Laboratory apprentice
Oxford Quantum Circuits
SHINFIELD (RG2 9LH)
Closes on Saturday 28 February 2026
Posted on 22 January 2026
Contents
Summary
Supporting the lab team ensuring the Lab environment safe, supporting the quantum engineers to run
experiments, general maintenance of the Lab and workshop environments, completing work orders as
required for the technology teams. Learning how to operate a laboratory
- Wage
-
£20,000 a year
- Training course
- Lead engineering maintenance technician (level 4)
- Hours
-
Shifts to be confirmed.
37 hours a week
- Start date
-
Wednesday 4 March 2026
- Duration
-
3 years
- Positions available
-
1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
- Supporting the lab technicians ensuring the maintenance of the cryogenic equipment and monitoring the uptime of Cryogenic equipment, escalating issues to the lab technicians for a fix if they cannot be resolved
- Supporting lab technicians by assisting with the building of electrical and mechanical assemblies as part of the ongoing design of our Quantum computers as instructed through work orders from the quantum and control engineers
- Learning to write and document risk assessments through watching and supporting lab technicians, risk assessments are documented in the agreed documentation platform with the lab supervisor responsible for maintaining these assessments.
- Responding to situations in the laboratory by shadowing and/or supporting with instruction from lab technicians or senior lab technicians to trouble shoot incidents, support with fridge issues and chemical spills. Major issues that cannot be resolved are to be escalated to the Lab Supervisor. All reported issues to be documented on an agreed platform, documentation will be checked, reviewed and approved by lab technicians and/or senior lab technicians
- Supporting the lab technicians to ensure the laboratory is well-stocked and well-resourced with relevant equipment used, working in conjunction with the store's controller to monitor stock levels
- Completing weekly and monthly stock checks with the support of the lab technicians and stores controller on a real-time database
- Supporting lab technicians in the set up and maintenance of our Quantum computers including assembly and disassembly of componentry as well as the building of mechanical and electrical devices
- Writing weekly and monthly training logs to get all work approved by the Laboratory Supervisor and training partner
- Managing their time to balance their work related tasks and training, the statutory expectation is to average an 80:20 ratio or work to training
Where you'll work
ROOM 201
THE GATEWAY
1 COLLEGIATE SQUARE
SHINFIELD
RG2 9LH
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
TRAIN'D UP RAILWAY RESOURCING LIMITED
Training course
Lead engineering maintenance technician (level 4)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Comply with health and safety regulations and procedures. Apply safe systems of work.
- Comply with environmental and sustainability regulations and procedures when using resources. Segregate resources for re-use, recycling and disposal applying sustainability principles.
- Follow manufacturers’ instructions and standard maintenance procedures.
- Identify and document risks and hazards in the workplace. Advise on and apply control measures.
- Record or enter information - paper based or electronic. For example, job sheets, risk assessments, equipment service records, test results, handover documents and manufacturers' documentation, asset management records, work sheets, checklists, waste environmental records and any legal reporting requirements.
- Plan and schedule tasks, projects or resources in the workplace.
- Manage tasks, projects or resources in the workplace.
- Evaluate tasks, projects or resources in the workplace.
- Communicate with colleagues and stakeholders verbally.
- Communicate in writing.
- Negotiate with colleagues or stakeholders. For example, to access equipment or arrange system outage.
- Identify potential conflicts and apply resolution strategies.
- Identify training needs of team members in the workplace.
- Provide technical leadership for maintenance practices and techniques.
- Provide technical leadership for repair practices and techniques.
- Provide technical leadership for fault finding techniques and practices.
- Identify problems and apply methods to identify causes and solutions. Escalate issues or concerns.
- Comply with engineering standards and regulations. For example, ISO9001.
- Interpret and use information from engineering data sources to apply changes.
- Lead on continuous improvement projects. Apply continuous improvement techniques. Devise suggestions for improvement.
- Manage technical handover of completed repair or maintenance activity.
- Use information technology. For example, for document creation, communication, and information management in line with breakdown, repair and maintenance activities. Comply with GDPR.
- Comply with health and safety regulations and procedures. Apply safe systems of work.
- Comply with environmental and sustainability regulations and procedures when using resources. Segregate resources for re-use, recycling and disposal applying sustainability principles.
- Follow manufacturers’ instructions and standard maintenance procedures.
- Identify and document risks and hazards in the workplace. Advise on and apply control measures.
- Record or enter information - paper based or electronic. For example, job sheets, risk assessments, equipment service records, test results, handover documents and manufacturers' documentation, asset management records, work sheets, checklists, waste environmental records and any legal reporting requirements.
- Plan and schedule tasks, projects or resources in the workplace.
- Manage tasks, projects or resources in the workplace.
- Evaluate tasks, projects or resources in the workplace.
- Communicate with colleagues and stakeholders verbally.
- Communicate in writing.
- Negotiate with colleagues or stakeholders. For example, to access equipment or arrange system outage.
- Identify potential conflicts and apply resolution strategies.
- Identify training needs of team members in the workplace.
- Provide technical leadership for maintenance practices and techniques.
- Provide technical leadership for repair practices and techniques.
- Provide technical leadership for fault finding techniques and practices.
- Identify problems and apply methods to identify causes and solutions. Escalate issues or concerns.
- Comply with engineering standards and regulations. For example, ISO9001.
- Interpret and use information from engineering data sources to apply changes.
- Lead on continuous improvement projects. Apply continuous improvement techniques. Devise suggestions for improvement.
- Manage technical handover of completed repair or maintenance activity.
- Use information technology. For example, for document creation, communication, and information management in line with breakdown, repair and maintenance activities. Comply with GDPR.
Training schedule
Training includes both formal study and time spent learning new tasks, shadowing team members etc. This may vary from week to week depending on work and course requirements
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
- English (grade 4-9)
- Mathamatics (grade 4-9)
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- IT skills
- mechanical knowledge
- worked in a lab before
About this employer
TBC
After this apprenticeship
- To be confirmed by employer
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
TRAIN'D UP RAILWAY RESOURCING LIMITED
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000010283.
Apply now
Closes on Saturday 28 February 2026