Role Summary
Location: Bantry Marine Research Station, Co. Cork, Bantry (Ireland)Contract: Full-time
Salary: Details on request.
The Seaweed Research Technician is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the land-based Asparagopsis armata production unit, keeping the pipeline running reliably from stock culture through harvest, post-harvest stabilisation, and dispatch of finished product to external partners. The core of the role is hands-on and operational: maintaining healthy cultures, running and monitoring the production system, harvesting and processing the weed, stabilising and storing product, and keeping accurate daily records. Based at Bantry Marine Research Station, the Technician works under the direction of the Project Lead and also provides practical support to R&D and analytical work as needed.
Principal Duties
Culture and production- Maintain and clean stock cultures of A. armata, using stablished protocols.
- Maintain tank and production-system cultures as directed, monitoring growth and condition.
- Support biostock work: isolation of strains, subculturing, and maintenance of the strain library.
- Assist with growth and bioactive selection trials as directed.
- Harvest, process, and package seaweed to defined protocols.
- Carry out post-harvest procedures to ensure product quality and stabilise bioactive content.
- Store and label processed product correctly within the facility, maintaining traceability.
- Prepare and package product for dispatch to external partners.
- Prepare samples and assist with bioactive extraction and quantification as directed.
- Follow established analytical methods accurately and record results reliably.
- Record all key parameters, inputs, and stocking details required by the Project Lead on a daily basis.
- Keep a lab diary covering all daily activities, recording issues, deviations, and successes.
- Report promptly on anything affecting culture health, product quality, or safety.
- Monitor water-quality parameters; take samples and readings as directed.
- Carry out routine facility upkeep to keep the unit clean and functional.
- Handle basic plumbing and maintenance on the production system.
- Organise and maintain the seaweed unit's equipment; use tools and equipment properly and safely.
- Identify and communicate safety concerns and equipment faults to the Project Lead.
- Follow all site health, safety, and biosecurity procedures; help keep the unit compliant.
- Support safe storage, labelling, and disposal of chemicals and biological material.
- Respond to questions from visitors or outside parties in a polite, professional manner.
- Represent the unit appropriately during supplier, customer, or partner visits when asked.
Profile Specifications
Essential
- Full driving licence.
- Happy to live in a rural coastal area (Bantry, Co. Cork).
- Proactive, hands-on, and good at problem-solving.
- Fluent English, spoken and written.
- Flexible and willing to travel and work at other sites when needed.
- Strong attention to detail and accurate record keeping.
- Team player who gets on easily with people and builds good working relationships
- Reliable, methodical, and able to work independently.
- Physically able to work in a wet facility, lift and move equipment, and stand for long periods.
- Basic plumbing and electrical skills able to maintain and fix pipework, pumps, and simple connections
- Previous experience in Asparagopsis production.
- Experience culturing seaweed, microalgae, or other live aquatic cultures.
- Experience with strain isolation, subculturing, or maintaining a culture collection.
- Analytical chemistry experience, especially GC-MS or other chromatographic methods.
- Familiarity with safe handling of volatile or hazardous chemicals (e.g. COSHH).
Why you'll like working here
You'll join an experienced and diverse team of researchers, marine scientists, and technicians. The work is genuinely varied and hands-on: you'll get across the whole production pipeline rather than being boxed into one narrow task, nursery, production, processing, product stabilization, analytical methods, and the practical side of running a working facility along the way.
You'll be at the forefront of a fast-rising marine industry, based at Bantry Marine Research Station on a beautiful West Cork coast. It's a friendly, collaborative place to work, with real responsibility early on, room to develop, and the chance to grow with the operation as it scales.Send your CV to: anton.seoane@bmrs.ie or bmrs.ie