Full-time Molecular Biology Lab Manager at Natural History Museum Denmark

Natural History Museum Denmark, Faculty of Science, the University of Copenhagen is looking for a full-time Molecular Biology Lab Manager, to start 1st June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. The candidate will be instrumental in helping us to build and run our new National Facility for Museomics.

We offer a professionally challenging job in an exciting environment in a workplace that is constantly evolving. We are committed colleagues who emphasise quality, professionalism, and dynamism in the work we do.

NHMD is the national museum for nature and contains more than 14 million objects of preserved animals, plants, fossils and minerals. We are currently building a new Danish national museum for nature. One big museum site in the Botanical Garden in the centre of Copenhagen will host state-of-the-art laboratories, outstanding research, new public galleries, and combined facilities for programming, education, and citizen science.

As part of this, we are building a new National Facility for Museomics, comprising separate labs for straightforward and challenging historical/archival samples. In this role, you will interact closely with researchers both from the Museum and visitors, students, and other users, to coordinate activities relating to the laboratories from everyday lab management to providing training and technical support in museomics protocols. You will play a pivotal role in developing our infrastructure and capacity in this emerging area of research.

Tasks

Establishment, management, and day-to-day running of the National Facility for Museomics at the Natural History Museum Denmark.

Your tasks will include:

• Organise and assist in procurement, installation, and maintenance of equipment, and in the planning of laboratory establishment and renovations.
• Introduce, instruct, and train new laboratory users (Good Laboratory Practices, safety and other required practices, museomics and other protocols).
• Support the development of novel protocols for museomics and assist lab users in their implementation.
• Ensure efficient organisation and use of laboratory space and equipment.
• Ensure compliance with safety laws and legal standards.
• Handle day-to-day procurement of consumables and invoices.
• Coordinate, build, and improve common laboratory tasks and workflows.
• Actively contribute to the Museum’s effort to make the laboratories more sustainable through the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF).

We require

• MSc degree or higher in Natural Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, or similar, or training as a Laboratory Scientist or Laboratory Technician.
• Three or more years of experience with laboratory work (in either a technical or research capacity).
• Experience in organising and optimising laboratory facilities.
• Experience with administrative aspects of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and occupational health and safety regulations.
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
• The ability to work in a structured and organised manner and to prioritise your own tasks.
• Good IT skills – especially within the use of Microsoft Office 365 programs.
• Hands-on experience in museomics, ancient DNA, or similar elevated biosecurity labs would be desirable.

Personal qualifications

• Strong organisational skills
• Pro-active and solution-oriented
• Able to handle many different tasks at the same time

About us

The vision of the Natural History Museum Denmark is to empower citizens to connect with nature. We want to inspire, engage, and enable people to enjoy, understand, and care for the diversity of the natural world. We are building a new Danish national museum for the natural world. Over the next few years, the museum will change the way people think about and use natural history museums. We are working on multiple intersecting projects to achieve this, as well as operating the existing museum venues that are open to the public with an exciting program of exhibitions and events.

Our scientists are world-leaders in their respective fields from biodiversity discovery to addressing the global challenges of today. Our research is founded upon natural history collections of all kinds, including the 14 million objects in our botanical, zoological, and geological collections, collected from the 1600s to the present day.

Terms of salary and employment

The employment and salary is made in accordance with the Collective Agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Organisations of Public Employees – governmental institutions (the OAO-S collective agreement) and the Professional Agreement for clerical employees, laboratory technicians and IT-officers in the state.

Employment will be as academic employee. The salary is based on seniority. Negotiation for salary supplement is possible. The working time are 37 hours per week on average. The working hours are flexible.

If the right candidate does not hold a MSc degree, employment will take place on the basis of another relevant collective agreement.

Your application

If you find the job interesting, please send an electronic application with attachment via Jobportalen (click on the link "Apply Now" at the bottom of the post) no later 21st March 2025

Interviews will take place between 1st – 3rd April 2025

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Further questions

Any questions about the position may be directed to Professor Natasha de Vere, [email protected]

The Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen – or SCIENCE – is Denmark's largest science research and education institution with 4,000 employees and 9,700 Bachelor and Master's students in 11 departments and one museum. The Faculty has an annual budget of DKK 3 billion.

Learn more about The Faculty of Science at www.science.ku.dk