Job Description

• School of Engineering, College of Science & Engineering
• Grade: UE05
• Salary Range: £25,742 to £29,605
• Contract type: Open-ended
• Hours per week: 35 hours (full time; Mon-Fri, 09:00-17:00)
• Number of posts: 1

The Opportunity

The School of Engineering is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and talented Assistant Mechanical Engineering Technician to join its skilled Technical Services team of ~40 technical staff supporting a diverse and expanding range of research and teaching activities. The appointee will be primarily responsible for assisting with the safe and efficient running of the School’s suite of civil engineering laboratories. This will include the provision of technical support to a broad variety of student projects and research projects within the School. The post-holder will be involved in assisting in the delivery of teaching and demonstrating in the laboratories, the fabrication/manufacture of components and apparatus, repair and maintenance of equipment within the labs and stock control.

The appointee will be primarily based in the School’s Fabrication Workshop (“Workshop 2”) and will assist across the School’s workshop facilities, which include various items of manufacturing and fabrication equipment (e.g., pillar drills, 3D printers, guillotines, computer numerical control (CNC) router, press brake, laser cutters, and MIG and TIG welding plants). The postholder will also deliver support to the School’s Structures Laboratory which is utilised for teaching and research of larger scale structural engineering projects, employing a variety of hydraulic testing equipment, and includes a heavy fabrication area. The labs and workshops maintain a good range of hand tools and a stock of a variety of components and materials to support project builds and equipment repair.

The successful candidate should demonstrate an enthusiasm for engineering and personal development, with a commitment to keep pace with emerging technologies. They will have >2 years’ demonstrated and recent experience working in an engineering workshop environment (or similar) and be educated to N/SVQ Level 3 (which may have been acquired as part of a recognised apprenticeship programme) or equivalent in relevant subjects (e.g., mechanical manufacturing, fitting and assembly, civil engineering). Alternatively, the candidate will have >3 years’ demonstrable technical experience in progressively more demanding work. The role is customer-facing and the School is a diverse and international community of staff and students. The post holder will therefore have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, an understanding of Health & Safety and a strong commitment to service delivery.

The School of Engineering is committed to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility and we are particularly interested in hearing from candidates from under-represented groups. Please contact Sally Morgan (SoE Technical Services Manager; tsm@eng.ed.ac.uk) if you would like to discuss the role informally.

A full list of main responsibilities and the knowledge, skills and experience required for the role can be found in the full job description.

Your skills and attributes for success:

• Passion for engineering
• Hands on experience with a range of workshop machinery and hand tools
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Experience with technical fault-finding and problem solving
• Commitment to Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Applicants should include a cover letter, explaining how they fulfil each of the essential criteria listed under ‘Knowledge, skills and experience’, and an up-to-date CV with their application.