Assistant Technical Specialist - School of Metallurgy and Materials - 104664 - Grade 6

Job Description

Position Details

School of Metallurgy and Materials, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £32,296 to £34,866 with potential progression once in post to £39,105

Grade: 6

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to February 2026

Closing date: 27th April 2025

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

 

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The University of Birmingham is committed to engineering excellence, and the School of Metallurgy and Materials is one of the UK’s leading centres for research, education, and innovation. The School is proud of its strong and extensive links with industry and boasts a creative and dynamic environment, which provides opportunities for both staff and students to develop.

The Energy Materials Group in the School of Metallurgy and Materials is a multidisciplinary team of Chemists, Material Scientists, Chemical Engineers, and Mechanical Engineers led by Professor Emma Kendrick. Our research revolves around all things related to battery innovation, including recycling, modelling, developing new materials, and optimising the battery manufacturing processes.

You will support these activities, being responsible for managing the day to day running and maintenance of equipment within the group labs, as well as line managing and setting work for other technical staff in the department. 

The primary focus of the Assistant Technical Specialist is to undertake practical laboratory work, train and support the Energy Materials Group members, maintain and care for the equipment, prepare equipment for use through routine maintenance and calibration, replenish and restock consumables, and ensure adherence to health and safety policies.

Role Summary

You will provide technical expertise, support, and guidance in research activities within the Energy Materials Group laboratories in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. You will lead on the installation, operation, maintenance, and management of cell manufacturing equipment related to slurry and electrode manufacturing and characterisation.

As a senior member of the technical team within the Energy Materials Group, you will need to demonstrate excellent customer service skills, maintaining a proactive attitude when communicating with facility users.

You will need a detailed understanding of relevant scientific techniques and experimental protocols. You will be able to use your strong technical knowledge to advise on procedures, diagnose and resolve problems, and proactively suggest solutions to issues which arise.

The role will require a commitment to maintaining high health and safety standards in shared, communal, laboratories alongside colleagues and students from a range of research groups.

You will form part of a large, diverse team of technical staff who collectively support the research and teaching activities in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. You will provide support to colleagues and students at all levels in the school, and will be expected to act as a role model and coach others as appropriate.

Main Duties

• You will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of all Energy Materials Group laboratories.
• Line management of technical staff in the facility, including conducting one-to-one meetings, annual PDR reviews, and supporting the training and development of your team.
• You may be asked to assist with teaching and outreach activities in the facility laboratories.
• You will maintain high standards of Health & Safety in the facility laboratories. 
• You will use your in-depth knowledge of methods and procedures to advise on techniques and experimental procedures being used by researchers and students. This will involve providing training for, and communicating with colleagues and students at a range of experience levels.
• You will need to be able to diagnose and resolve problems, and suggest solutions in regards to techniques and experiments. Provide specific support and advice, often challenging and reinterpreting requests.
• Carry out specialist technical and experimental procedures which will need you to use your judgment to assess the correct technique to use, and to consider how these may be improved, referring to your manager and Principal Investigator for approval on any proposed changes.
• You will need to maintain accurate records of all techniques and experimental procedures you carry out, and for any other research activities you may be involved in including results. 
• Awareness of wider activities in the facility, and make appropriate suggestions to solve these within own work area.
• Ensure compliance with legislation relevant to the area of the research activity.
• Create, comply with, and promote the risk assessments and operating procedures for the area.
• You may contribute to internal and external audit procedures and to regulatory inspections.

Health and Safety duties

• Proactive support for health and safety within the laboratory. This may include being required to look after a communal area as part of your duties. Comply with all current rules and ensure all required assessments are in place, approved, and in-date.
• Fully understand the safety aspects of equipment operation, and be able to demonstrate/train staff and students at all levels on the correct usage of the equipment.
• Ensuring that regular maintenance processes are carried out and that appropriate records are maintained. 
• Reporting any breaches or non-compliance with H&S procedures to the relevant staff members.
• Upholding the correct waste disposal stream as governed by College and local policy for the laboratory.
• Post holders may be asked to undergo training as a First Aider and Fire Warden.

