Apprentice Technician – Chemical and Environmental Engineering – Find an apprenticeship

Summary

Based primarily within the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, you will have a great chance to develop and grow your career as a Chemical Laboratory Assistant. We will support and help you to develop the skills, experience and knowledge you will need to succeed, whilst undertaking a full time 4-year Apprenticeship.

Wage

£23,563 a year

Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

We provide a range of benefits and rewards, including leading fitness and health facilities, staff discounts and travel schemes. We also offer an excellent holiday allowance of 25 days, plus additional university closure days and bank holidays.

Training course

Laboratory technician (level 3)

Hours

Hours of work are full-time (36.25 per week), worked 5 days, Monday to Friday.

36 hours 15 minutes a week

Possible start date

Monday 1 September

Duration

4 years

Positions available

2

Work

As an apprentice, you’ll work at a company and get hands-on experience. You’ll gain new skills and work alongside experienced staff.

What you’ll do at work

You will receive practical training in the faculty’s extensively equipped laboratories on a range of standard and specialised pilot-scale chemical laboratory equipment/instrumentation, techniques and processes from our experienced and qualified science/engineering technical specialists.

There will be opportunities for you to learn and train on a wide range of cutting-edge chemical laboratory technologies including:

Chemical analysis techniques
Variety of methods: sampling and sample resizing, rotary evaporation, soxhlet extraction, leaching/digestion, distillation, 3D printing etc
Experimental design, method development, testing and implementation
Materials testing and characterisation.

Where you’ll work

University Park

Nottingham

NG7 2RD

Training

An apprenticeship includes regular training with a college or other training organisation. At least 20% of your working hours will be spent training or studying.

College or training organisation

LOUGHBOROUGH COLLEGE

Your training course

Laboratory technician (level 3)

Equal to A level

Course contents

Comply with health and safety policies and procedures including HASWA, COSHH, risk assessments, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), manual handling, emergency procedures.
Maintain excellent housekeeping, in accordance with organisation Standard Procedures
Order and control stocks of laboratory materials where required
Identify, organise and use resources effectively to complete tasks applying the concepts of resource efficiency e.g energy, water and waste
Adhere to internal and external regulatory requirements e.g. GLP, GMP, GDP
Prepare for, and perform, laboratory experiments, tests or tasks following any specified methodologies to provide reliable, accurate data e.g. weighing, pipetting, filtering, spectroscopic techniques, chromatography techniques
Demonstrate technical competence in the use of specified instruments and equipment
Report faults and seek diagnostic advice to maintain equipment in good working order, including calibration where required
Complete documentation proficiently
Keep accurate records of laboratory work undertaken and results
Contribute to the preparation of reports.
Use simple statistical techniques for data presentation and evaluation e. g calculation of median and standard deviation, production of graphs
Demonstrate problem solving techniques including identification of sources of error and how they can be reduced e.g. human error
Use standard software packages and applications e.g. Microsoft Office suite
Use Laboratory Information Management systems to support their work
Address non-routine problems with samples and instrumentation, within defined areas
Identify relevant information from scientific sources e.g. supervisors, literature etc. in order to contribute to solutions
Participate in continuous performance improvement of systems and processes relevant to the work environment e.g. workplace organisation techniques, accreditation (e.g. ISO, UKAS) and proficiency testing.
Evaluate data, recognise and call attention to anomalous or unusual results
Comply with health and safety policies and procedures including HASWA, COSHH, risk assessments, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), manual handling, emergency procedures.
Maintain excellent housekeeping, in accordance with organisation Standard Procedures
Order and control stocks of laboratory materials where required
Identify, organise and use resources effectively to complete tasks applying the concepts of resource efficiency e.g energy, water and waste
Adhere to internal and external regulatory requirements e.g. GLP, GMP, GDP
Prepare for, and perform, laboratory experiments, tests or tasks following any specified methodologies to provide reliable, accurate data e.g. weighing, pipetting, filtering, spectroscopic techniques, chromatography techniques
Demonstrate technical competence in the use of specified instruments and equipment
Report faults and seek diagnostic advice to maintain equipment in good working order, including calibration where required
Complete documentation proficiently
Keep accurate records of laboratory work undertaken and results
Contribute to the preparation of reports.
Use simple statistical techniques for data presentation and evaluation e. g calculation of median and standard deviation, production of graphs
Demonstrate problem solving techniques including identification of sources of error and how they can be reduced e.g. human error
Use standard software packages and applications e.g. Microsoft Office suite
Use Laboratory Information Management systems to support their work
Address non-routine problems with samples and instrumentation, within defined areas
Identify relevant information from scientific sources e.g. supervisors, literature etc. in order to contribute to solutions
Participate in continuous performance improvement of systems and processes relevant to the work environment e.g. workplace organisation techniques, accreditation (e.g. ISO, UKAS) and proficiency testing.
Evaluate data, recognise and call attention to anomalous or unusual results

Your training plan

As well as practical learning and experience, you will attend a 4 year academic programme at a local FE college.

Qualifications to be undertaken will include:

Advanced Apprenticeship Level 3 Laboratory Technician
Internal training courses relevant to role

During your apprenticeship, you will be fully supported by and learn from highly experienced and qualified engineering technicians, who are knowledgeable and passionate about their discipline.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE or equivalent in:

5 GCSE's including English, maths and a science (grade 4 - 9)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
IT skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Problem solving skills
Number skills
Analytical skills
Logical
Team working
Initiative

Other requirements

Our University has always been a supportive, inclusive, caring and positive community. Recruitment/ appointment will be based purely upon merit

About this company

We are delighted to share that we are the first university to have achieved Athena Swan Gold Award. We offer a range of benefits for staff.

http://nottingham.ac.uk/jobs (opens in new tab)

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Upon completion of the apprenticeship, there may be an opportunity to gain further employment with the University.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (THE)

Andrew Hallam

andrew.hallam@nottingham.ac.uk

0115 7486 425

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000303808.

Apply now

Closes on Monday 2 June 2025

When you apply, you’ll be asked to sign in with a GOV.UK One Login. You can create one at the same time as applying for this apprenticeship.

After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.

Company’s application instructions

Please apply directly via the University of Nottingham's online application form.

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Apprentice Technician – Chemical and Environmental Engineering

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