Senior Teaching Technician - Collaborative Teaching Laboratory Grade 5

Position Details

Collaborative Teaching Laboratory

Location:

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883

Grade: 5

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 16th September 2026

The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory (CTL) at the University of Birmingham brings together practical teaching activities for over 3000 students each year from a broad range of science and engineering disciplines. This facility consists of multidisciplinary laboratories, designed to provide a sector-leading learning experience for students. In addition, this multidisciplinary approach provides the environment to encourage and facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary work for both staff and students.

This facility continues to build on an initial investment of over £45 million, utilizing its scale to innovate across disciplines and open new ways to deliver laboratory-based teaching that inspires and prepares our graduates for their future professions.

The shared spaces, practices, management and support make more effective and efficient use of staff time and resources. The CTL provides a visually stimulating and interactive environment in which to showcase STEM subjects to a wider audience, providing flexible spaces for public engagement, widening participation, recruitment, conferences and continuing professional development. These activities are aligned with the University's 2030 strategy and impact on local, national and international audiences.

The School of Physics and Astronomy is a world-leading physics department, excelling in both teaching and research. We run a variety of undergraduate Physics programmes, with an annual intake of around 170 students. We are ranked 5th, 4th and 5th out of all UK Physics departments in the three main national league tables (the Complete University Guide, Times Good University Guide, and the Guardian University Guide, respectively).

For 2026, we came top in the Russell Group in the National Student Survey (NSS). The School has over 120 academic and research staff together with 120 graduate students with around 50 technical and clerical support staff.

Reporting to the Team Leader, the post holder's primary responsibility within the team is to assist with the set-up, servicing and development of apparatus used for teaching experiments and demonstrations in the physics undergraduate teaching laboratories.

You may supervise a number of technical staff, but even where you do not directly supervise staff, you will still be expected to act as a role model and coach others as appropriate.

You will need a significant understanding of the requirements to deliver undergraduate classes, an in-depth understanding of all main subject areas, the ability to respond quickly and positively to changes in protocols, and troubleshoot problems, and optimise protocols to ensure a positive student experience. You may need to operate out of normal working hours to accommodate classes.

In order to flexibly use resource, you may be offered the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider university.

• If in a supervisory position, you will supervise the day-to-day activities of a number of other technical staff.
• You will provide support and guidance and work closely with your staff in relation to working requirements, working environment, staff wellbeing, identifying any training requirements as appropriate.
• Even if you are not in a supervisory position, you will still be expected to act as a role model and coach staff in the locality.
• You will discuss the daily programme of work with your manager and other technical staff in the area to…