Position Details
College of Medicine and Health
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,546 to £29,171, with potential progression once in post to £32,595
Grade: 4
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 2nd July 2026
Background
The successful applicant post will join a small team of technicians who provide the dedicated core support for the teaching laboratories to deliver the College of Medicine & Health’s practical teaching commitments. The post holder will be primarily responsible for the day-to-day setup, takedown of equipment and materials used in practical sessions and prepare the required materials needed to deliver practical sessions within the designated laboratory areas. The post involves significant preparation of undergraduate class materials (reagents & equipment), and the setup of practical classes. The post holder will be expected to help and assist students during practical sessions as and when requested.
Role Summary
You will provide technical support to teaching activities as required, utilising your technical skills and a wide range of techniques. You will also be expected to ensure your working area is safe and support others in following health and safety instructions. You may need to operate out of normal working hours to accommodate classes. In order to flexibly use resource you may be given the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider University.
Main Duties
Teaching Support Duties:
- You will provide a wide range of supporting activities within the teaching laboratories, including active participation during the practical sessions, by carrying out the following tasks:
- contribute to planning the most efficient/effective means to turnaround the daily classes;
- setting up and clearing away of equipment, consumables and reagents, ensuring laboratories are suitably prepared for practical sessions;
- testing, maintaining and calibrating a wide range of precision instrumentation;
- preparing a variety of materials and reagents and equipment to a high degree of accuracy using a variety of techniques. You will need to accurately calculate concentrations, percentages and dilutions;
- monitoring and replenishing consumables, including preparing orders and collecting items from stores;
- diagnosing and resolving the majority of in-class problems, including with equipment;
- demonstrating the use of a wide range of relevant equipment and techniques during classes;
- testing and, where appropriate, modifying protocols in conjunction with manager;
- liaising with relevant managers with regard to requirements and accurately instruct other staff;
- preparing the laboratories for other events such as open days. You may be asked to participate in demonstrations on open days.
Health and Safety:
- You will be expected to uphold compliance with all University and local Health & Safety policies, including risk assessments and manual handling, reporting any breaches or non-compliance to the relevant manager.
- You will be expected to manage the safe handling and disposal of all materials used in practical classes, including hazardous materials.
- If required, assist or prepare risk assessments and keep these up to date.
- You will need to maintain all records as appropriate.
- Carry out regular maintenance processes as appropriate.
Administrative duties:
- You may be required to assist with PAT testing and calibration of equipment, and with updating equipment inventories.
- Maintain stocks of consumables and, if necessary, creating purchase order requisitions.
- Receipt and correct storage of consumables and chemical reagents.
- Ensure that the facilities are maintained in a clean, functional and safe condition, reporting any problems.
- Reporting any problems with equipment or services which cannot be resolved to the line manager as appropriate.
- Adopt a proactive attitude to assisting with and implementing carbon reduction and energy saving measures where practicable.
- Supports equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
- Any other duties commensurate with the grade and skill base of the post holder.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- NVQ, BTEC/ONC at level three or equivalent level three qualification and specific relevant experience in an appropriate subject.
- GCSE level 2 (A*- C) or equivalent level 2 qualification in mathematics and English.
- Practical experience of relevant techniques e.g., cell culture, molecular biology, HPLC, western blotting, physiology, biochemistry or manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and a working knowledge of Good Laboratory Practice and/or Good Manufacturing Practice.
- Experience of working in a laboratory based teaching or research environment; or be able to demonstrate the capability to participate with practical classes or research projects.
- Ability to organise and manage own workload after consultation with manager.
- Familiarity with the use of a wide range of general laboratory equipment e.g. balances, pH meters, autoclaves, glass washing machines, microscopes.
- Proactive approach to Health and Safety matters, together with the communication skills to interact with a range of people, including students.
- Ability to be flexible to meet deadlines.
- The post-holder will be fully familiar with the safe handling and storage of laboratory materials.
- Good IT skills, having a familiarity with both Windows and/or Apple Macintosh OS will be advantageous.
- 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.
Dimensions
You will have no direct line management responsibility (other than occasional instructions to other staff) and no budget to manage.
Planning and organising
You will be able to schedule and organise your own work within the priorities and requirements for the area.
Problem solving and decision making
You will deliver a level of service to colleagues/customers/students as agreed, carrying out daily teaching support as required. You will be expected to apply your knowledge and experience to resolve issues with equipment or experiments for student classes.
Internal and external relationships
This role will be advising and supporting teaching staff and students.
Further particulars can be found here
Informal enquiries to Matthew Sutton, email: [email protected]
Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.
We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .
