Biomolecular NMR Facility Manager

Iowa State University • Ames, IA

10d

About The Position

The Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility (BNMRF) is seeking a Facility Manager to lead daily operations, maintenance, and strategic growth of this high-impact research space. The Facility Manager will join a vibrant NMR community and play a central role in supporting users, advancing method development, enabling collaborative research, and ensuring reliable, high-quality instrumentation performance. Instrumentation includes a 600 MHz spectrometer housed in the Chemical Instrumentation Facility (CIF), and 700 and 800 MHz spectrometers in the Biomolecular NMR Facility (BNMRF), along with a high-pressure system that supports a wide range of experiments across multiple scientific disciplines. In this position, you step into a highly autonomous role where your expertise shapes the facility’s direction and the research it enables. Rather than supporting a single PI or project, you will collaborate across departments and research groups, advising senior users, contributing to cutting-edge studies, and driving innovation in NMR applications. You’ll report directly to the Chair of Biochemistry, giving you the space and flexibility to prioritize needs, cultivate partnerships, and guide the facility’s long-term growth. If you enjoy both independence and community, working alongside many investigators without being tied to one lab, this role offers a unique professional home. The candidate will be hired as a Technical Project Specialist III.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of related experience

Nice To Haves

• Extensive experience operating and maintaining high-field Bruker NMR spectrometers (≥ 600 MHz), including cryogen handling, troubleshooting, and coordination with vendor.
• Demonstrated expertise in biomolecular solution NMR experiment design, pulse sequence implementation, and data analysis, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.
• Strong computational skills for NMR data processing and analysis (e.g., NMRPipe, NMRFAM-Sparky), with experience developing or implementing analysis pipelines.
• Evidence of effective mentorship and training of undergraduate students, graduate students, or postdoctoral researchers in NMR techniques.
• Experience with instrument billing and budget management
• Experience with ensuring safety measures of users associated with NMR instruments

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily operation and maintenance of 600, 700, and 800 MHz NMR spectrometers, including cryoprobe performance, cryogen refills, and vendor coordination
• Train and support users in safe, effective instrument use; provide troubleshooting, experiment design guidance, and data interpretation
• Develop and maintain SOPs, training materials, and manuals; ensure compliance with safety and data protocols
• Collaborate on research through experimental design, pulse sequence optimization, data processing, and support for publications and grant proposals
• Manage scheduling, usage tracking, reporting, budgeting, billing, and fee-for-service operations
• Coordinate with external users and other ISU core facilities to enable collaborative and cross-platform research

Benefits

• Iowa State Employees enjoy comprehensive health and work-life benefits, including medical and dental
• Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Generous vacation, holiday and sick time and leave plans
• Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
• Life insurance and long-term disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various voluntary benefits and discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellbeing program

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees