Senior Research Technician

database management, and technical reporting.

You will join a collaborative, supportive group and have the opportunity to thrive in a university environment developing future technology. You will work and grow in a team whose culture centres on people, collegiality, quality, internationalisation, and sustainability.

The post is funded through 28 February 2028 and is therefore offered on a fixed-term basis. However, there is a strong likelihood of extension, subject to the availability of continued funding.

In this role you will:

• Deliver complex hollow-core fibre characterisation activities across multiple research and industrial programmes.
• Perform fibre preparation, coupling, attenuation measurements, OTDR measurements, cutback measurements, and fibre-optic assembly characterisation.
• Manage and develop characterisation databases to ensure effective retrieval and traceability of experimental data.
• Deploy established simulation and modelling tools to evaluate expected fibre performance and compare model predictions against experimental results.
• Analyse, interpret, and report complex experimental and simulation datasets supporting high-impact publications and strategic research collaborations.
• Identify fibres capable of meeting specific project and collaborator requirements through interrogation of technical databases and historical datasets.
• Maintain laboratory procedures, technical documentation, and quality records associated with fibre characterisation activities.
• Support researchers and students through training, technical guidance, and knowledge sharing.
• Prepare and communicate technical reports and characterisation results to project teams, industrial partners and external collaborators.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of laboratory practices, measurement quality and statistical process capability monitoring.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Significant experience in optical fibre, photonics or related experimental activities.
• Experience undertaking complex scientific or engineering measurements and interpreting experimental data.
• Experience with optical test and measurement equipment and laboratory-based experimental techniques.
• Experience managing or maintaining technical datasets, databases or structured experimental records.
• Experience analysing technical results and communicating findings to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong organisational and planning capabilities.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting capability.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience with hollow-core optical fibres.
• Experience with optical fibre characterisation techniques including attenuation measurements, cutback measurements and OTDR measurements.
• Experience with fibre rewinding, preparation, and deployment for testing.
• Experience with scanning electron microscopy.
• Experience using MATLAB, Python, or equivalent scientific software tools.
• Experience performing statistical analysis, process capability assessment or trend analysis.
• Experience working with industry-funded research programmes.
• Experience communicating technical results to customers or external stakeholders.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge hollow-core fibre research within a globally recognised research group.
• Engagement with major industrial and government-funded programmes.
• A collaborative and supportive working environment.
• Opportunities for professional development and technical specialisation.
• Access to world-class research facilities and expertise.

For general inquiries regarding this position, please contact Professor Austin Taranta, a.a.taranta@soton.ac.uk.