King's College London

About Us

Embedded within the Comprehensive Cancer Centre at King’s College London, PharosAI offers a unique cancer AI product development ecosystem for drug discovery and clinical applications, democratising access to data, AI assets, technologies, and capabilities. PharosAI unites large-scale multimodal cancer datasets with AI models through a highly-secure, trusted, federated platform, offering state-of-the-art AI tooling for use by pharma/biotech/life-sciences, AI-pharma, and AI developers of clinical applications, in enterprises, growth companies, and research organisations. PharosAI will also provide a “lend me an expert” concierge service, training and education in AI for clinicians, and an end-to-end product development and deployment service, helping cancer pathology services to be more easily deployed within the NHS. This will be facilitated by a best-in-class patient involvement and governance model, and fair value sharing for data providers.

You will be based in the Innovation Hub, Guy’s Cancer Centre, Guy’s Hospital, within the King’s Health Partners Cancer Biobank. The Biobank has been supporting translational cancer research at a national level since the 1970’s and accrued a significant number of samples during that time, all of which have been acquired under documented procedures and linked to verified clinical data. The Biobank has a team of more than 15 full time staff, including Advanced Practitioners, Consent Co-Ordinator, Quality Manager and Specialist Technicians.

About The Role

We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Technical Manager to join PharosAI and the KHP Cancer Biobank to manage the specialist histology sample preparation and processing for image and -omics data generation. 

The post holder will use advanced histology techniques and skills to generate data for inclusion in the PharosAI trusted research environment. You will undertake multiplex IF/IHC, define and create TMAs suitable for spatial transcriptomics, and drive the DNA/RNA extraction service. This will be underpinned by detailed histology knowledge and experience to rapidly identify and rectify technical and processing issues. As part of the role, you will also train others on use of equipment and theory of the techniques used. 

Sample preparation support, including microtomy/ cryotomy and microdissection of tissue sections will form part of the role. 

The successful candidate will liaise with and create a network of scientific and technical colleagues as well as commercial companies to keep abreast of new tissue-related technologies and equipment. 

The role may occasionally require working outside of core hours, including weekends and evenings, dependent upon surgery/clinic times, to meet deadlines or to attend PharosAI events. 

This is a full time (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31 March 2027.

About You 

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience: 

Essential criteria

1. Undergraduate degree, HND, NVQ4 or equivalent in a relevant subject, plus work experience in a relevant technical/scientific post or Proven track record with extensive work experience in a relevant technical scientific post, demonstrating development through involvement in a series of progressively more demanding roles. 
2. Extensive experience of a range of histology and molecular biology techniques, with a full understanding of the technical/scientific theory underpinning these, along with the ability to apply learnt techniques to new areas of work 
3. Excellent planning and organisational skills used to manage staff and facilities, identifying performance standards and establishing protocols to deliver these. 
4. Working knowledge of regulations governing area of work. 
5. Strong communication skills, both orally and in writing, and interpersonal skills 
6. Have a proactive and responsive approach to internal and external contacts to build relationships and create networks. 

Desirable criteria

1. Biobank experience. 
2. Experience and knowledge of human sample use in the research environment 
3. Evidence of an active commitment to professional development, such as working towards RSciTech / RSci. 

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process. 

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community. We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible. 

 To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.