Job Description – Deputy Live Labs Manager
Department: Entrepreneurship and Scientific Services
Grade: Managerial
Salary range: £35,000- £38,000
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Closing Date: 10/01/2025
To apply, please send a copy of your CV and covering letter to BRCHR@babraham.co.uk.
Role: An opportunity to join a growing Campus at the heart of the Cambridge Biotech cluster. As Deputy Live Labs Manager, you will ensure the Live Labs bio incubator laboratory facilities and campus scientific services are run with the aim of delighting those who use them. Alongside the Live Labs Manager, Lab Operations Coordinator, and Apprentice Lab Technician, you will ensure the smooth running of all the communal scientific services across campus.
You will be excited by the prospect of meeting a variety of users and supporting a community of diverse companies. You will help the team to promote the facilities to prospective users and manage them from their induction through till the point they stop using the facilities. With support from the Entrepreneurship and Scientific Services team, you will arrange events for the Live Labs community and actively engage with the community in Working Group meetings, talks, and social events.
As Deputy Live Labs Manager, you will have experience in a research laboratory, or similar, and ideally experience at the bench working in molecular biology or tissue culture. Your experience will help with the maintenance and management of our laboratory equipment and facilities. The role will also involve assisting the team in ensuring all Health and Safety requirements are fulfilled, including sitting on the Biosafety Committee to further understand the projects being undertaken in Live Labs and supporting the companies to work safely. You will support the Campus helpdesk in the process of providing both reactive and proactive support services to Live Labs laboratories and support services. You will be willing to continue your professional development as well as learn on the job and seek out training opportunities.
This is a permanent role working in a busy team and requires an enthusiastic outlook, self-confident attitude, and someone who can use their initiative to solve problems. We are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic, dynamic, and customer-focused Manager who will thrive in this growing environment and is motivated by maintaining excellent facilities. You will normally work 37 hours per week, typically between 08:00 to 16:30 Monday to Friday. Part Time or Flexible hours would also be considered.
Responsibilities:
1. Deputise for Live Labs Manager when required, which could include full responsibility for the following areas in their absence.
2. Assist with management of small team including supporting the Apprentice Lab Technician.
3. Assist in managing Live Labs laboratories and support services (wash-up rooms, cold rooms, freezer rooms, and liquid nitrogen facilities) ensuring all laboratory equipment and specific laboratory plant (e.g. laboratory gases, gas detection, and local exhaust ventilation) is maintained safely and maintenance is scheduled to minimise the disruption to users of the facilities.
4. Oversee the day-to-day running of the laboratory including cleaning, laundry, and waste management services.
5. Manage space in communal storage locations ensuring accurate recording of space allocation to tenants in the CAFM system and reporting to Finance for recharging purposes.
6. Assist with maintaining the safety, health, and environmental impact of the Live Labs laboratories and supporting services. Ensure all work that is undertaken is suitably risk assessed and where appropriate are approved by the relevant committees.
7. Work with the BRCL Sustainability Team to improve the environmental impact of Live Labs and provide guidance for laboratory users across campus. Promote environmentally friendly and sustainable practices.
8. Write and review documents as needed for Live Labs and Campus including risk assessments, policies, standard operating procedures, and guidance documents. Implement campus policy and cascade information to Campus users effectively.
9. Carry out regular inspections of the communal facilities and ensure any areas of concern are rectified as soon as possible, this will involve ensuring the users are following Campus policy as well as statutory legislation.
10. Coordinate the response to Live Labs laboratories and supporting services requests which come from the Campus helpdesk, ensuring all are responded to in line with the service level agreement.
11. Procure equipment and consumables for the communal laboratories in a timely fashion, carrying out regular stock checks to avoid shortages.
12. Promote the Campus to all prospective tenants and Live Labs users both on and off the Campus.
13. Provide new tenants and Live Labs laboratory users with an introduction to the Campus. Provide lab inductions, wash-up room training, and liquid nitrogen stores training as required (full training will be provided).
14. Manage the T-Scan critical monitoring, investigating alarms, and ensuring all are appropriately responded to including outside of normal working hours.
15. Continuously look to improve and develop processes and services to maximise the efficiency and to improve the Campus, to add to the offering and to increase income sources.
16. Establish and maintain effective liaison between the Operations teams, colleagues, and tenants across the campus.
17. Attend meetings as required, this may involve taking minutes or action notes at times.
18. Always promote the highest possible level of customer care.
This list is not exhaustive, and the successful candidate would be expected to undertake reasonable additional duties in support of the site operations as and when required, especially in the event of major incidents that have the potential to endanger life, building, or reputation.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
* GCSE’s (or equivalent) English and maths, grade C or above
* BSc in Biology or another relevant subject with laboratory experience
Experience
Essential:
* Experience and knowledge of working in a laboratory environment
* Technical experience in a biological research setting
* Experience in Health and Safety, specifically Biological Safety
* Experience of providing excellent customer service
Desirable:
* Experience of laboratory management
* Experience of using a CAFM (Computer Aided Facility Management) and/or LIMS (Lab Information Management System) platforms
* Experience of budgetary management
* Experience of working on an established campus or complex site dealing with multiple customers
Skills and Abilities
* Good record keeping skills and ability to attend to detail meticulously
* Good interpersonal and communicative skills
* Great customer service skills with the ability to have empathy for the customer's situation
* High level of IT competency including use of facilities management systems, financial management systems, various laboratory equipment software
* Expert user of Microsoft platforms and applications – Teams, Excel, Word, and Outlook
* Ability to work on own initiative and within a busy work environment
* Ability to work as part of a team
* Good standard of numeracy and literacy
* Strong administrative and clerical skills
* Ability to deal with clients/customers on all levels either face to face, via e-mail or phone.
* Flexible and willing approach to work
* Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise tasks
Behaviours
* Identifies opportunities for improving organisational working practices
* Takes action to improve the ways of working and efficiency and acts as a creative catalyst to challenge the status quo
* Identifies and suggests opportunities to save costs, develop efficiencies, and generate revenue
* Dedicated and passionate about delivering the best for customers
* Understands and manages own impact to remain approachable
* Informs and includes others in decision making
* Has a clear sense of purpose and direction and takes personal responsibility for ensuring the quality of their performance
* Understands the local customer base, competition, and market proposition, stays up to date with changes and uses this knowledge to make strong customer decisions
* Actively seeks new opportunities for commercial success and takes accountability for making these happen
* Proactively anticipates and organises resources effectively to deal with upcoming challenges on the horizon
Special Requirements
* Able to work on a non-smoking Campus
* A flexible approach to work and an ability to work from home where required.
* Willing to travel for work if required
* Willing to act as an out of hours’ emergency contact on occasions
#J-18808-Ljbffr