Lead Technologist, Laboratory Support

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Posting Reason:

Replacement of a temporary position

Job Type:

Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments):

12

Job Family:

Laboratory Support

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

School of Psychology_Elisa Romano_PM

Campus:

Social Sciences Building

Union Affiliation:

N/A

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/03/05

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/03/16

Hours per week:

21

Salary Grade:

Non-Union Grade NC7 - 35 hrs

Salary Range:

$83,815.00 - $104,769.00

About the Faculty of Social Sciences
The FSS comprises nine departments, schools and institutes, which offer undergraduate, masters and doctoral programs in both English and French. With its 10,000 students, 260 full-time professors, and wide array of programs and research centres, the Faculty of Social Sciences plays a key role at the heart of the University of Ottawa. Its graduate students are supervised by excellent researchers and undertake cutting-edge research in the Faculty's masters and Ph.D. programs. Along with its complement of about 100 administrative employees, the faculty is proud to provide a collaborative working environment that inspires new ideas, encourages creative ingenuity, and promotes excellence.

Position purpose

The Lab Advisor will support the development of the ThRIve (Child & Youth Trauma Research Incubator) Lab, which is a multi-institutional initiative led by McGill University involving the creation of satellite labs across Canada to support community-led research focused on child and youth trauma. The lab advisor will design and build the local component of the platform and plan and coordinate a variety of technical activities in support of clients, including students, faculty members, and community-based research professionals, in an assigned group of specialized scientific lab infrastructures. The lab advisor will provide complex technical advice, support, and training to clients in the design, development, production, set-up, testing, and operation of the laboratory systems to the specification of the department or faculty’s curriculum or research requirements in order to achieve the establishment of the virtual platform and ensure safe working practices. The work is performed with minimal supervision, under general guidelines, and requires full awareness of the various technologies used. 

In this role, your main responsibilities will include : 

Technical Support: Meets with clients to identify and analyze their needs for the establishment of the virtual lab equipment and materials. Designs, assembles, installs, tests, maintains, and repairs assigned  equipment and materials to meet specific client needs and to ensure accurate and proper functionality. Analyzes and diagnoses the causes of lab malfunctions and carries out the required repair actions in order to maintain lab functionality for clients. Under the direction of the supervisor or faculty, designs and builds the local component of the Virtual ThRIve Lab platform, which includes the initial set up of the computers, software, teleconferencing system, various tools and database access for the users. Work together and liaise with the other ThRIve Lab Advisors to integrate the platform across all sites. Create and organize lab documents, onboarding materials, standard operating procedures, and user guides so that cross-institutional and community-based research can be implemented (in collaboration with other ThRIve Lab Advisors). Design databases and security measures for cross-institutional data storage and transfer so that researchers and community partners may use the data (in collaboration with other ThRIve Lab Advisors);

Training:  Trains, performs complex demonstrations for, and supports clients in the use of lab equipment and materials to improve end-user proficiency. Promotes and supervises the responsible use of all lab equipment and materials to contribute to the safety of all users and to safeguard the value of the University’s assets. May interact with clients to provide support beyond demonstrations that assists with the description of concepts and the analysis of data to ensure that experimental objectives are successfully achieved.

Technical Advice, Design & Fabrication: Provides expert advice regarding the design of lab equipment and accessories to ensure the feasibility of fabrication and provides build or fabricating consultation services when required.

Translates product specifications, such as verbal requests or sketches, to design equipment and accessories. May lead the fabrication of this specialized lab equipment to create prototypes to meet teaching and research requirements of users. Acts as a resource person within the field by imparting skills and knowledge to clients at all levels of design and fabrication.

Purchasing Advice: Researches, evaluates, and recommends the acquisition of new lab equipment, instrumentation, and materials to ensure clients have proper access when required.

Documentation: Ensures that manuals and other technical documentation is up to date for all research and equipment in the lab and that it is made available when necessary to clients.

Activities : Share research implementation knowledge and disseminate research learnings to relevant academic and community audiences (knowledge sharing activities).

What you will bring :

• Undergraduate degree in natural/applied sciences or related discipline or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

•  Minimum 5 years of experience providing support and technical advice in a teaching/research laboratory.

•  Knowledge of the specialized areas of research supported by the ThRIve lab.

• Knowledge of laboratory tools, equipment, instruments, materials, and hazards and their safe usage.

• Knowledge of Health and Safety rules, regulations and University policies and procedures related to the operation of labs and lab equipment/material.

• Knowledge of computers and data acquisition procedures.

• Experience in providing technical support and advice to users for lab equipment.

• Experience in designing, fabricating, assembling, building, testing and repairing special purpose lab equipment.

• Experience in writing and developing technical reports and other related documentation.

• Ability to read and understand texts of considerable difficulty requiring understanding of concepts, procedures, and instructions.

• Analytical skills to diagnose and repair laboratory equipment and material issues.

• Ability to communicate technical concepts to users.

• Bilingualism - French and English (spoken and written)

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.