Specialist Technician

You will join our collaborative team to support advanced research in the development of novel hollow core optical fibres in the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton, U.K. These specialty optical fibres have the potential to surpass the performance of conventional optical fibres in important and interesting applications including telecommunications, high power laser delivery and novel medical diagnostics.

Key responsibilities of this role will include:

• Design, implementation and maintenance of optical test & measurement set-ups for the research team’s optical fibres including all data acquisition and reporting
• Creation of standard operating procedures for new measurement techniques implemented by the research team
• Improvement of test processes and systems by proactively engaging with the research team to streamline tests and develop new methods
• Ongoing upkeep of lab health and safety measures

To be successful you will have skill level equivalent to a HND, Degree, NVQ4 or basic professional qualification with experience in optical measurement and characterisation of materials, devices or components (e.g., optical fibres). In addition, you will demonstrate strong problem-solving skills and experience in troubleshooting complex systems. Additionally, the following experience/ proficiencies would be highly advantageous:

• Experience of specialty optical fibre and fibre-optic component handling (e.g. cleaving, splicing, etc.)
• Proficiency with basic optical test equipment
• Experience with alignment of free-space optical systems
• CAD and/or mechanical design proficiency
• Proficiency with mechanical workshop tools (e.g., drill press, lathe, CNC)
• Experience using custom data acquisition and processing software, including for experiment automation (e.g., LabVIEW)

In return you will have the opportunity to rapidly grow your knowledge, cultivate high-impact and valuable skills on the forefront of advanced optical technology, and achieve mastery in a range of cutting-edge fibre-optic test and measurement techniques. With the growth in these skills it is expected that the position will evolve into an increasingly independent role. You will work as part of a cohesive, world-leading team, to interact with experimentalists, physicists, and fibre fabricators alike to contribute to the dissemination of high-quality research results.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is central to the ethos in our research centre. We value diversity and inclusion at the University and aspire for our staff population to be broadly representative of our community. In recognition of our continued commitment to improving equality for women in science, we were awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze. We give full consideration to applicants that wish to work flexibly including part-time and due consideration will be given to applicants who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy*, onsite childcare facilities along with other benefits such as the cycle to work scheme.

The University of Southampton is in the top 1% of world universities and in the top 10 of the UK’s research-intensive universities. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and being a globally responsible university and has recently been awarded the Platinum EcoAward. This commits all of our staff and students to take responsibility for managing their activities to minimise harm to the environment, whether this through switching off non-essential electrical equipment or using the recycling facilities.

• subject to qualifying criteria

To informally discuss this position, please contact Dr Natalie Wheeler (n.v.wheeler@soton.ac.uk)

Further details:

• Job Description and Person Specification
• Our Southampton Behaviours