Senior XRD Facility Manager – On-site + Equity

Periodic Labs; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Periodic Labs in Menlo Park, CA, seeks an experienced diffraction specialist to manage our X-ray diffraction facility across powder, thin-film, and capillary measurements. You will align and calibrate instruments, maintain standards, train users, and ensure data integrity.

Collaborating with synthesis, software, and research teams, you will help specify new instruments, write SOPs, and ensure safety and compliant operations while advancing performance of our XRD assets.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands‑on experience operating and maintaining X-ray diffractometers in a research or industrial setting.
• Strong XRD background across powder, thin-film, and capillary/transmission work with proficiency in phase identification and quantitative analysis.
• Experience maintaining several instruments from more than one vendor; able to troubleshoot hardware and decide on repairs.
• Meticulous documentation habits; treat metadata as part of the measurement.
• Ability to support many users in a busy lab while maintaining good practice.
• PhD in materials science, physics, chemistry, or related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Instrument alignment, calibration, configuration control, and uptime across the facility.
• Establish reference standards and QC schedules for consistent results across instruments.
• Handle difficult measurements including non-routine geometries and non-ambient stages.
• Maintenance and repair: coordinating service contracts and vendor visits.
• Commissioning new instruments: site prep, acceptance testing, and comparisons against existing instruments.
• User training: certify scientists and technicians, review runs, provide support.
• Documentation: maintain SOPs, measurement recipes, and data-reduction conventions.
• Radiation safety: X-ray registrations, interlock testing, surveys, and handling of gases.

Skills

X-ray diffraction expertise

Education

PhD in materials science, physics, chemistry, or related field

Tools

Rietveld refinement

Powder, thin-film, capillary XRD

Job description

Periodic Labs in Menlo Park, CA, seeks an experienced diffraction specialist to manage our X-ray diffraction facility across powder, thin-film, and capillary measurements. You will align and calibrate instruments, maintain standards, train users, and ensure data integrity.

Collaborating with synthesis, software, and research teams, you will help specify new instruments, write SOPs, and ensure safety and compliant operations while advancing performance of our XRD assets.