Laboratory Technician

Laboratory Technician (Chemistry)

Location: Lambeth, South London (in-person role)

Salary: £28,000-£30,000 per annum depending on experience.

Hours: Full-time, 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:30pm, with a 30 minute lunch break.

Holiday: 30 days annual leave per year including bank holidays.

Reports to: Technical Commercial Lead

About Metalchemy®

Metalchemy is a London-based advanced materials company developing and commercialising high-performance, sustainable material technologies for global industry. We combine materials science, chemistry and formulation expertise to develop functional and antimicrobial coatings, metallic nanoparticles and nanostructured materials, and application-specific formulations for food and packaging, healthcare, diagnostics, cosmetics and industrial applications.

Our work spans the full development lifecycle, from early-stage research and characterisation through to validation, scale-up, manufacturing and commercial deployment. We work with multinational companies, manufacturers and technology partners from our ISO 9001 certified London laboratories, backed by Innovate UK and USDA funding.

About the Role

We have more projects than hands, and we are looking for a practical, hands-on laboratory technician to help us deliver them. This is a role built around making things: manufacturing our coatings, formulations and materials, testing them, supporting the R&D behind them, and keeping the laboratory running so nothing gets held up.

You will spend most of your week at the bench, splitting your time between production, analysis and experimental work for R&D and customer projects. Alongside that you will handle the day-to-day operational side of the laboratory: stock, orders, shipments, equipment schedules and the ISO 9001 records that keep us audit-ready. Roughly, expect 40% production, 25% analysis and R&D support, and 35% laboratory operations, procurement and quality administration, flexing with what projects need.

Full training is given on our synthesis and formulation processes and on our analytical methods, working alongside the Technical Commercial Lead. The aim is for you to take real ownership quickly, running routine production, analysis and laboratory operations to a standard that needs checking rather than supervising, so senior time goes into new technology and customer projects. The emphasis is on precise, reliable execution rather than open-ended research, and we are equally happy to hear from recent graduates and from experienced technicians.

Key Responsibilities

Production & Manufacturing

•   Manufacture materials, coatings and formulations to approved procedures at laboratory and pilot scale, including synthesis, blending, filtration, filling and labelling.

•   Prepare raw materials, set up and operate laboratory and pilot equipment, and monitor in-process parameters.

•   Complete batch records accurately and in full, and carry out in-process and release testing.

•   Support scale-up trials and process troubleshooting, feeding observations back into procedures.

•   Apply cleaning, line clearance and changeover practices that prevent cross-contamination, and prepare finished product for dispatch.

Analysis & R&D Support

•   Run routine analysis and characterisation of materials, coatings, formulations and customer samples to established methods, applying a range of physical and chemical techniques.

•   Carry out experimental work for R&D and customer projects, including formulation trials, stability and shelf-life studies, and application testing.

•   Support method development, verification and transfer under the direction of the Technical Commercial Lead.

•   Record data accurately, work up and present results clearly, and contribute to technical reports and customer deliverables.

•   Flag out-of-specification and unexpected results promptly, and help investigate the cause and test resolutions.

Laboratory Operations & Quality Administration

•   Carry out day-to-day administration of our ISO 9001 Quality Management System, keeping records, logs and controlled documents current.

•   Maintain records in Labguru, including sample tracking, batch records and full material traceability.

•   Prepare Certificates of Analysis (CoAs) and support the upkeep of Safety Data Sheets (SDS/MSDS) and Technical Data Sheets (TDS).

•   Support internal audits, non-conformance reports (NCRs), corrective actions (CAPAs) and QC verification testing.

•   Maintain equipment calibration and servicing schedules, contribute to COSHH and laboratory safety, and keep the laboratory clean, organised and working.

Procurement, Stock & Shipping

•   Source suppliers, obtain competitive quotes and raise orders for consumables, raw materials, packaging and equipment.

•   Manage stock levels and reorder points, process goods-in against orders, and resolve delivery discrepancies.

•   Prepare and coordinate outbound shipments, including packing, courier booking, labelling and shipping documentation, with training provided for dangerous goods and export paperwork.

•   Keep procurement, stock and shipping records auditable in Monday.com and ApprovalMax, and help track laboratory spend against budget.

Physical Requirements

This is a hands-on laboratory and production role with sustained physical activity. It involves regular manual handling and lifting of materials up to 25 kg, moving drums and containers using trolleys, pallet trucks and drum handlers, operating production and material-handling equipment, and extended periods of standing and active work, all in accordance with our health and safety procedures. If you would like to discuss reasonable adjustments at any stage, tell us and we will accommodate where we can.

Qualifications & Profile

Essential

•   BSc or MSc in Chemistry,Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Materials Science or a related discipline.

•   Practical wet laboratory experience, from your degree, a research project, a placement or previous laboratory work.

•   Comfortable with hands-on, physical laboratory and production work, and with following procedures precisely.

•   Accurate, disciplined record-keeping and strong attention to detail.

•   Well organised and self-starting, able to work accurately from written procedures with limited supervision, and to run bench work alongside laboratory admin.

•   Confident user of Microsoft 365 and Google Drive, and comfortable learning platforms such as Monday.com, ApprovalMax and Labguru.

•   Clear written and verbal communication, and a willingness to learn and take ownership.

Desirable

•   An industrial placement, year in industry, or other manufacturing or commercial laboratory experience.

•   Exposure to batch manufacture, batch records or scale-up, or to ISO 9001, GMP or similar quality systems including CoAs, SDS/MSDS and TDS.

•   Experience with formulation, colloid or dispersion chemistry, or with coatings and thin films.

•   Experience of laboratory procurement, stock control, shipping or COSHH administration. A full UK driving licence is useful.

What Success Looks Like in the First 90 Days

•   Manufacturing batches to approved procedures without day-to-day supervision, with complete and accurate batch records.

•   Running our core analytical methods to specification and reporting results in a form colleagues use without rework.

•   Holding day-to-day ownership of stock, orders, shipments and equipment schedules, and keeping our ISO 9001 records current so the laboratory is audit-ready at any point.

•   Delivering at least one measurable improvement to a process, record or laboratory workflow.

Why Join Metalchemy?

•   An unusually broad technician role spanning production, analysis, R&D and laboratory operations, with training from the Technical Commercial Lead.

•   Work on technically challenging deep-tech projects with direct commercial impact, backed by Innovate UK and USDA funding.

•   See your work feed straight into technologies that multinational customers integrate into their own products, with real ownership from the start in a small team.

•   A genuine route into Analytical Chemist, Production, Laboratory Operations or Quality and Technical Compliance roles as the business grows.

Application Process

If you are practical, reliable and well organised, and want to make things as well as measure them, we would like to hear from you. When applying, please briefly describe a situation where you took the initiative to improve a process or deliver a result under pressure: what you did, and what changed as a result.

Metalchemy® is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK; we are unable to offer visa sponsorship.