Job Description

Position Overview:

The UMD Department of Physics and Astronomy teaches general physics to most science and engineering majors at UMD, advanced physics to a smaller number of Physics and Engineering Physics majors, and has a Physics MS program that supports both the undergraduate teaching and faculty research. The research topics in the department include experimental neutrino physics, physical oceanography, soft condensed matter, quantum gravity, and exoplanets.

This Lab Manager position supports both teaching and research in the department, ensuring that both lower and upper level labs are setup and maintained, grad student teaching assistants scheduled, and demo equipment purchased, maintained, and deployed. Faculty research is supported in both the hardware and IT realms. This position also is in charge of the department machine shop.

In-person

Visa Language: Please note, this position is not eligible for H-1B or Green Card sponsorship. This position does not offer a STEM OPT training program.

Major Job Duties:

60% Lab support/teaching support

Teaching lab setup and teardown for each week’s labs
Maintaining and procuring teaching lab equipment
Maintaining teaching demo equipment and assisting with demonstrations
Construct the schedules for teaching assistants and lab sections
10% Fabricating

Assisting students and faculty with small jobs or developing items.
Refurbishing items from labs and creating new apparatus.
5% Safety

Serve as department safety coordinator and liaison with the university ES&H office
Ensure that both teaching and research labs are following safety procedures
10% IT

Maintenance of teaching lab computers
Tracking product usage, acquiring new products, deploying images, troubleshooting.
Assisting the department with IT needs outside of the labs
15% Other Projects that don’t really fit into these categories. Eg,

Capital equipment management
Coordination with Facilities Management
One-time activities like cleaning and organizing of laboratory and storage space
Other Department initiatives
Making displays for the department
Preparing lab/office spaces, space management
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:

BA/BS plus at least four years of experience or advanced degree and two years of experience, or a combination of related education and work experience to equal eight years.
Must be able to lift 50 pounds on a regular basis and more than 50 pounds occasionally.
Computer skills in word processing, spreadsheets, basic networking, and computer aided design.
Ability to convey clear directions to students and faculty when doing laboratory activities.
The ability to assess potential budget impacts of purchases and activities.
Preferred Qualifications:

Masters or bachelor’s degree in physics, engineering, or a related field
Ability to comprehend and implement physics lab techniques and procedures
Demonstrated record of safety training and experience leading training sessions.
Experience in welding, cutting and grinding of metals to fabricate various tools and Equipment.
Experience with electro-mechanical repair and troubleshooting.
Computer skills with linux, programming, and scientific computing.
Pay and Benefits
Pay Range: $25.72 - $29.00 per hour; depending on education/qualifications/experience

Time Appointment: 100% Appointment

Position Type: Civil-Service & Non-Faculty Labor Represented Staff

Please visit the Office of Human Resources website for more information regarding benefit eligibility.

The University offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes:



Competitive wages, paid holidays, and generous time off
Continuous learning opportunities through professional training and degree-seeking programs supported by the Regents Tuition Benefit Program
Low-cost medical, dental, and pharmacy plans
Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts
University HSA contributions
Disability and employer-paid life insurance
Employee wellbeing program
Excellent retirement plans with employer contribution
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) opportunity
Financial counseling services
Employee Assistance Program with eight sessions of counseling at no cost