Senior Technician: Geotechnical Centrifuge

University of Sheffield - School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

The Role:

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Geotechnical Centrifuge Technician for a central role within one of the UK’s most successful engineering schools. This position is the technical core of our advanced Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility, enabling world-class physical modelling of complex geotechnical systems, including foundations, slopes, and buried infrastructure. Your work will directly support research in climate resilience of infrastructure and net-zero transitions by simulating realistic ground behaviour under controlled laboratory conditions. You will collaborate closely with a network of researchers, staff, industry partners, and external organisations, ensuring the facility operates at peak performance.

Our facility features a 4-metre diameter beam centrifuge capable of achieving 125 g acceleration, equipped with brand-new data acquisition systems, actuators, and high-resolution imaging. Your primary responsibility is to manage the effective operation, scheduling, and continued technical development of this essential research apparatus. A core technical duty involves providing expert technical support and training to researchers in centrifuge modelling methods, instrumentation, and experimental design. This includes advising on and directly supporting the development, setup, and execution of experiments, to achieve high data quality and robust research outcomes.

The role demands high proficiency in technical operation and maintenance. You will be responsible for carrying out systematic maintenance, servicing, modification, and repair on specialised instrumentation and equipment to prevent breakdowns and guarantee maximum facility uptime. Beyond the Centrifuge Facility you will also provide technical service and advice to staff and students across the department’s wider Materials, Structures, and ICAIR Laboratories. Furthermore, a strong commitment to safety leadership is required; you must have proven experience in applying workplace Health and Safety in a Laboratory environment, including the ability to conduct risk and COSHH assessments to a high standard, and maintaining all vital safety documentation.

If you are a technically proficient individual ready to drive research innovation in civil and structural engineering, we encourage you to apply.

What We Offer:

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more.

Find out more at sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits and join us to become part of something special.

We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.