Is the XRD Facility Manager role remote?

No — this is an on-site role in Menlo Park, CA, United States.

What's the salary range?

Periodic Labs lists $200,000–$275,000 for this role.

How much experience is required?

At least 5 years of relevant experience for this XRD Facility Manager role.

Where is the role based?

Periodic Labs is hiring for this position in Menlo Park, CA, United States.

What's the tech stack?

Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Materials Science, X-ray diffraction.

Does Periodic Labs sponsor work visas for this role?

Yes — the posting indicates visa sponsorship is available for the right candidate.

What seniority level is this role?

Periodic Labs targets senior candidates for this position.

Is this full-time or contract?

Full-time for this XRD Facility Manager role at Periodic Labs.

XRD Facility Manager at Periodic Labs

Joblaze summary

The XRD Facility Manager at Periodic Labs oversees the operation and maintenance of the X-ray diffraction facility, ensuring instruments are calibrated, aligned, and functioning optimally. This role requires a strong background in XRD techniques, including powder and thin-film analysis, along with experience in troubleshooting and maintaining various diffractometers. Ideal candidates possess a PhD in a relevant field and have a track record of supporting multiple users in a busy lab environment. The position involves collaboration with scientists and engineers, contributing to both instrument performance and user training.

Joblaze insights

Listed today on Joblaze — tracked directly from Periodic Labs's career page.
Periodic Labs has 30 other open roles including Equipment Engineer, Don't See Your Role? Apply Here!, Computational Scientist, Differentiable Physics.
53 active Materials Science roles on Joblaze right now.
2 active X-ray diffraction roles on Joblaze right now.
Salary band is above the typical range for comparable tech roles (median ~$126,887).
Pays more than 74% of the 19 salaried Materials Science roles we track (median $151,000).

Quick facts

Is the XRD Facility Manager role remote?: No — this is an on-site role in Menlo Park, CA, United States.
What's the salary range?: Periodic Labs lists $200,000–$275,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?: At least 5 years of relevant experience for this XRD Facility Manager role.
Where is the role based?: Periodic Labs is hiring for this position in Menlo Park, CA, United States.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Materials Science, X-ray diffraction.
Does Periodic Labs sponsor work visas for this role?: Yes — the posting indicates visa sponsorship is available for the right candidate.
What seniority level is this role?: Periodic Labs targets senior candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this XRD Facility Manager role at Periodic Labs.

From the original posting

About Periodic Labs

Periodic Labs is an AI and physical sciences company in Menlo Park, CA. We run an in-house materials synthesis and characterization lab alongside our research teams.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced diffraction specialist to manage our X-ray diffraction facility, which includes multiple laboratory diffractometers used for powder, thin-film, and capillary measurements. You will be responsible for instrument alignment and calibration, preventive maintenance and repair, user training, measurement standards, radiation safety, and overall attention to the performance of the X-ray equipment.

You will also help specify and commission new instruments, write the SOPs and qualification protocols the group works from, and work with our software team so that instrument data and metadata are recorded consistently. You will work daily with scientists, technicians, and engineers across synthesis, software, and research.

Responsibilities

Instrument alignment, calibration, configuration control, and uptime across the facility, including the criteria used to decide whether an instrument is ready for use.
Reference standards and quality control: maintain house standards and a regular QC schedule so that the same standard gives consistent results across instruments
Difficult measurements: non-routine geometries, weakly scattering or air-sensitive samples, thin films, and non-ambient stages, with attention to distinguishing instrument artifacts from real effects.
Maintenance and repair: troubleshooting and preventive maintenance; coordination of service contracts and vendor visits when needed.
Commissioning new instruments: site preparation, acceptance testing, and comparison against existing instruments.
User training: train and certify scientists and technicians, review early runs, and provide support.
Documentation and data: maintain SOPs, measurement recipes, and data-reduction conventions; ensure raw data, instrument state, calibration status, and sample metadata are recorded consistently and in a structured format.
Radiation safety: X-ray equipment registration and compliance, interlock testing, surveys, along with compressed gas and cryogen handling for non-ambient stages.

Qualifications

5+ years of hands-on experience operating and maintaining X-ray diffractometers in a university shared facility, national lab, analytical services lab, industrial R&D lab, or at an instrument vendor.
Strong XRD background across powder, thin-film, and capillary/transmission work. Proficient in phase identification, Rietveld refinement, and quantitative analysis.
Experience maintaining several instruments, ideally from more than one vendor. Comfortable troubleshooting hardware and judging when to repair versus call for service.
Careful documentation habits; treats metadata as part of the measurement.
Able to support many users in a busy lab while maintaining good practice.
PhD in materials science, physics, chemistry, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred: experience managing a shared user facility or commercial XRD lab, automation, or other materials characterization techniques.

Mechanics

Type: Full-time
Location: On-site in Menlo Park, CA.
Schedule: Standard weekday schedule.
Compensation: 200k-275k plus equity, commensurate with experience.
Work authorization: [Must be authorized to work in the U.S. / Visa sponsorship available for exceptional candidates.]