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Job Title Support Scientist / Senior Support Scientist, BLI19
Job Reference DIA1075/TH
Post Type Full time / permanent
Division Physical Science
Salary information Circa £28K and Circa £34k for appointment at the senior level
Application deadline 13/09/2015


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 position will be based on Beamline I19 at Diamond, which is designed for small-molecule single-crystal diffraction using an intense x-ray beam (5-25 keV) to study the structural properties of materials in detail. The successful applicant will work on this state-of-the art beamline which is designed to study small and weakly diffracting crystals, for time resolved studies, for anomalous dispersion studies and for studies involving complex crystallography.

Suitable candidates should be experienced with single-crystal diffraction instrumentation and methodology, structure solution and refinement. Familiarity with the principles of synchrotron x ray single-crystal diffraction would be an advantage and he/she should have a strong interest in a specific area of materials science, physics, chemistry and pharmaceuticals. The position will involve some participation in beamline commissioning and development and the successful candidate would be expected to be able to assist in the setting up of the beamline in advance of NCS beamtime.  

Support Scientist - Scientific support to I19 beamline and the user operation programme.

  • Local contact support to users by setting up and providing advice and guidance on the best approach to experiments, data analysis and research techniques;
  • Assist in the installation, assembly, and maintenance of a range of equipment and systems on the beamline and support laboratories, including testing and commissioning;
  • Support of in-house research activities;
  • Test samples sent to Diamond by users; including data reduction and basic reports;
  • Maintenance of the beamline during operations;
  • Undertake problem solving and fault diagnosis of the beamline;
  • Produce reports and documentation (e.g. manuals, web-pages) to support the beamline.

Senior Support Scientist - Scientific support to I19 beamline and the user operation programme.

  • Local contact support to users by setting up and providing advice and guidance on the best approach to experiments, data analysis and research techniques;
  • Assist in the installation, assembly, and maintenance of a range of equipment and systems on the beamline and support laboratories, including testing and commissioning;
  • Support of in-house research activities;
  • Test samples sent to Diamond by users, including data reduction and basic reports;
  • Maintenance of the beamline during operations;
  • Undertake problem solving and fault diagnosis of the beamline;
  • Produce reports and documentation (e.g. manuals, web-pages) to support the beamline;
  • Develop and maintain expertise in a scientific field and apply it to user support;
  • Collaborate with users and in house scientists within area of expertise;
  • Develop new instrumentation and software in collaboration with support teams to upgrade the performance of the beamline, in a self-responsible way;
  • Contribute to scientific publications as part of in-house research or external research. 

Qualification & Experience - Essential

  • Appropriate Science Degree;
  • Experience in the use of scientific instrumentation;
  • Experience in scientific data collection;
  • Knowledge of synchrotron radiation techniques;
  • Experience in synchrotron radiation based research;
  • Good interpersonal, communication and presentational skills;
  • Ability to interact with staff and facility users at all levels;
  • Ability and initiative to get to the heart of the problem and take it effectively through to completion;
  • Ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team;
  • Good organisational and planning skills;
  • Self motivation;
  • Ability to work flexibly with occasional weekend and out-of hours working.

Additional requirements, essential for appointment at the senior level:

  • Appropriate PhD and three years relevant experience;
  • Experience in supporting Scientists in the conduct of research in a synchrotron or equivalent facility;
  • Capability of providing full data analysis to the users.

Qualification & Experience - Desirable

  • Appropriate PhD and three years relevant experience;
  • Expertise of small-molecule single-crystal x-ray diffraction and data analysis;
  • Good knowledge of writing scripts in Python or equivalent language;
  • Experience with Windows/Linux/Unix.

Further Information

  • Must be available to travel occasionally within the UK and abroad, including overnight absences.

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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