Lab Manager and Experimental Technical Support Staff 20%-40%

ETH Zürich; Zürich; On-site; CHF 40,000 - 70,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working hours

Professional development opportunities

Public transport benefits

Pension plan

Job summary

ETH Zürich IDEAL Lab seeks a part-time Lab Manager/ coordinating technician to support daily operations, safety and student projects. You will oversee safety training, maintain equipment, and coordinate with staff and students.

The role combines hands-on lab work with mentoring, robotics support (UR5e), inventory, and collaboration with external partners. The candidate should have a practical engineering background and enjoy working with students in a dynamic research environment.

Qualifications

• Practical engineering background in mechanical/mechatronics or related field.
• Hands-on experience with lab equipment and safety practices.
• Enjoy mentoring students and coordinating lab activities.

Responsibilities

• Act as General Safety Representative; train students/staff on safety and equipment use.
• Maintain lab operations: inventory, purchasing requests, and cleaning coordination.
• Coordinate maintenance of shared equipment (3D printers, robots, tools) and assist with demos.
• Support Ph.D. students and post-docs in transitioning projects between semesters.

Skills

Lab management

Safety training

3D printing

UR5e robotics

Student mentoring

Education

B.Sc. in mechanical engineering

Tools

ROS/ROS2

3D printers

Job description

At the IDEAL Lab, we develop algorithms and computational models that design physical hardware and validate those designs via physical experiments. We have a growing physical footprint that includes 3D printers, a custom foam cutter, several robotic arms (UR5e), and a variety of small mechatronic test rigs that change depending on the project. We also have a large teaching profile with ~20-30 Bachelor's and Master's students joining the lab each semester for various projects, a subset of which involve robotics or mechatronics-related experiments.

Project background

We are looking for a part‑time technical staff member to act as a Lab Manager and/or coordinating technician, depending on the skillset of the person. The specific roles and responsibilities of this person - and the amount of time/effort required from them - would depend on what they could do based on their experience or desire for future training/growth. The core task would be basic lab operations and safety, as mentioned below - anticipated ~20% time - with an optional/desired role for additional time being the engineering and student support - initially anticipated at 20% time, however, this has the option to grow in the future depending on the skills, usefulness, and desires of the specific candidate.

Job description

Basic Lab Operations and Safety (~20% time):

• Act as the General Safety Representative for the lab. Train incoming students/staff on safety rules and how to use shared equipment (trainings occur 3-4 times per year for 1-2 hours). Update the safety concept, e.g., once per year or as needed.
• Keep the lab spaces operational, such as managing inventory, handling purchase requests for supplies, retrieving packages as needed, and working with students to ensure workstations are kept clean and organized. Coordinate the once-a-year lab cleaning day with staff.
• Coordinate with staff and students on the maintenance and use of shared equipment such as the 3D printers, robots, and hand tools, as well as repairs when things break, as per the safety concept. This can include delegating tasks to existing staff if appropriate.
• Act as a point of contact for student questions about where equipment or supplies are located in the lab space. Generally share personal knowledge and maintain personal relationships. Guide students toward other ETH resources (like other technical workshops or facilities) outside of our immediate lab's perimeter when they have specific questions/needs (e.g., ETH TechPool, off‑site laser cutters, Instron machines, etc.).
• Attend any occasional lab operational meetings with the PI and other staff, or lab retreats as desired, although not recurring lab meetings (unless desired).

Engineering and Student Support (~20% time):

• Where appropriate, support research goals by helping or consulting with students and staff to debug and run physical experiments they have planned. This could include helping them build or debug necessary rigs or platforms for various research projects, automating existing procedures from past research projects to make them easier to extend in the future, or building working knowledge of the lab's robotic infrastructure to more quickly onboard new student projects. This depends on the specific hands‑on skills of the individual candidate, and also the project needs, as existing students/staff will be the ones largely responsible for setting up and maintaining their own infrastructure.
• Support research goals by coordinating with outside/external partners, for example, ETH TechPool, outside contractors, researchers at other labs or institutions, etc. to deliver or maintain necessary experimental equipment.
• Maintain the operation of a few lab demos for occasional visitors.
• Assist, as requested, Ph.D. students and Post-Docs with transitioning their student projects between semesters, e.g., from one set of Thesis students to another, in cases where the project has a physical experiment setup that uses the lab space. For example, by helping create or review documentation, answering questions that new students may have, demonstrating the use of an existing test setup, or helping staff store or dismantle projects that are no longer needed.

Profile

• A practical background (e.g., FH, B.Sc., M.Sc. degree) in mechanical engineering, mechatronics, robotics or a related field, or a comparable apprenticeship.
• Hands‑on expertise with 3D printing, small robotics (like UR5e), and basic electronics/sensors or mechatronic systems.
• You like working with and mentoring students, and helping them pursue varied and creative projects that ensure both safety and pragmatism/flexibility.
• Organized, practical, team player, and comfortable with enforcing lab safety rules and making sure students/staff clean up after themselves.
• An ideal candidate would feel comfortable working with small hand tools, small robotic cobots (e.g., UR5e and associated ROS/ROS2 environments), and developing small sensor packages/electronic setups necessary for measuring device performance (e.g., RPMs, distances moved, thrusts/forces, etc.). The candidate would also be comfortable looking at engineering drawings provided by outside partners, such as ETH TechPool or similar.

We offer

• World‑class research infrastructure and excellent working conditions guided by our common understanding of a supportive shared work culture
• A role that makes an impact: Become part of ETH Zurich and an international academic environment that supports your professional development and contributes to societal progress through research and teaching.
• You will be fully integrated into both the chair's team and the department's technicians team. Regular professional and personal exchange, as well as open and supportive collaboration, provide you with a strong network in your daily work.
• We offer flexible working hours that - as far as operational requirements allow - accommodate different personal and family needs.
• ETH Zurich offers a wide range of courses and professional development opportunities.
• Benefits such as public transport passes and car sharing, a wide sports program through ASVZ, childcare, etc.
• Attractive pension benefits through the PUBLICA pension fund.

We value diversity and sustainability

In line with our values