Technical Assistant post at UP for semiskilled candidates or Chemistry graduates

Technical Assistant - Department of Chemistry - Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Job ID 25880

Location Natural and Agricultural Sc

Full/Part Time Full-Time

Regular/Temporary Regular

UP Professional and Support

FACULTY OF NATURAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

TECHNICAL ASSISTANT 

PEROMNES POST LEVEL 11

In pursuit of the ideals of excellence and diversity, the University of Pretoria wishes to invite applications for the following vacancy.

The University of Pretoria's commitment to quality makes us one of the top research Universities in the country and gives us a competitive advantage in international science and technology development.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The incumbent will be responsible for:

• Assisting with Running 2nd and 3rd Year Practicals in the Department

  • Pouring technical-grade solvents (e.g. acetone) from drums into smaller containers and place them in the lab;

  • Filling drums with deionised water;

  • Preparing shelf reagents (e.g. 6M acidic or basic solutions) and distribute them in smaller containers through the undergraduate laboratories;

  • Distilling technical solvents (e.g. ether);

  • Placing specialized equipment at each student’s locker when needed for certain practical sessions;

  • Assisting during the practical sessions with dispensing and handling metered out individual samples to students;

  • Assisting with placing chemicals and apparatus for practical sessions;

  • Preparing standardised stock solutions for issuing individual samples to students;

  • Filling up the steam baths with water if needed for a specific practical and make sure it does not boil dry during the practical session;

  • Unpacking, placing, calibrating and testing specialised equipment (e.g. conductivity meters or spectrophotometers) for the practicals; 

  • Checking and testing all items used in practical sessions, glassware, hotplates, etc.;

  • Weighing out reagents in polytops for some of the experiments for each student/pair individually;

  • Making capillary tubes for chromatography practicals (second and third-year students);

  • Cutting TLC pates and/or chromatography paper to the correct size;

  • Attending and assist students with their needs during the practical sessions;

  • Ensuring that there is enough distilled water, solvents, materials, and/or solutions in the labs throughout the whole practical session;

  • Collecting ice when needed for various practical sessions;

  • Preparing and pour solutions into reagent bottles for practical sessions, and make sure they are correctly labelled and filled for all the practical sessions;

  • Checking balances are operational and clean; 

  • Cleaning spills (water and/or chemicals) and lab benches during and after the practical session;

  • Ensuring suitably labelled waste containers are available for each practical session;

  • Replacing any glassware which is broken during practical sessions and report these breakages to the laboratory manager to ensure replacement orders are made;

  • Ensuring instruments are calibrated before practical sessions;

  • Assisting with the operation of instruments (e.g. Ultra Violet Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) or similar) during student practicals;

• Performing General Laboratory Tasks for Organic/Inorganic Chemistry Clusters

  • Gas and liquid nitrogen management:

    • Stock taking of cylinders: Counting of full and empty gas cylinders for ordering purposes;

    • Fetching full gas cylinders from gas store and the technical store;

    • Safely connecting gas cylinders to gas lines and instrumentation;

    • Leak check gas connections and lines;

    • Disconnecting empty cylinders and return them to the gas store;

    • Ensuring a continuous supply of gases by monitoring gas gauges/levels of cylinders daily and changing cylinders timeously before the gas runs out;

    • Receiving delivery of gas cylinders from suppliers;

    • Fetching liquid nitrogen from the technical store;

    • Connecting liquid nitrogen Dewars to instrumentation; 

    • Daily monitoring of liquid nitrogen levels and replenishment timeously before running out of liquid nitrogen;

  • Laboratory housekeeping:

    • Keeping laboratories and chemical stores neat, and equipment and containers dust free; 

    • Cleaning of glassware, and general laboratory items;

    • Timeously replenishing empty paper towel rolls, soap dispensers, and various other laboratory general cleaning items;

    • Collecting requisition items from the store;

    • Waste management;

• Providing Technical and Instrument Support

  • Technical:

    • Sample preparation for the organic and inorganic chemistry clusters;

    • Weighing of materials and samples;

    • Assisting postgraduate students with access to instrumentation (such as UV-vis, FTIR);

• General Assistance and Support

  • Assisting with moving departmental assets;

  • Requesting quotations from suppliers;

  • Ad-hoc duties as required by the department;

  • Collecting orders;

  • Safe storage of chemicals;

  • Inventory on a 3-month basis.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Diploma in Chemistry or related field with at least one (1) years’ relevant experience OR;

• Grade 12 with at least three (3) years’ relevant experience.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES (SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND BEHAVIOURAL ATTRIBUTES):

• Experience in a Tertiary Institution Chemical Laboratory, or equivalent, and performing laboratory work including:

  • Handling chemicals;

  • Preparing solutions;

  • Handling basic chemical equipment and accessories (such as pH-meter and glass electrode, spectrophotometers);

• Knowledge of Laboratory instrumentation;

• Knowledge of laboratory apparatus;

• Knowledge of basic chemical equipment and accessories (such as spectrophotometers);

• Knowledge of chemical apparatus (e.g. specialized glassware);

• Knowledge of basic concepts in General Chemistry;

• Knowledge of FTIR, UV-Vis;

• Knowledge of safety in the chemical laboratory;

• Knowledge of first aid in the chemical laboratory.

ADDED ADVANTAGES AND PREFERENCES:

• BSc in Chemistry or related field;

• Experience in a tertiary environment;

• Firefighting Certificate;

• First Aid Certificate.

PLEASE NOTE: All shortlisted candidates may be required to participate in relevant skills assessments as part of the selection process.

The annual remuneration package will be commensurate with the incumbent’s level of appointment, as determined by UP policy guidelines. UP subscribes to the BESTMED and UMVUZO medical aid schemes and contributes 50% of the applicable monthly premium.

Applicants are requested to apply online at www.up.ac.za, and follow the link: Careers@UP.

In applying for this post, please attach:

• A comprehensive CV;

• Certified copies of qualifications;

• Names, e-mail addresses and telephone details of three referees whom we have permission to contact.

CLOSING DATE: 31 March 2025

No application will be considered after the closing date, or if it does not comply with at least the minimum requirements.

ENQUIRIES:

Ms M Kana, Tel: (012) 420 6662 Email: merilyn.kana@up.ac.za for application-related enquiries, and Prof P Ndungu, Tel: (012) 420 3095 Email: patrick.ndungu@up.ac.za, for enquiries relating to the post content.

Should you not hear from the University of Pretoria by 31 May 2025, please accept that your application has been unsuccessful.

Click HERE to Apply