The Aalto School of Arts, Design and Architecture is a Nordic leader in higher education for design, fashion, games, media, architecture, film, art education and art. We produce world-class research in art education, design and design thinking, digital media and visual culture, urban planning, architecture and landscape architecture. We educate students to be global citizens, contributing to their communities with imaginative, collaborative, compassionate and unconventional approaches to some of the most pressing challenges facing the world today.

We are seeking

Substitute for family leave for a Workshop Master for Knitting

at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. This substitution is full time (100%) fixed-term employment with a start date 14.4.2025, and duration until 31.3.2026.

Your Role

You would be working for the technical service for education and research at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Your responsibility will be the Knitting Workshop as a hands-on-learning environment. The workshop includes facilities for hand-operated knitting machines (Dubied and Stoll) and Stoll ADF, industrial knitting machine.  

Your role as a Workshop Master includes the following main tasks and responsibilities when ensuring functioning of the workshop and safe working environment as a learning and research environment for the students and researchers.  

Maintenance and development

•     Ensuring functioning of the workshop as a learning and research environment.
•     Organising, servicing and maintenance of machinery, tools, and equipment
•     Recycling and waste management
•     Storage management (materials and student work)
•     Purchasing of materials and tools
•     Annual planning and budgeting of the operations
•     Planning of new investments and carrying out procurement
•     Active foresight and understanding the ongoing changes and developments in the field

Guiding, instructing, and supporting users

•   Providing users of the workshop with guidance and support related to the use of the tools and materials.
•   Supporting students in learning about concepts and techniques of design and 3d/4d artistic practices.  
•     Planning and delivery of regular group inductions for users of the workshop.
•     Supervision of trainees and workshop assistants
•     Collaboration with teachers and study coordinators in scheduling and course design

Managing health and safety

•     Ensuring safe and healthy working conditions for students and other users of the workshop.
•     Guiding users of the workshop into safe working practices
•     Active advisory on the use of protective gear
•     Preparing for accidents

Your work environment

The Soft Materials team is responsible for knitting, sewing, pattern making, weaving and textile printing workshops at Arts infra. Our team comprises diverse professionals who support creative learning and research. We work closely with students and staff to create an inspiring and safe learning environment. Our workshops offer a wide range of tools and resources that facilitate the exploration and development of different materials and techniques.

The campus in Otaniemi provides excellent facilities and opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration. Our environment is international and dynamic, with a strong sense of community and an open atmosphere. Working in the Soft Materials team requires team spirit, active communication, and the ability to adapt quickly to changing situations. We expect all members of our community to respect Aalto University's values and our Code of Conduct, while behaving respectfully toward one another. Aalto University's ethical guidelines apply to all members of the Aalto community and clarify the values that guide us.

Would you like to take a tour in our workshops? Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaID8VB3_F0

Our expectations for you

The core of our technical services is support for learning and enabling learning by doing. The ideal candidate will have:

•     A degree from a university of applied science or from a higher education institution, preferably with a background in arts, design or crafts, or equivalent acquired competence
•     Work experience in FabLabs, maker spaces or similar environments
•     Extensive knowledge and command of the methods, techniques, materials and equipment related to knitting technologies
•     User experience of Stoll and / or Shima Seiki industrial knitting machines and M1Plus  and /or Apex programming
•     Good IT skills and experience from special software used in the field
•     Good verbal and written Finnish and English skills
•     Good interpersonal skills, as well as a service-oriented, proactive and developmental mindset
•     Flexibility and ability to quickly adapt to changing situations and excellent organisation skills

What We Offer

The workplace is located in Otaniemi, Espoo, with excellent transportation connections and a wide range of services on campus. We have an encouraging and pleasant work community, comprehensive occupational health care, and a broad range of staff training opportunities. We offer you a diverse and interesting position in a multicultural environment, thorough onboarding, and support from a professional team that is enjoyable to work with. The position follows the universities' collective agreement and is determined on the job requirement level 8, with personal performance component. The salary range for this position is between €2800 and €3300 per month.

Join us!

Please submit your motivation letter and CV through our recruitment system no later than 18.3.2025. Interviews are planned to be held in March.

If you are already an employee at Aalto, please apply through your Workday employee profile (internal jobs). If you are a student or visitor at Aalto, please apply using your personal email address (not aalto.fi) through the external Open positions page.

For more information about the position, please contact the Soft Material team leader Sari Kivioja email (firstname.lastname@aalto.fi) or phone (+358 50 4011337).

For questions related to applying, please contact hr-arts@aalto.fi.  

Aalto University reserves the right to leave the position unfilled, extend the application period, or include individuals who have not applied during the application period.

More about Aalto University:

Aalto.fi
youtube.com/user/aaltouniversity
linkedin.com/school/aalto-university/
www.facebook.com/aaltouniversity
instagram.com/aaltouniversity
twitter.com/aaltouniversity

To view information about Workday Accessibility, please click here.

Please see more of our Open Positions here.