University Instrument Center Laboratory Technician

Position Title University Instrument Center Laboratory Technician

Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive.

In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

Scientific Technical Services (Sci Tech or STS) is a department that supports research, scholarship and teaching across all colleges at WWU by providing access to advanced multi-user scientific instrumentation, machine and electronics shops, and equipment design, fabrication and repair services.

Sci Tech operates two core facilities:
The University Instrument Center, Western’s primary multi-user equipment facility with chromatography, mass spectrometry, and spectroscopy instrumentation and the University Shops, with electronics, metalworking, woodworking, and design and repair services.

The University Instrument Center (UIC) Lab Tech is an entry-level professional position within Scientific Technical Services (Sci Tech), a department that supports research, scholarship, and teaching across all colleges at Western Washington University through advanced multi-user scientific instrumentation, machine and electronics shops, and equipment design, fabrication, and repair services. Working under the guidance of the Director and other experienced Sci Tech staff, the UIC Lab Tech assists with the operation, maintenance, and user support of scientific instrumentation used in instructional and research activities.

Responsibilities include training users on routine instrument operation, monitoring instrument use, assisting with analytical testing, supporting classroom and laboratory demonstrations, and helping maintain laboratory and instrumentation facilities.

This position is designed to provide opportunities for professional growth and skill development in analytical instrumentation, laboratory operations, and research support. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong technical aptitude, attention to detail, a commitment to customer service, and a willingness to learn new instrumentation and analytical techniques. Prior expertise with all instrumentation is not expected, as training will be provided.

The UIC Lab Tech does not have supervisory responsibilities and works collaboratively with faculty, staff, and students to support a safe, effective, and accessible laboratory environment.

The State HR classification for this position is Instructional & Classroom Support Technician
3. Funding for this position is provided for an initial one-year term and may be renewed, subject to available funding and programmatic needs.

Train faculty, staff, students, and external users in the safe and effective operation of scientific instrumentation.

Assist users with instrument setup, operation, data collection, and routine data processing for instructional and…