Support Engineer

Salary: Band D (STEM 1) £42,840 per annum

Hours: Full-Time (We understand the importance of work-life balance and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants)

Contract Type: Open-Ended.

Location: STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell, Oxfordshire

Come and do the kind of engineering that made you want to be an engineer. Stretch your technical skills while building human understanding. Promote sustainability and create new materials. And, alongside world-leading scientists and technologists, shape projects that improve lives, and daily life, in the UK and far beyond.

Background

The UK has invested £99m in the National Satellite Test Facility (NSTF), located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, Oxfordshire. This facility, along with the existing facilities, will provide a world class set of co-located facilities for the final integration and testing of space payloads and satellites used for Earth Observation, Astronomy or even to explore other astronomical bodies such as the Moon, or Mars. The facilities will have the capability to conduct Vibration, Acoustic, Thermal, Pyroshock, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Antenna testing within cleanroom conditions to ensure that they can survive both the journey into space and the harsh environment within it.

Job Description

We are looking for an Engineer to work within the RAL Space Environmental Test Division. The role will involve working as part of a small team to support the operation of the cleanrooms and underpinning infrastructure. The facilities are spread across three buildings and include multiple cleanrooms, fixed cranes and mobile handling equipment. You will be split between working in a cleanroom environment and an office or light industrial environment, depending on the task at hand.

STFC has a centralised maintenance function who will perform scheduled and reactive maintenance on most of the building systems required to operate the facilities. You will work closely with them to ensure maintenance is scheduled at a time where disruption of services provided to users is minimised, and to ensure they have appropriate and safe access to the areas they need. Where other maintenance services are required, these are arranged using third party contractors.

The duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Cleanroom Operation

Perform measurements of cleanroom parameters as part of a contamination control program, look for trends in the data, highlight where anomalies are observed and investigate the cause.
Support general cleanroom operations including provision of basic training, cleanliness audits and safety audits.
Order and Project cleanroom consumable use to ensure the appropriate amount of stock holding.
Support the movement of items under test, such as instruments and satellites, between facilities.

General building and logistics support

Assist in accepting deliveries and movement within the building of large items utilising forklifts and at times, cranes.
Liaise with STFC Estates Maintenance teams, internal projects and test campaigns to plan servicing of plant, arranging shutdowns for works to be carried out.
Provide short safety briefings for contractors and users of the facilities.
Work with suppliers to arrange maintenance and calibration of systems.

Personal Specification

Demonstrable dedication to safe working
Experience of use of multiple software packages, including Word, Excel
Excellent logistical skills and resource management
Demonstrated teamwork and collaboration skills as well as having excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
Good understanding of underpinning building services and infrastructure
Ability to produce technical procedures in line with the Quality System requirements
Ability to produce sophisticated technical and safety risk assessments in-line with legislation and review assessments produced by others
Experience in the management of staff and contractors.

Join us and discover what's possible!