Senior Technical Specialist in Sheffield

Sheffield Hallam is a university of purpose: we transform lives. Our ambition is clear and bold – to be a world-leading applied university through the real-world impact we have on our students and society. In this role you would make a vital contribution by providing highly skilled technical support to enable researchers and students to access the full value of the excellent equipment in our analytical facilities.

You would be directly involved in supporting laboratory-based activities including undergraduate and post-graduate student research projects, other practical teaching, research, innovation and knowledge exchange activities. You will work closely with team members to achieve this and support a range of areas of the University.

You would provide line management to a small number of staff and, as part of local management groups, contribute more widely to the leadership and management of technical staff and facilities. You will need to have excellent laboratory and chemical safety knowledge. You will also need to have in-depth practical experience and knowledge of mass spectrometry (ideally mass spectrometry imaging) and associated techniques, with a high level of expertise gained from experimental design, method development, troubleshooting, data processing and interpretation.

Highlights of our mass spectrometry equipment base currently include:

• Waters Select Series Cyclic with DESI and ESI ionisation sources
• Waters Select Series MRT with MALDI and DESI ionisation sources
• Waters Synapt XS with nano LC
• Agilent 7250 GC-qToF with PAL autosampler and Markes TD system
• Bruker Autoflex Speed
• PerkinElmer NexION 5000 multi-quadrupole ICP-MS equipped with ESI ImageBio 266 laser ablation system

These instruments are used for a range of applications including mass spectrometry imaging, metabolomics, proteomics and structural analysis. We also have further MALDI, DESI, LC- and GC- mass spectrometers and a range of other analytical equipment. In addition to research use, our undergraduate and masters students experience sector-leading access to advanced analytical instrumentation, which you will work with the team to support.

Experience with a wide range of relevant equipment and applications would be an advantage. However, it is more important to have in-depth experience with some of the techniques/applications and to be able to demonstrate your aptitude and enthusiasm to learn and use advanced analytical/imaging techniques, and to enable others to use them by providing excellent training and support.

You will be expected to work flexibly and have, or develop, skills to allow you to support the team’s delivery across a range of disciplines. You will be highly motivated and meticulous in your work, with a professional work ethic, and ability to work both independently and collaboratively across team boundaries, sharing your expertise to develop the knowledge and skills of colleagues and to ensure customer-focussed results.

The team Technical Operations, Resources and Services (TORS) provides unified technical support across Sheffield Hallam University. The service supports face-to-face teaching and all practical activities to a high standard, supported by having a highly skilled technical services team. Within TORS, the Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (RIKE) teams have a particular focus on support for research facilities and the staff and students who use them.

RIKE team members also provide support for taught activities as appropriate. We work closely with other teams to provide an agile and responsive service that delivers highly skilled support with customer service at the heart of it. We enable students and staff to gain maximum value from use of laboratory facilities through provision of excellent training and support.

In particular, the holder of this post will work closely with members of the Science and Technology (S&T) teams to support laboratory-based projects and teaching. The main duties of the RIKE technical teams include:

• Provision of expert support and guidance for users of specialist facilities and equipment
• Troubleshooting issues as they arise
• Provision of demonstrations and training on instrumentation and techniques
• Support for taught activities including student projects and preparation of facilities and materials for under- and post-graduate practical classes
• Developing future practical classes in collaboration with academic colleagues
• Maintenance of the site’s infrastructure and logistical arrangements such as: laboratory housekeeping, management of chemical inventories and waste, equipment life-cycle tasks (including planning, procurement, commissioning, operation, maintenance and disposal) and health and safety-related support.

You will be contractually enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) – one of the largest and most generous defined benefit pension schemes in the country.