Senior Technologist, Biology Teaching Laboratory

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Job Type:

Employee

Duration in Months (for fixed-term jobs):

N/A

Job Family:

Laboratory Support

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service – Department:

Biology Undergraduate Lab

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

SSUO

Date Posted:

October 21, 2024

Applications must be received BEFORE:

November 01, 2024

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

SSUO Grade 09

Salary Range:

$69,478.00 – $87,764.00

About the Faculty of Science:

Welcome to the Faculty of Science, a great place to learn, to explore, to question, to discover — opening your mind and pushing boundaries. It’s an exciting time to be part of a rewarding career in life sciences, natural sciences and mathematics. You will have access to world-class facilities, including our Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Complex, our extensive Biosciences Complex and our cutting-edge Advanced Research Complex, that are the envy of many universities. We have strong links with a multitude of government and private research centres, providing countless opportunities and experiences.

We have become a true centre of excellence, earning recognition across Canada and abroad for our prowess in teaching and in our laboratories, where our researchers are addressing some of the most important and relevant scientific questions of our time. Our past is a testimonial to our passion, so will be our future. Will you be part of it?

Position Purpose

Reporting to the Manager, Laboratory Support, the incumbent performs a variety of technical activities in support of clients, including students, teaching assistants, faculty members, and other scientific or engineering professionals, in an assigned group of specialized scientific teaching lab infrastructures. Provides complex technical advice, support, and training to clients in the research, analysis, design, development, production, set-up, testing, operation, and maintenance of laboratory systems to the specification of the department or faculty’s curriculum or research requirements in order to achieve the experimental objectives and ensure safe working practices. The work is performed with minimal supervision, under general guidelines, and requires full awareness of the various technologies used.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Technical Support: Meets with clients to identify and analyze their needs for special purpose complex scientific/research lab equipment and materials. Designs, assembles, installs, tests, maintains and repairs assigned laboratory equipment and materials to meet specific client needs and to ensure accurate and proper functionality. Analyzes and diagnoses the causes of lab malfunctions and carries out the required repair actions in order to maintain lab functionality for clients. Under the direction of the supervisor or faculty, carries out applied research related to experimental methods in fields related to the assigned labs.
• Training: Trains, performs demonstrations for, and supports teaching assistants and students in the use of lab equipment and materials to improve end-user proficiency. Promotes and supervises the responsible use of all lab equipment and materials to contribute to the safety of all users and to safeguard the value of the University’s assets. May interact with students and teaching assistants to provide support beyond demonstrations that assists with the description of concepts and the analysis of data to ensure that experimental objectives are successfully achieved. Evaluates components of student performance and understanding as part of the grading process.
• Health and Safety: Ensures that all assigned laboratories operate in accordance with the Health and Safety rules of the University, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, WHMIS and any other applicable regulations. May be responsible for the collection, storage or disposal of hazardous materials. Mitigates risk by ensuring that there is always a lab staff member present during scheduled labs, as well as during operating hours when clients may use the facilities outside of labs.
• Technical Advice, Design & Fabrication: Provides advice regarding the design of lab equipment and accessories to ensure the feasibility of fabrication and provides build or fabricating consultation services when required. Translates product specifications, such as verbal requests or sketches, to design equipment and accessories. May participate in the fabrication of this specialized lab equipment to create prototypes to meet teaching and research requirements of users. Acts as a resource person within the field by imparting skills and knowledge to clients at all levels of design and fabrication.
• Documentation: Participates in ensuring that manuals and other technical documentation is up to date for all experiments and equipment in the lab and that it is made available when necessary to clients. Maintains proper technical literature to be able to acquire knowledge on the equipment operation and to perform repairs if necessary. Contributes to the writing, development and production of new technical documents in consultation with faculty.

What you will bring:

• Undergraduate degree in natural/applied sciences or related discipline or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience providing support and technical advice in a teaching/research laboratory.
• Advanced knowledge and experience in general biology, genetics, plant and animal biology
• Experience in working with live animals.
• Knowledge of the specialized areas of research and teaching supported by the department or Faculty.
• Knowledge of field and laboratory equipment, instruments, materials, and hazards and their safe usage.
• Knowledge of Health and Safety rules, regulations and University policies and procedures related to the operation of labs and lab equipment/material.
• Knowledge of computers and data acquisition procedures.
• Experience in providing technical support and advice to users for lab and field equipment.
• Experience in designing, fabricating, assembling, building, testing and repairing special purpose lab and field equipment.
• Experience in preparing and developing scientific experiments.
• Experience in writing and developing technical reports and other related documentation.
• Ability to read and understand texts of considerable difficulty requiring understanding of concepts, procedures, and instructions.
• Analytical skills to diagnose and repair laboratory and field equipment and material issues.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to users.
• Experience in teaching and student evaluation.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).

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Key Competencies at uOttawa:

Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.

Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.

Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.

Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.

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