Laser Cleaning Technician — Field-Based, UK-Wide
Location: Field-based, covering the whole of the UK (home postcode flexible)
Reports to: Operations Manager / Technical Manager
Contract: Full time, permanent.
Salary: £32,500 + overtime (Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays - time and half. Double time for night work.)
Travel: Extensive UK travel with regular overnight stays
Sectors served: Insurance restoration, construction, heritage conservation, manufacturing
About the role
Laser cleaning is a genuinely new trade in the UK, we're not looking for someone who has done it before, nobody has. We're looking for people we can train to become the first generation of laser cleaning technicians in Britain.
You'll travel to customer sites with a high-power laser system and use it to strip, clean and prepare surfaces: removing soot and smoke damage from a fire-damaged building for an insurer, taking a century of pollution off carved stonework on a listed church, stripping coatings and corrosion from structural steel, or preparing weld areas on a production line. Every substrate behaves differently, and a large part of the skill is judgement: reading the material, dialling in the right parameters, proving it on a test patch, and understanding when the desired surface finish has been achieved.
You'll work alone on smaller jobs and as part of a two or multiple person team on larger projects. Full in-depth training is provided, including laser safety, system operation and maintenance, substrate knowledge and sector-specific working practices.
Key responsibilities
On site
- Set up, calibrate and operate mobile laser cleaning systems on customer premises, including establishing the laser controlled area, signage and screening before work begins
- Select and prove laser cleaning parameters against the substrate, using trial patches and progressing only once the result is agreed with the customer or specifier
- Set up and monitor fume extraction and filtration, and work within the site's fire precautions and hot works permit requirements, where necessary.
- Work to Risk Assessment and Methods Statement (RAMS), complete site inductions and permits when required, and carry out dynamic risk assessments as conditions change.
- Record work accurately on the company’s Operating System: before/during/after photography, parameters used, areas covered, time on tools, consumables and any substrate concerns
- Represent the company credibly to clients including lost adjusters, conservation officers, architects, site managers, production engineers and homeowners, often people who have never seen this technology before
Technical
- Carry out kit checks and maintenance as required including protective windows, optics, fibre routing, chiller and coolant levels, filters and cabling.
- Diagnose and resolve faults in the field: error codes, power and supply issues, chiller and cooling faults, contaminated or damaged optics, scanner and umbilical problems - and know the line between a field fix and when to call technical support
- Keep the laser system, PPE, spares, test equipment and van in serviceable, calibrated condition
- Log faults and issues into the company’s Operating System, to assist continual improvement programme
Development
- Complete our full training programme and ongoing competency assessments
- Help train new technicians as the team grows, and contribute to method development for new substrates and sectors
Essential
- A practical, hands-on background with evidence of skilled manual work and technical problem-solving -- see "Where you might be coming from" below
- Full UK driving licence with no more than 6 points; comfortable driving long distances.
- Right to work in the UK
- Genuine willingness to travel nationally and stay away from home regularly
- Physically capable of the work: on your feet for long periods, working in full PPE, at height or in awkward positions, in unheated and dusty environments, lifting and manoeuvring equipment
- Meticulous attention to detail and the discipline to follow safety procedures exactly, every time, without supervision
- Confident using tablets, job management apps and basic Microsoft Office
- Able to pass DBS check, as some insurance work is in occupied homes
Desirable
- Electrical or mechanical experience, or a time-served trade apprenticeship
- CSCS card, SSSTS/SMSTS, IPAF, PASMA, asbestos awareness, working at height, confined spaces, first aid
- Experience in one or more of our sectors: fire and flood restoration, construction, stone or building conservation, fabrication, surface treatment or industrial cleaning
Where you might be coming from
Because nobody in the UK has done this job before, we hire on aptitude. Technicians often come from backgrounds like: abrasive blasting and coatings, restoration and disaster recovery, stonemasonry and building conservation, welding and fabrication, CNC or machine operating, industrial or specialist cleaning, plant maintenance, and ex-Forces technical trades. If you're skilled with your hands, methodical, and interested in a technology at the front end of its adoption in this country, we want to hear from you.
Character traits of an excellent laser cleaning technician
Technical knowledge we can install. These are the things we're actually selecting for.
Trainable, in the adult sense. Willing to learn a new trade, take instruction, follow the method as written before improvising.
Self-disciplined, “can do” individual able to work on their or within a team.
Patient and methodical. Laser cleaning rewards slow, even, systematic coverage and punishes rushing. Someone who needs constant novelty and instant results will find this frustrating; someone who finds a rhythm in careful work will excel.
Has an eye. Especially on heritage and insurance work, the difference between a good result and a contaminated substrate is judgement about finish, colour, patina and when clean is clean enough.
Understands irreversibility. Certain surfaces need extra care with the laser technology. A great technician is genuinely cautious, tests first before extending scope, understands when to escalate and request extra help.
Self-reliant, and a decent teammate. You can run a job alone in an empty building at 6am and also work shoulder to shoulder in a team for a fortnight without friction. Both are needed, sometimes in the same week.
Diagnostically curious. When the laser throws a fault or the substrate reacts unexpectedly, you will want to understand why and get to the route cause of the problem.
Composed with people, including upset ones. Insurance work means walking into someone's home or business after a fire. Heritage work means answering a conservation officer's scepticism. Construction means working together with other trades. The technician who stays calm, plain-spoken and respectful wins the job for us again.
An ambassador for something new. Customers will be curious, doubtful, or expecting magic. A good technician can explain in plain English what the laser does and doesn't do, manage expectations honestly.
Rigorous about records. Photos and parameters aren't admin, they're our evidence, our quality control, and increasingly our institutional knowledge for invoicing, for disputes, and for the next technician facing the same substrate.
Resilient about the lifestyle. Motorways, Travelodges, cold sites, full PPE, late finishes. The right person has thought about this honestly, and so has whoever is at home.
Honest. Someone is honest in everything they say and do.
What we offer
- £32,500 salary, paid overtime, overnight and subsistence allowance
- A full, structured training programme in a skill that essentially nobody else in the UK holds, including laser safety, system operation and maintenance, substrate science and sector working practices
- Company vehicle, expenses float, all PPE including prescription-compatible laser eyewear, tools, tablet and £10 monthly phone bill contribution.
- 25 Days holiday plus bank holidays
- Pension
- Genuine progression as we grow: senior technician, team leader, trainer, laser safety officer, technical support, or operations
- Accommodation booked and paid for by us.
How to apply
Send a CV and a short note telling us about why think you would perform well in this role. No laser experience required or expected - we'll teach you that.
Pay: £32,500.00 per year
Benefits:
Work Location: On the road
