Role Overview
Nova Medical Testing Inc. (NovaMT) is seeking an Analytical Instrumentation Specialist to support the reliable operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of our HPLC/UPLC and LC-MS systems. The primary focus of this position is instrument reliability, preventive and corrective maintenance, troubleshooting, and lifecycle support. The successful candidate will help ensure that analytical instruments remain operational, properly maintained, and available for laboratory use with minimal downtime. This role will serve as the primary point of contact for instrument maintenance and first-line technical troubleshooting. The position requires strong hands-on instrumentation experience, systematic problem-solving skills, and the ability to coordinate effectively with laboratory staff, equipment manufacturers, and service engineers.
Responsibilities
Instrument Operation & Maintenance
- Operate, monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot HPLC/UPLC and LC-MS systems.
- Perform routine preventive maintenance, cleaning, calibration, system checks, replacement of consumable components, and basic instrument repairs.
- Monitor instrument performance and identify potential issues before they result in significant downtime.
- Verify instrument performance following maintenance, troubleshooting, or servicing.
- Support instrument installation, qualification, relocation, upgrades, and decommissioning as required.
- Maintain appropriate spare parts, consumables, tools, and maintenance supplies.
Troubleshooting & Instrument Reliability
- Troubleshoot chromatography and LC-MS performance issues, including pressure, sensitivity, carryover, contamination, signal stability, vacuum, and system suitability problems.
- Systematically diagnose instrument problems and determine appropriate corrective actions.
- Identify when issues require escalation to instrument manufacturers or service engineers.
- Continuously improve maintenance and troubleshooting procedures to increase instrument reliability and minimize downtime.
- Support laboratory staff with instrument-related technical issues when required.
Documentation & Technical Coordination
- Maintain accurate instrument logs, preventive maintenance schedules, troubleshooting records, service documentation, and SOPs.
- Track instrument status and communicate downtime, maintenance activities, and major technical issues to laboratory staff.
- Coordinate with instrument manufacturers, service engineers, and vendors for advanced troubleshooting, servicing, and repairs.
- Maintain organized records of instrument history, recurring issues, repairs, and service activities.
- Support the development and continuous improvement of instrument maintenance procedures and technical documentation.
Qualifications
- M.Sc. in analytical chemistry, chemistry, instrumentation, or another relevant scientific field. Candidates with a B.Sc. and significant relevant hands-on instrumentation experience may also be considered.
- Strong hands-on experience operating, maintaining, and troubleshooting HPLC/UPLC and LC-MS instrumentation.
- 3+ years of relevant laboratory instrumentation experience in pharmaceutical, CRO, chemical, analytical testing, metabolomics, lipidomics, or a related environment.
- Strong understanding of HPLC/UPLC hardware and fluidics, including pumps, autosamplers, injectors, valves, tubing, seals, columns, and detectors.
- Familiarity with LC-MS components and routine maintenance, including ion sources, vacuum systems, calibration, tuning, and contamination-related troubleshooting.
- Experience with preventive maintenance, instrument performance monitoring, calibration, cleaning, and replacement of common instrument components.
- Ability to systematically diagnose technical problems, determine appropriate corrective actions, and identify when vendor or service-engineer support is required.
- Hands-on experience with instrumentation from multiple vendors, such as Waters, Agilent, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, is an asset.
- Experience operating, maintaining, or troubleshooting different types of mass spectrometers, including triple quadrupole (QQQ), Q-TOF, and Orbitrap systems, is highly desirable.
- Knowledge of metabolomics, lipidomics, small-molecule analysis, or bioanalytical workflows is an asset.
- Strong documentation, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work independently and communicate effectively with laboratory staff, scientists, and equipment vendors.
- Strong attention to detail and a practical, hands-on approach to laboratory instrumentation.
About Nova Medical Testing Inc.
Nova Medical Testing Inc. (NovaMT) is a Canadian biotechnology company based in Edmonton, Alberta, specializing in advanced mass spectrometry and LC-MS-based analytical services for metabolomics, lipidomics, and small-molecule research.
We work with academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, CRO, healthcare, agri-food, and other research organizations to analyze biological samples and generate detailed molecular information that can help researchers better understand biological processes, disease mechanisms, treatment response, nutrition, and other areas of health and life science research.
Our analytical services include high-sensitivity untargeted metabolomics, targeted metabolite analysis, lipidomics, and specialized small-molecule assays. NovaMT supports projects from study planning and sample analysis through data processing and interpretation to generate high-quality analytical data for research and product development.
As NovaMT continues to expand its analytical capabilities and service offerings, we are also growing our presence in international markets and developing new relationships with researchers and organizations around the world.
NovaMT has completed over 300 service projects, worked with more than 150 clients, analyzed over 30,000 samples, and contributed to more than 120 published papers.
Why Join NovaMT?
- Competitive benefits package.
- Opportunities for professional growth and continuous learning.
- A supportive and collaborative team environment.
- Be involved with the growth of an innovative Canadian biotechnology company.
NovaMT is an equal opportunity employer. We thank all applicants for their interest, but only applicants selected for further consideration will be contacted.
Benefits:
- Dental care
- Extended health care
- Flexible schedule
- Paid time off
- RRSP match
- Vision care
- Work from home
Work Location: In person
