Senior Technical Officer (CDIO)

Post Title:                  Senior Technical Officer (CDIO)

SBU/Department:      School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science

FTE: 1.0fte (working 37 hours per week) although job share and 0.8fte (29.6 hours per week) would be considered if required

Duration of Contract: Permanent

Salary: UH5 £25,642 – £28,792 pa (or pro rata if applicable) dependent on skills and experience

Location: College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

We are a committed equal opportunities employer and we particularly encourage applications from applicants who may wish to job share or work part time, as well as from women candidates to reflect staff under-representation, where it exists, and our diverse student cohort.

The School of Physics, Engineering & Computer Science is seeking to appoint a Senior Technical Officer into an exciting, multidisciplinary Technical role to support our students as they learn a range of hand-on engineering and prototype development. The School offers a range of degrees including in Physics, Robotics & AI, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Automotive Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering. We’ve recently re-developed these Engineering programmes to bring about a new, stimulating, practical led approach to engineering education, and we want you to join us at this exciting time, giving you an opportunity to develop your career as we expand in this area.

Main duties & responsibilities

The role entails the preparation of materials and equipment for practical, commercial and short course classes as required in one or more areas of the School. This mainly involves support for our specialist techniques in our CDIO studios. These are our new spaces for students to get innovative in their engineering, to Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate their own creative solutions using a range of engineering and prototyping approaches. While the CDIO spaces will be your main hub, you will have opportunity to engage with challenges across our undergraduate and postgraduate portfolio and occasionally support in other areas within the School. On a day to day basis you will be involved in demonstrating the safe use of practical engineering tools, demonstrating competence across a range of technical equipment alongside an opportunity to showcase some of your more specialist skills that could motivate and enthuse our students, generating that creative spark!

Skills and experience needed

You will need proven professional experience of working in a general laboratory/workshop environment, ideally with students in the FE or HE sector. You will have an understanding of mechanical principles and will be able to demonstrate and explain the use of equipment to assist students with designing and manufacturing across a range of subject areas including our Aerospace, Automotive and Mechanical cohorts. As this area grows we will support you to learn new techniques to support our new CDIO approach, and you should be open and willing to work with colleagues from both Technical and Academic backgrounds to support our students learning

We don’t expect you to have experience and knowledge of all areas, but we would expect you to have specialist knowledge in one or more of the following areas: manufacturing equipment (milling, lathe work etc.), hand tools and CNC, rapid prototyping and additive manufacture (3D printing), laser cutting, prototyping (system design), electronics, or embedded systems (Arduino, raspberry pi etc.). You must be able to champion your specialist area(s) and support our students to develop their own skills in the area(s), adhering to all relevant Health & safety guidance.

As we work both independently and within a team, you’ll be flexible in your approach and attitude, with a client-oriented approach and able to prioritise to meet deadlines. Good communication and interpersonal skills are key.

Qualifications required

You will hold a minimum of A-levels or equivalent level qualifications or have proven experience. A recognised qualification in an appropriate subject at degree or HNC/HND level or equivalent is desirable.

Please view the Job Description and Person Specification for a full list of the duties and essential criteria. Please use your Personal Statement to show how you meet each of the essential criteria in the Person Specification.

The University is required to meet UKVI visa regulations and we are not able to sponsor for this position. Applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK will have to satisfy UKVI regulations before they can be appointed.

Contact Details/Informal Enquiries: Alex J Kingstrom, Technical Manager a.kingstrom@herts.ac.uk

Closing Date: 17th November 2022

Interview date: To be advised

Reference Number: 045856

Date Advert Placed: 3rd November 2022

Our vision is to transform lives and UH is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and building a diverse community. We welcome applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of their protected characteristics and recognise there are different ways applicants may achieve the criteria in this document. We offer a range of employee benefits including generous annual leave, flexible location opportunities within the UK, discounted Sports Village memberships, personal and professional development and family-friendly policies. #GoHerts