General Administration and Organisation

• Ensuring all records are accurate and kept up to date.
• Proactively maintain stocks of consumables and, when required, generate purchase order requisitions using University systems, or delegate as appropriate.
• Receiving and correctly storing consumables/ equipment and chemical reagents.
• Ensuring that the facilities are maintained in a clean, functional, and safe condition; reporting any problems through the appropriate channels.
• Ensuring that testing, calibration of equipment, and locally and centrally held equipment inventories are up to date and maintained. 
• Adopt a proactive attitude to assisting with and implementing carbon reduction and energy saving measures.
• Maintaining relevant research lab databases/ records.

Other Duties

• In collaboration with the relevant manager, the post holder will take an active role in the training and mentoring process for junior or newly appointed staff.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
• Any other duties commensurate with the role, as may reasonably be required.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Extensive experience of similar laboratory-based work, together with familiarity with a wide range of laboratory equipment, equivalent professional qualification, or degree in a relevant STEM field.
• Proven specialist knowledge of characterisation techniques, methods, and procedures gained through either extensive experience and/or formal qualifications.
• Ability to diagnose/ resolve problems and suggest solutions in own area, whilst having regard to the local and wider interests. Extensive proven practical and technical experience of own area, its operation and development.
• Ability to test and implement new approaches, services or systems.
• Shows courtesy in dealing with others.
• Experience of working in a customer facing role, with a demonstrable experience of customer service principles.
• Needs to understand customer requirements and ensure solutions are developed to meet the needs of the customer.
• Ability to analyse problems and summarise key points to others, including non-specialist staff. Proactively anticipates and identifies problems/ weaknesses within own area based on own experience.
• Experience of training individuals to use specialist equipment.
• Demonstrable ability to plan ahead, work to deadlines involving time management and strong organisational skills.
• Ability to organise and manage own work load and demonstrate flexibility in terms of work practices and requirements.
• Demonstrable experience in laboratory management.
• Experience training and mentoring junior staff. Experience in line management and leading and developing a team is desirable.
• Able to develop and implement improvement programmes within own local, school or service area. 
• Manages own time and sometimes small project teams to meet a service or project needs.
• Will prioritise and delegate work as appropriate to ensure continuity of service.
• Provides technical guidance to junior team members. High level and range of technical support activities in specific area.
• Liaises with staff, students and technical colleagues to anticipate and understand need/ provide advice/ guidance.
• Ability to work under minimal supervision but function as part of a team. 
• Knowledge of current legislation relevant to the role.
• Knowledge of current H&S policies and ability to uphold same.
• Proficiency in commonly used software packages.
• Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Dimensions

You will provide specialist expertise in your area and provide advice and support to a range of customers. You may supervise staff; even where you do not have supervisory responsibilities you will be expected to act as a role model for other staff. You may be involved in budget monitoring.

Planning and Organising

You will be required to work independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision. You will ensure that you have the resources required, which will require planning ahead and procurement of goods.

Problem Solving and decision making

You will be able to research, modify and adapt protocols after consulting relevant manager, and prepare for research experiments. You will be able to uphold Health and Safety procedures. You will need to be confident in identifying problems, breaking them down and implementing solutions. Although you will work under the direction of more senior staff you will be able to carry out your work with a large amount of autonomy. 

Internal and External relationships

This role will be advising and supporting research staff and/or students, and with external contacts such as company representatives.

 

Informal enquiries to Ben Pye, email: b.pye@bham.ac.uk  or Prof. Emma Kendrick, email: e.kendrick@bham.ac.uk   

View our staff values and behaviours here  

 

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .

Job Info

• Job Identification 6094
• Job Category Specialist/Professional
• Posting Date 04/15/2025, 08:06 AM
• Apply Before 04/27/2025, 06:59 PM
• Job Schedule Full time
• Locations Metallurgy and Materials, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2SE, GB