The University of Washington Physics Instrument Shop is looking for a new shop manager. This is the machine shop which builds the SDSS plug plates, fiber systems, and a number of our other instrumentation and telescope equipment for SDSS, APO 3.5 m, and soon LCO. This shop is a key part of SDSS operations.
Position Description
The Instrument Shop Manager is responsible for the daily operations of a 5 FTE research and development machine shop with an $850,000 annual budget. The Instrument Shop provides clients (primarily scientists) with both one-of-a-kind and production instruments. The manager is solely responsible for assessing each client’s request, estimating the amount of time and effort to complete the job, assigning the job to the staff persons whose abilities and experience best fit the request and scheduling the job. The Manager is the line supervisor for 5 FTE – selecting, hiring, evaluating and disciplining employees as necessary. The Manager ensures that the proper tooling and materials are on hand for each job, that machines are maintained and repaired and that the workplace is safe. The Manager works closely with faculty, staff and students on their research projects. Many experiments involve instruments that are not available ‘off the shelf’ and are custom designed for each particular experiment or project. Faculty, staff and students depend upon the Manager to review their ideas and ensure that the devices are buildable and suggest modifications that may result in a better instrument or make it easier to produce.
You can get an idea of what goes on in this shop in this video of SDSS plate production
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYyO7pGaJNw]