King's College London

About Us

A vacancy has arisen for an Analyst within the  Drug Control Centre (DCC), King’s Forensics in the Department of Analytical, Environmental & Forensic Sciences, School Cancer Studies & Pharmaceutical Sciences based on the Waterloo campus of King’s College London and within the Franklin Wilkins Building. The post holder will be familiar with LC-MS/MS analysis and possess laboratory experience in bioanalytical or clinical testing.

The DCC is the only World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in the UK and played a key role in the London 2012 Olympics, Glasgow 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2021 Rugby League World Cup sports testing programmes. The DCC is also accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) as a testing laboratory, in accordance with ISO 17025.

Under the supervision of the Lead Analyst (LC-Technologies), the postholder will analyse biological samples in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code’s International Standard for Laboratories and World Anti-Doping Agency and ISO 17025 accreditations. Staff at this level are required to carry out a range of activities using standard laboratory operating procedures and working to always comply with the principals of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). The post holder will need to be organised and proficient in routine laboratory skills and be able to work alone as well as in a team. 

About The Role

The post holder is a member of the DCC analyst family, King’s Forensics, providing high quality analytical support for anti-doping within a highly controlled environment based in the Department of Analytical, Environmental & Forensic Science, King’s College London.

They will: Provide recognised analytical skills in a range of analytical services predominantly using LC-MS (including triple quadrupole and orbitrap), where the primary focus will be on operating a routine analytical service, supporting the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) contract. This will involve performing sophisticated routine analysis in compliance with ISO17025 and WADA International Standards for Laboratories (ISL) requirements using established standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the analysis of biological samples. 

The post holder will work within the LC-technologies team and be assigned tasks by the Lead Analyst and is expected to be flexible in anticipating and responding to shifting and competing demands on their and the wider team’s time. It is expected that the post will work with some supervision and will refer to their line manager/s for advice on issues which fall outside existing regulatory or policy frameworks.  Take responsibility for informing the Lead Analyst when consumables run low, ensuring efficient use of resources and stock control of items used.

Duties include helping to maintain routinely used equipment, particularly the calibration of pipettes, reporting broken or damaged items as appropriate to the Lead Analyst.  For the day-to-day screening procedures and preparation for confirmatory analysis related to analysis of biological samples, including report checking in the DCC.  You will maintain a training record in accordance with the requirements of UKAS ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation to record competencies, continuing professional development, training events, proficiency certificates etc  

There will be a commitment to your own personal career development, fostering a stimulating, innovative and inclusive cultural environment across the DCC laboratories enabling analytical colleagues to thrive and develop, ensuring that processes and policies are visible, accessible and transparent

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

This is a full-time contract.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. Degree level experience or equivalent experience developed through considerable knowledge and skills gained through work experience in a similar post
2. Have a range of analytical or practical skills in related to LC-MS and a well- developed working knowledge of LC-MS analytical practices and procedures
3. Routinely contributes to booking and splitting of samples using the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and the measurement of pH/SG.
4. Demonstrate a good understanding of a quality assurance framework and document control as it applies to an analytical laboratory
5. Undertake sample preparation for LC/MS/MS analysis (extraction) for screening and confirmation and some validation work.
6. Maintain a training folder in accordance with the requirements of UKAS ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation record competencies, CPD and training events etc. This will align with a commitment to professional development and a willingness to learn new techniques
7. Strong planning & organisational skills – a systematic and precise approach, managing competing priorities, accurately recording information
8. Flexible team-worker, being proactive and responsive to colleagues.

Desirable criteria

1. Previous experience of working in an analytical anti-doping setting
2. Experience of relevant modern LC-MS/MS analytical instrumentation
3. Experience of working in an accredited laboratory

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 page. 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.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

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.