixed 9-month period, as maternity cover.

For further details about Newcastle University please visit our information page at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/about

For more information about the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences please click here .  

To apply, please complete an online application and upload a CV and a cover letter. Your cover letter is a supporting statement, and you should outline how you meet the essential criteria of the role and evidence this with examples.

Key Accountabilities
•    In conjunction with the technical team leader for the activity, be responsible for, the day-to-day operation of specific facilities or pieces of equipment. To undertake fault diagnosis, testing, repair, calibration and preventative maintenance on instrumentation under the roles responsibility
•    To be responsible for the disposal of hazardous materials according to standard University procedures. Ensure compliance with relevant safety procedures including relevant risk assessments. In conjunction with the School safety officer monitor compliance with all statutory and local safety arrangements
•    To train and advise staff and students in appropriate laboratory techniques, equipment and good laboratory practice to ensure that they are able to carry out their work in a safe manner. To provide laboratory supervision and training for postgraduate and undergraduate project students and occasionally, for other technical staff using the facilities to ensure safe working practices are followed
•    In conjunction with the PIs, RAs, other technical staff and PGR students as appropriate, identify consumable and equipment requirements and initiate their ordering according to the School and University purchasing procedures for practical classes and projects. Keep financial records of any activities as directed by the technical team leader
•    To prepare solutions, materials, biological specimens and equipment (both sterile and non-sterile) required for practical classes and projects and deploy them appropriately in the laboratory to permit efficient working during classes. This will often require the specialist expertise (including asceptic technique or molecular biology) of the post-holder and will require research and liaison with relevant academic staff
•    To inform students and academic staff of safety and legal compliance issues related to projects and practical classes to be undertaken in the laboratory.  Students and academic staff are responsible for the production of appropriate risk assessment, COSHH and BioCOSHH forms for their projects and practical classes but these should be reviewed by the post-holder
•    To test and modify (after consultation with the academic staff involved) proposed practical experiments to ensure that they are suitable for UG, PG teaching
•    To support and guide students alongside the academic staff and researchers involved with development, troubleshooting and completion of UG and PG projects
•    Organise schedules for the availability and operation of key analytical instruments to ensure that the conflicting demands of students, staff and teaching are accommodated fairly
•    Any other duties within the scope and general nature of the grade which may be required

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 
•    Demonstrable work experience in a relevant teaching laboratory technical role
•    Thorough working knowledge of Health and Safety procedures
•    Excellent team working skills
•    Demonstrates technical and problem solving capability
•    Demonstrates good organising ability to meet deadlines, with a positive and proactive approach to duties and diligence and attention to detail
•    Contribute to design and specification of research/teaching activities
•    Ability to adapt to changes in laboratory teaching priorities
•    A good theoretical and practical knowledge of biology
•    Knowledge of the theory and application of relevant protocols and experimental techniques

Attributes and Behaviour
Team-working (Self)
•    Works collaboratively with others, plays a positive role in teams and establishes and grows relationships across the organisation where different skills, expertise and opinions are valued
•    Shares relevant and useful information with others
•    Respects the expertise and contribution of others even if own opinion is different
•    Willing to help others and share workloads

Planning and organising (Self)
•    Works in a planned and structured way
•    Ensures that all activities are completed on time
•    Ensures that others know how processes and systems work
•    Set own priorities in conjunction with team and area objectives

Finding Solutions
•    Looks at ways of overcoming obstacles rather than coming to a standstill
•    Keeps an open mind to alternative ways of doing things
Delivering services (Self)
•    Keeps fellow team members up to date with progress
•    Pays attention to detail
•    Has a positive attitude for doing things better
•    Takes responsibility for achieving own targets
•    Co-operates with others to achieve targets
•    Strives to deliver high quality results
•    Is enthusiastic in getting job done on time

Embracing change (Self)
•    Recognises the need for change and is forward looking. Promotes the benefits of change to others and regularly comes up with new ideas. Has the willingness to adopt new ways of working and to make improvements

Qualifications
•    Apprenticeship in an appropriate subject with experience in a relevant technical role; or BTEC level 4 / HNC / HND; or A-level (or equivalent) qualification; or broad work experience acquired through a combination of vocational training and considerable on-the-job experience, demonstrating development through progressively more demanding relevant roles

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are aDisability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26894