Senior Technical Specialist (Mass Spectrometry)

Closing date: 07/04/2026 at 23:30

The Role

Sheffield Hallam is a university of purpose: we transform lives. Our ambition is clear and bold – to be a world-leading applied university through the real-world impact we have on our students and society. In this role you would make a vital contribution by providing highly skilled technical support to enable researchers and students to access the full value of the excellent equipment in our analytical facilities.

You would be directly involved in supporting laboratory-based activities including undergraduate and post-graduate student research projects, other practical teaching, research, innovation and knowledge exchange activities. You will work closely with team members to achieve this and support a range of areas of the University: the team section below details the areas we support. You would provide line management to a small number of staff and, as part of local management groups, contribute more widely to the leadership and management of technical staff and facilities.

You will need to have excellent laboratory and chemical safety knowledge. You will also need to have in-depth practical experience and knowledge of mass spectrometry (ideally mass spectrometry imaging) and associated techniques, with a high level of expertise gained from experimental design, method development, troubleshooting, data processing and interpretation.

Highlights of our mass spectrometry equipment base currently include: Waters Select Series Cyclic with DESI and ESI ionisation sources; Waters Select Series MRT with MALDI and DESI ionisation sources; Waters Synapt XS with nano LC; Agilent 7250 GC-qToF with PAL autosampler and Markes TD system; Bruker Autoflex Speed; PerkinElmer NexION 5000 multi-quadrupole ICP-MS equipped with ESI ImageBio 266 laser ablation system. These instruments are used for a range of applications including mass spectrometry imaging, metabolomics, proteomics and structural analysis. We also have further MALDI, DESI, LC- and GC- mass spectrometers and a range of other analytical equipment. In addition to research use, our undergraduate and masters students experience sector-leading access to advanced analytical instrumentation, which you will work with the team to support.

Experience with a wide range of relevant equipment and applications would be an advantage. However, it is more important to have in-depth experience with some of the techniques/applications and to be able to demonstrate your aptitude and enthusiasm to learn and use advanced analytical/imaging techniques, and to enable others to use them by providing excellent training and support.

You will be expected to work flexibly and have, or develop, skills to allow you to support the team’s delivery across a range of disciplines. You will be highly motivated and meticulous in your work, with a professional work ethic, and ability to work both independently and collaboratively across team boundaries, sharing your expertise to develop the knowledge and skills of colleagues and to ensure customer-focussed results.

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