King's College London

About us

We are seeking an experienced, enthusiastic, and adaptable Electron Microscope Technician to join our dynamic team in the Centre for Ultrastructural Imaging (CUI) at King’s College London, on a 6-month contract. As a Core Facility within the Research Management and Innovation Directorate (RMID), the CUI provides access to some of the most advanced electron microscopy equipment in Europe.

This role offers the chance to work on a variety of projects across multiple disciplines, including cell biology, neurology, infectious disease and material science, delivering outstanding imaging data to researchers at King’s College London, other academic institutions, and industrial collaborators.

The successful candidate must have prior experience in various electron microscopy sample preparation techniques for biological samples and be keen to learn and develop new skills to support a broad range of EM techniques.

About the role

The position entails preparing samples for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) using various techniques such as chemical processing and ultramicrotomy for TEM; dehydration, critical point drying and gold coating for SEM, negative staining, high pressure freezing and freeze substitution. This post holder will be responsible for managing multiple projects as assigned by the line manager, which involves planning experiments, optimising protocols, and liaising proactively with CUI collaborators.

A key responsibility is to provide training and support in the use of TEM/ SEM instruments and EM techniques to CUI collaborators, which will require learning new techniques under the guidance of CUI staff and collaborating with companies such as JEOL UK.

Quality controls must be observed to ensure work is performed to the prescribed standard and participation in good housekeeping, including maintaining appropriate records and logs of specimens, SOPs, EM methodologies and data is expected. The post holder will support with the maintenance of departmental equipment, including troubleshooting issues and providing occasional out-of-hours support where required.

Building strong working relationships with CUI staff and users across the organisation is vital to support the needs of the centre and King’s researchers and effective time management and prioritisation of tasks are essential to achieve objectives and meet customer deadlines and CUI targets.

The post holder will be expected to act responsibly concerning personal health and safety, as well as that of colleagues and users, adhering to risk assessments, local rules, procedures and defined protocols.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 7th March 2025.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. BSc/MSc, or equivalent experience, in Electron Microscopy in life sciences.
2. Practical experience working in Electron Microscopy within a research setting. 
3. In-depth knowledge of current methods and procedures for both specimen preparation and imaging technology (e.g., room temperature TEM and SEM, ultramicrotomy, high-pressure freezing, freeze substitution, negative staining).
4. Expertise in protocol optimisation and experience in experimental design.
5. Proactive and flexible, capable of meeting strict deadlines and responding to shifting priorities.
6. Excellent communication skills, both oral and in written, with the ability to effectively communicate with colleagues and collaborators.
7. Detailed and focused approach, with the ability to accurately record and manage data in accordance with GDPR and legislation requirements. 
8. Good understanding of Health and Safety practices in a laboratory setting and knowledge of legal requirements and relevant policies, including the Human Tissue Authority Legislation and COSHH.
9. Willingness to learn new techniques and skills to support service delivery.

Desirable criteria

1. Previous experience in SBF-SEM, array tomography, cryo-ultramicrotomy, CLEM and cryo techniques.
2. Previous experience in teaching/training new users.
3. Experience of EM data handling and processing.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.