Student Casual – Dry Lab Senior Teaching Technician – Collaborative Teaching Laboratory – Grade 5 – 906874

Job Description

Position Details:

School or Department: Collaborative Teaching Laboratory, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Grade/Band: Grade 5

Hourly rate: £16.29 per hour plus holiday entitlement

Casual contract from: 29/09/2025 – 22/11/2025

Advert closing date: 18/09/2025, 23:55pm

Number of positions available: 2

Please note that this vacancy may be taken down early depending on the number of applications received. We advise you to submit your application promptly.

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 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.

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 Collaborative Teaching Laboratory (CTL) represents a £42m investment in STEM teaching. The CTL provides primarily undergraduate students with a transformational teaching experience in state-of-the-art facilities to encourage and enable inter-disciplinary working.

This position will suit a candidate with good experience working within a laboratory environment. The role holder will ensure that expert in-class support is provided to ensure that all aspects of practical classes run well, and that the student experience is high.

This remit for this role is to provide support to academic teaching, although you will not be teaching yourself. Instead, the position is designed to ensure everything is in place ready for students at the start of a session and to help with any issues that may arise during teaching.

Role Summary

You will provide technical expertise, support and guidance in support of teaching. You will be expected to act as a role model and coach others as appropriate.

You will need a significant understanding of the requirements to deliver undergraduate classes, an in-depth understanding of all main subject areas, the ability to respond quickly and positively to changes in protocols, and troubleshoot problems, and optimise protocols to ensure a positive student experience. You may need to operate out of normal working hours to accommodate classes.

In order to flexibly use resources, you may be offered the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider university.

Main Duties

• Ensure that practical classes are set up in a good time for published start times. This will involve ensuring that consumables and equipment are set up and calibrated etc as required.
• You will plan, based on the available timetabling information, the most efficient/effective means to turnaround the daily classes, checking practical layouts prior to classes and ensuring that all requirements are in place.
• Ensure that classes run without equipment breakdowns. To assist with the development of new experiments making suggestions that could lead to a better user experience.
• Ensure the premises and environment are safe, clean, tidy and well maintained.
• Provide training to students and staff in the safe operation of specialist equipment, assist the lab manager to keep and maintain all appropriate training records
• To assist with the upkeep of CTL equipment ensuring that it is maintained to a satisfactory standard through regular inspection, checks and testing. To assist with the maintenance, repair, calibration and cleaning of equipment in-house. To assist with the safe disposal of redundant equipment quickly and appropriately.
• You will discuss the daily programme of work with your manager and other technical staff in the area to ensure the daily programme of work, session protocols and outcomes are clear.
• You will research, design, trial & modifying practical protocols for class teaching.
• Support the teaching laboratories managers where required and to deputise for them in their absence.
• Initiate discussion with the teaching laboratories manager on any issues that may compromise the core function of the laboratories or for information that is related to the core functions of the teaching laboratories.
• Prepare and support open day, Applicant Visitor Day events, Continuous Professional Development and other external requirements within the laboratories or other areas as and when required.
• Demonstrate equipment use, high level techniques and procedures to staff and students.
• Trouble-shoot and respond to problems, which may occur during practical sessions, using your in-depth knowledge and your ability to diagnose/resolve problems and suggest solutions.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
• Any other duties as may reasonably be required.
  
  

Person Specification

• Applicants should have technical experience of working in and/or studying a STEM subject – experience working in and/or studying Electrical Engineering would be preferred.
• The ability to identify non-obvious faults and troubleshoot equipment.
• In-depth practical knowledge of relevant technical and scientific methods.
• Be familiar with the use of a broad spectrum of general laboratory equipment and specialised equipment.
• Extensive experience of similar laboratory-based work, together with familiarity with a wide range of laboratory equipment.
• Positive service attitude and shows courtesy in dealing with others.
• Ability to organise and manage own workload and demonstrate flexibility in terms of work practices/requirements.
• 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
  
  

Additional Information

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 up to date.
• Fully understand the safety aspects of equipment operation and be able to demonstrate/train staff (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 manager(s).
• Upholding the correct waste disposal stream as governed by College and local policy for the laboratory.
• Postholders may be asked to undergo training as a First Aider.
  
  

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.
• Receipt and correct storage of 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 PAT 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.
• Maintain a technical support-based teaching laboratory website (how to guides for the preparation of materials, practical setup guides), and keeping these up to date as and when session requirements or protocols change or maintaining relevant research lab databases/records.
  
  

For any informal queries, please contact Allen Forbes (a.forbes.1 @bham.ac.uk)

View our staff values and behaviours here

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.

The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 20 hours per week during term time. If your application is successful and your course does not follow the usual academic term timetable (e.g. PGT, PGR or PhD student), you and your supervisor must formally agree vacation periods if this role exceeds 20 hours per week. In addition to this, please be aware if you are an International student you will be required to apply to the Registry for the appropriate Authorised Absence.

You are only eligible to apply to this role if you are a current University of Birmingham student. If you are not a University of Birmingham student your application will not be considered.

To work you will need to carry out a right to work check.These checks will need to be completed prior to work commencing.