Lab Manager, Department of Plant Sciences: UTIA

University of Tennessee•Knoxville, TN

About The Position

The Omics Hub is a centralized shared core facility that supports interdisciplinary research across seven UTIA departments in agriculture and life sciences. This position serves as the primary manager and technical lead of the facility, overseeing operations, training users, maintaining and acquiring equipment, decommissioning and removing obsolete equipment, providing user support, student guidance, and managing resources including basic cost-recovery and budget monitoring. Key responsibilities include delivering expert consultation and hands-on training for core facility-based instruments, providing assistance with designing and executing experiments, ensuring instrument reliability through proactive maintenance and quality control, facilitating access and efficient scheduling, conducting outreach activities, managing resources, and working with faculty to write proposals for equipment acquisition and funding initiatives to drive innovative research in plants, animals, microbes, food, and related fields. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has shaped leaders, changemakers, and innovative thinkers since its founding in 1794. The university is home to more than 38,000 students and 10,000 statewide employees—the Volunteers—who uphold the university’s tradition of lighting the way for others through leadership and service. UT Knoxville offers over 900 programs of study across 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. As Tennessee’s flagship land-grant university, its footprint spans the entire state. The university holds the highest Carnegie classification for research activity and has deep partnerships with industry leaders and the US Department of Energy’s largest multidisciplinary laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Knoxville campus serves and recruits for UT Knoxville, including the Institute of Agriculture and the Space Institute, as well as the UT Institute of Public Service. UT Knoxville considers its employees its number one asset. With values that focus on work-life balance, compensation, and innovation leadership, all Vols are supported to advance professionally. Employees have access to career development and coaching, continued education, and an extensive list of development and training possibilities. The Volunteer employee experience implements structures and practices to attract and retain top-tier talent, fostering a strong staff community and supporting a culture of involvement and engagement for everyone. The university holds a strong commitment to its land-grant mission of learning and engagement, with a tradition of service and leadership that carries that Volunteer spirit throughout the state and around the world. It has been ranked nationally as “Best Employer for New Graduates,” “One of America’s Best Large Employers,” and “Best Workplace for Women,” and has been designated as “Best Place for Working Parents” by Forbes Magazine. Apply today and join the Tennessee Volunteer community!

Responsibilities

overseeing operations
training users
maintaining and acquiring equipment
decommissioning and removing obsolete equipment
providing user support
student guidance
managing resources including basic cost-recovery and budget monitoring
delivering expert consultation and hands-on training for core facility-based instruments
providing assistance with designing and executing experiments
ensuring instrument reliability through proactive maintenance and quality control
facilitating access and efficient scheduling
conducting outreach activities
managing resources
working with faculty to write proposals for equipment acquisition and funding initiatives to drive innovative research in plants, animals, microbes, food, and related fields