Laboratory Operations Administrator (Cancer Tools)
£27,000 - £33,000 plus benefits
Reports to: Operations Manager
Directorate: Research & Innovation
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time 35 hours per week
Location: Kent Discovery Park, Sandwich, Kent (Onsite)
Closing date: 13 July 2025 23:55
This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. Please let us know if there is anything about the recruitment process that you would like to discuss, in particular if there are any changes or adjustments that would make it easier for you to apply. Please contact
[email protected] or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible.
Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is
not able to offer visa sponsorship.
Recruitment process: Screening call followed by competency based interview at the lab in Kent.
At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.
CancerTools.Org are looking for a proactive and ambitious logistics admin professional to join the team as a Laboratory Operations Administrator.
About The Team
CancerTools.org, the research tools arm of Cancer Research UK (CRUK), is a non-profit, global community of cancer researchers, academic institutes, and professional societies, with a shared mission to accelerate cancer research. With a history of more than 40 years of managing and providing reagents to both academic and for-profit laboratories around the world, CancerTools.org has been steadfast in its mission of accelerating cancer research by making research tools widely and easily available, extending CRUKS influence to a global audience
What will you be doing?
As the Lab Operations Administrator, you’ll be responsible for ensuring smooth despatch and tracking of customer orders, as well as for the inbound shipping of materials into the laboratory. In addition, you will support the team in managing stock levels, laboratory consumables and day to day administration of the lab facilities. The role will develop to become more directly involved with customers and ensuring that CancerTools.org offers the best service to both academic and industrial partners.
This role has a direct impact on our mission enabling world class researchers to continue their life saving work by providing them with the research materials that they need. You’ll be joining a growing team of individuals passionate about what they do, so we are looking for candidates who thrive in a dynamic startup environment, keen to make the role their own and grow with us.
Key duties include:
- Facilitate day to day shipping activities for inbound and outbound orders to and from customers and other partners.
- Assist the team with administrative and financial processes. This includes processing sales orders and invoices, setting up customers and suppliers to support KPI progression and reporting.
- Support the laboratory operations team in setting up vendors and liaising with internal and external stakeholders.
- Work closely and build relationships with Group Accounting and Accounts Payable.
- Act as first-level triage for our customer services inbox and communicate with internal stakeholders to ensure effective resolution of customer enquiries.
- Support the Operations Manager to implement plans within the team. Preparation for team meetings, including managing meeting invitations, preparing agendas, attending, and taking minutes, and circulating the key actions and notes.
What skills are we looking for?
- Experience in a customer focussed role, with hands on experience in a sales organisation, with a particular focus on logistics
- Able to identify and challenge assumed and embedded practices to improve standards and processes.
- Proven success of good stakeholder management, with the ability to build strong working relationships and collaborate effectively.
- The ability to prioritise, manage conflicting deadlines, work well under pressure and manage multiple tasks at once. Strong attention to detail.
- Collaborative and comfortable working in a team environment
- Good IT skills, including the ability to use all the main Microsoft packages (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint) and the ability to learn new systems.
Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.
Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination
Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism
Human: Act to have a positive impact on people
Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively
We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.
If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.
What will I gain?
We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.
You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.
How do I apply?
We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you fairly and objectively.
For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us at
[email protected].
For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.
Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.
We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact
[email protected] or
020 3469 8400 as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.
