Laboratory Instrumentation Specialist (Research Machinist)

Job Summary

Department-Specific Responsibilities

• Provides instrumental and operations leadership, maintenance, and support for the full complement of instrumentation, specialized facilities, and administrative oversight of our capital equipment base. Given the curricular use of many departmental instruments, effective operation of the teaching labs requires that the individual carry out planned preventative maintenance and time-sensitive troubleshooting of problems.
• Oversees 2 TE employees responsible for lab operation, stores, and planning.
• Performs technical work; installs and maintains laboratory instrumentation, performs preventive maintenance, makes repairs, and performs upgrades to various systems in order to maintain optimal performance, reliability, and accuracy of the data produced by instrumentation,
• Supports integration and regular testing of instruments.
• Directly identifies and provides sources of training for departmental students, staff, and faculty on instrument operation and promotes best practices/standards of operation.
• May assist students/faculty with technical support.
• Maintains service and repair records for all applicable equipment; gathers price comparisons for budget.
• Maintains records for department-wide consumables, such as compressed gases and instrument time.
• Coordinates lab access by maintaining a roster of access privileges and programming door locks.
• Keeps up with the latest technology; makes informed recommendations to leadership.
• Supervises technical employees and ensures our instrumentation and support functions operate synergistically.

General Responsibilities

• Designs, fabricates, installs, maintains, and repairs new or unique scientific laboratory devices, equipment, components and precision instruments for research and teaching purposes.
• Consults with equipment end-users regarding design material selection and application; manages inventory of necessary supplies.
• Reads and interprets blueprints and hand-drawn sketches and oral instructions; measures to desired degree of accuracy.
• Uses computer software/programs to design parts and generate specifications needed to fabricate devices (such as CNC codes for machine tools).
• Tests and debugs prototypes and finished products; troubleshoots and diagnoses equipment failure and prescribes and makes necessary repairs or modifications.
• Oversees non-shop/lab personnel when in the shop/lab as to use of machines or tools; provides training and education resources as needed.
• Modifies purchased and existing equipment to meet experimental/research needs.
• May provide daily oversight and guidance to less experienced staff.

Qualifications

EDUCATION

Required

• High school diploma or equivalent (such as HSED or GED).

WORK EXPERIENCE

Required

• 2 years of formal training in machine trades.
• 3 years experience as a machinist.

Preferred

• 1 year of troubleshooting, maintenance, repair, or modification experience relevant to laboratory instrumentation, infrastructure, and/or electronics used in the chemical or other physical sciences.