Job Description

The Department of Physics at King’s College London operates a state-of-the-art facility for fabrication and characterisation of thin films and nanostructures, which is a part of London Centre for Nanotechnology. Recent investment has established a new clean room facility, combined ISO 5 and 7, which houses a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition system. 

We are looking for a clean room engineer who will have experience in clean room workflow and maintenance and experience with thin film and atomic layer deposition processes. This role involves managing a clean room, fabrication lab in every respect. The post holder will be responsible for training users in atomic layer deposition and other techniques. They will manage the scheduling of experiments, validation and service visits and rotation of garments.

The role has a strong technical aspect, with job holder being responsible for maintenance of scientific instruments and clean room plant equipment.  The clean room engineer must build up a strong working knowledge of the suite of labs they are responsible for. This will allow them to troubleshoot issues as they arise, finding solutions efficiently to minimise downtime. The work will involve encountering changing priorities and differing situations.

The post holder will have recognised technical expertise and will have supervisory responsibility for technical service and training, supporting research activities. They will co-ordinate activities across several different user groups, such as PhD students, researchers, external and industrial users, as well as technical support team in the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences (NMES).

This role requires understanding and communication of complex information clearly and precisely. This may be in the form of e-mails, memos, reports, instructions/manuals, Risk Assessments, SOPs, or other documents. The job holder will liaise proactively and reactively with internal contacts (e.g., staff, students, and colleagues in the wider College community) and contacts outside the College (e.g., suppliers, colleagues in other HE institutions).

Within King’s, the position will be managed from the department of Physics, with belongs to the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences (NMES). NMES comprises Chemistry, Engineering, Informatics, Mathematics, and Physics with all departments highly rated in research activities and a wide-ranging portfolio of taught and research programmes. Supporting our staff is important to us and we offer a range of provision including flexible working, caring support, training, and promotion opportunities. 

The university is making significant investment in the Faculty and both student and staff numbers are growing. Our staff come from over 45 countries and around 56% of our students are from outside the UK.  

Further details available at   www.kcl.ac.uk/nms

The study of Physics at King's dates back to the foundation of the College in 1829. The Department is currently undergoing significant growth with substantial investment in new appointments, research infrastructure and laboratory space refurbishment. We offer a range of BSc (three-year) and MSci (four-year) undergraduate courses as well as MSc and PhD programmes. 

Further information may be found at:   http://www.kcl.ac.uk/physics  

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent.

Key responsibilities

• Oversee daily clean room actives and experiments  
• Manage Budgets for maintenance contracts, reagents, and consumables 
• Work with and train PhD students, researchers, and external clients to specify and deliver their fabrication needs. 
• Oversee timing and resourcing of clean room-based equipment, timetabling use of the room and its instruments. 
• Provide safety advice, assist in the writing of risk assessments, and ensure that correct procedure for clean room use is adhered to at all times.  
• Manage maintenance of both scientific instruments and surrounding plant equipment.  
• Organise and work with contractors and engineers from outside of King’s to maintain and validate the clean room and surrounding equipment. 
• Maintain, run and train user on new instruments that are bought into the Clean Room Space.  
• Build relationships with lab users, academic and technical staff as well as a strong network of service contractors and engineers to help maintain the lab.   

  Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria  

1.       MSc or PhD in materials science, engineering, physics or related disciplines 

2.       Knowledge and skills of clean room maintenance 

3.       Knowledge and skills in thin film deposition 

4.       A demonstrable record of working in clean room environment 

5.       Knowledge of atomic layer deposition processes  

6.       The ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing 

7.       The ability to work part of a team 

8.       Ability to organise and manage own workload 

9.       Ability to train PhD students and other researchers in clean room and facilities working   

10.   Ability to take effective decisions and effective problem solver 

Desirable criteria

1.       Experience with atomic layer deposition systems 

2.       Experience in thin film deposition 

3.       Experience of writing risk assessments and SOP’s 

4.       Project management skills for self and other team members