Laboratory Manager

Sawston, Cambridgeshire
Cancer Research UK

4,000 professionals, 0 days wasted, 1 incredible purpose. Together, we are beating cancer.

Laboratory Manager

Salary: From £43,000 – £48,000 per annum depending on experience

Reports to: Head of Facilities, Cancer Research Horizons

Department: Research and Innovation

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge (will include regular travel to our other sites in London, Cambridge and Glasgow)

Closing date: Thursday 15th February 2024 at 23.59. This vacancy may close earlier if a high number of applications are received or once a suitable candidate is found, so please do not delay submitting your application to avoid any disappointment.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone determined, someone like you.

We currently have an opportunity within our Drug Discovery team for an experienced and passionate Laboratory Manager. In this role you’ll work closely with Therapeutic Innovation (TI) laboratory technicians, third-party contractors, and our landlords/host institutes to assist in the management of activities across our laboratory sites in Cambridge (Babraham Institute, Granta Park), London (Francis Crick Institute) and Glasgow (Scotland Institute).

About CRUK Drug Discovery

As the world’s biggest medical research charity, we’ve helped bring eleven new cancer drugs to market. However, there is still an urgent need to bring more effective treatments to patients faster.

We have recently developed a new approach to driving therapeutic innovation through the creation of Cancer Research Horizons (CRH). We have brought together Cancer Research UK’s established drug discovery teams under one organisation and leadership team, combining our unique pipeline of world class biology, cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise to 1) bring new treatments to patients faster and 2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success.

What will I be doing?

• Manage the day-to-day work of laboratory technicians at our Babraham (Cambridge), Francis Crick (London), Granta Park (Cambridge) and Scotland Institute (Glasgow) sites, providing support and/or cover where appropriate. This will include occasional travel between sites.
• Proactively monitor CRH Helpdesk, supporting facilities staff with answering tickets, ensuring timely and appropriate responses, acting as the initial escalation point for internal stakeholders, and identifying areas for improvement.
• Work closely with Health and Safety to ensure strict adherence to current regulations in addition to continuous improvement and development of Health and Safety practices.
• By forging strong working relationships with equipment manufacturers, third-party contractors, and servicing agents, you will ensure all laboratory equipment is serviced, maintained and has any required remedial works carried out in a timely and cost-effective way.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date asset management and inventory records and provide targeted reports when requested to support the management of capital expenditure budget and purchases.
• Work with procurement and other TI Operations colleagues to renew maintenance contracts and review consumables pricing where appropriate, ensuring the best possible pricing and terms for CRH TI are obtained.
• Ensure laboratory best practise, policies and procedures are implemented and adhered to across all TI sites.

What skills will I need?

We are seeking a proficient and flexible Laboratory Manager with experience within the life sciences or biopharmaceutical industry.

• Significant, demonstrable laboratory management experience.
• Knowledge of UK Health and Safety regulations (COSHH, RIDDOR etc.).
• Strong IT skills, highly proficient in MS office applications and experience of working with computerised maintenance management software (CMMS) or equivalent.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage conflicting priorities, working under pressure and to tight timescales.
• An excellent communicator, you will be confident of working with both internal and external stakeholders of all levels.
• A strong collaborator who works well as part of a team but is also comfortable working independently where required.
• A self-starter who is comfortable taking the lead in ambiguity.
• Solution-driven mindset with a proactive approach to problem-solving.
• A working knowledge of basic laboratory equipment and infrastructure is highly desirable although not essential.

What will I gain?

Every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that’s impressive.

In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies, and processes to enable you to do your job well.

Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.

We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.

Our work – from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy – will change the world. It’s exciting to be part of our team.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.