HARMONI Spectrograph Clean Room Technician (cryo / vacuum) Full Time

Oxford, Oxfordshire
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Department of Physics, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford

Job Reference: 161387

Salary: Grade 7: £34,308 – £42,155 p.a.

Department of Physics, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford

Applications are invited for the post of Clean Room Technician. The technician will assist with the assembly, integration and test (AIT) of the spectrograph units and their components, including cryo-testing at 130K in test chambers housed in two ISO 7 Class Clean Rooms.

The appointment is at Grade 7, but consideration will be given to underfill the post at Grade 6 with the appropriate adjustment in duties, based on amount of experience and qualification level. This is a re-advertisement of the post, so candidates who have applied previously need not re-apply.

The post is available initially for a fixed-term duration of 4 years subject to project completion timescales

The University of Oxford is leading the build of HARMONI, the spectrograph for the world’s largest ground based optical telescope, the European Extremely Large Telescope. The spectrograph team at Oxford are just completing the opto-mechanical design of four identical spectrographs, and will be assembling & aligning the units (approx. 2m x 1m x 1m) and verifying their performance at 130 K in specialist cryo test chambers.

The successful candidate will assist with assembly, alignment and testing of spectrograph modules (collimator, grating wheel, camera) at ambient and cryo temperatures (130 K), followed by alignment and performance verification of entire spectrograph units in a cryo test chamber. Four identical units comprising of mirrors, gratings and lenses will be assembled, aligned and tested. The successful candidate will be expected to oversee the operation, up-keep and maintenance of cryo-vacuum chambers and related mechanical equipment in the clean rooms and coordinate and organise external support where necessary.

Applicants should possess a HND, NVQ4, BTEC Advanced Award or have equivalent experience. For candidates with “on-the-job” experience, two professional references are required which specifically detail the applicant’s experience and expertise. Candidates should have the ability to work well on their own or as part of a team and have excellent communication, organisational and technical skills. Ability to interpret technical sketches and engineering drawings is essential.

Further details of the responsibilities, essential and desirable criteria can be found in the full Job Description.

Previous experience as a clean room technician and/or having worked in a research environment will be an advantage.

Candidates are expected to demonstrate experience of working in a laboratory and/or clean room environment, and have experience in assembling and maintaining scientific equipment, preferably cryogenic vacuum chamber use & maintenance.

Please direct enquiries about the role to Professor Niranjan Thatte ()

Only applications received before midday 25 November 2022 can be considered. You will be required to upload a letter of application/supporting statement, CV and details of two referees as part of your online application.

Closing date: 25 th November 2022