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Job Title Senior Support Scientist for Macromolecular Crystallography Village
Job Reference 009/17/CH
Post Type Full time / 3 year Fixed Term Contract
Division Life Sciences
Salary information £32,480 to £38,211 (Discretionary range to £43,943)
Application deadline 26/03/2017


Job Description

Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility. Located on the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire a 20 minute drive south of Oxford in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Diamond Light Source conducts world-class research in virtually all fields of science and offers rewarding career opportunities covering both technical and scientific disciplines.

The macromolecular crystallography village at Diamond comprises of 7 beamlines dedicated to life science studies, from high throughput highly automated facilities through to world first, technically challenging macromolecular crystallography beamlines. Significant advances in automation have been made which cater for a demanding and diverse user programme that provides a stimulating environment to continually drive new developments to enable ever more challenging structural biology experiments to be realised.

We are seeking to recruit a Senior Support Scientist to join the Macromolecular Crystallography group. The post holder will contribute to developing and supporting the MX group’s user programme; automated systems for data collection and logistics of samples and shipments; user support; staff and user training; maintaining documentation (manuals, websites) and providing operational support to the group.

It is preferable that candidates have appropriate experience in macromolecular crystallography and are familiar with synchrotron beamlines. Experience in programming (HTML5, Javascript, PHP) and/or logistics is highly desirable. Training will be provided where necessary.

This post provides an exciting opportunity to contribute to the continued success of a world-leading scientific facility.

Duties / Reponsibilities

Provide technical and scientific support to the operational MX beamlines and user programme to ensure effective use of Diamond facilities by all users. Provide cover for scheduling of user beamtime across the MX village under the supervisions of the Principal Beamline Scientists. Assist in developing MX beamline capabilities and support infrastructure in collaboration with other MX staff.

To support the MX Village in the following areas:

  • Development and support of remote and automated collection and the supporting logistics infrastructure including both software and hardware development;
  • Village operations support including day-to-day management of operations support technician;
  • Local contact support to users by setting up and providing advice and guidance on the best approach to experiments, data analysis and research techniques;
  • Measurement of samples including data analysis and contributing to publications;
  • Undertake problem solving and fault diagnosis of the beamline;
  • Develop and maintain expertise in a scientific field, and apply it to user support;
  • Work closely with other scientific and technical staff to produce designs for  new systems, equipment or processes;
  • Collaborate with users and in-house staff research within area of expertise;
  • Contribute to scientific papers from external or in-house research;
  • Produce reports and documentation (e.g. manuals, webpages, social media) to support the beamlines and laboratories;
  • Administrative tasks in support of user scheduling for the MX village.

Qualification & Experience - Essential

  • Appropriate first degree / Ph.D. or relevant experience 
  • Proven organisational skills with good attention to detail;
  • Good interpersonal, communication and presentational skills;
  • Willingness to help and the ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team;
  • Flexible approach to work;
  • Ability to work independently;
  • Ability to interact effectively and diplomatically with staff and facility users at all levels;
  • Self-motivation;
  • Experience in working within a scientific or academic environment;
  • Experience of macromolecular crystallography.

Qualification & Experience - Desirable

  • Line management experience;
  • Experience in a support role;
  • Experience in programming (HTML5, Javascript, PHP);
  • Experience of instrument development and deployment;
  • Experience of logistics systems implementation;
  • Experience of synchrotron beamlines.

 

Further Information

Applying for employment

For further details on applying for employment at Diamond, please visit our 'Application Form' page.

Appointments will be made depending on the skills and experience of the candidate. Electronic Diamond application forms in MS-Word are preferred. These should be emailed to recruitment@diamond.ac.uk



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