Fab Lab Lead

Fab Lab Egypt, part of San3a Tech, is a community-driven makerspace focused on digital fabrication. We provide access to a wide variety of tools and resources for makers, creatives, learners, and entrepreneurs.

Established in 2012, Fab Lab Egypt empowers a diverse community of makers through our core values: Learn, Make, Share. We offer flexible access to facilities, discovery tours, hands-on orientations and workshops, creative residencies, and mentorship for hardware startups. We also provide professional manufacturing services in single units or small batches, along with expert support in design and prototyping. Additionally, we set up and support new makerspaces and innovation labs, handling everything from consultation to installation and training.

This role ensures that the space is safe, functional, well-maintained, welcoming, and impactful. You will coordinate people, equipment, programs, and day-to-day workflows, working closely with the Technical Development Manager, Fab Programs Lead, and Fab Solutions Lead to translate strategy into operations.

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  Fab Lab Operations Leadership– Own day-to-day lab operations to ensure the Fab Lab is safe, clean, organized, and ready to operate each day, including opening and closing routines across shifts.

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  Equipment Reliability & Maintenance – Oversee equipment readiness by guiding the team on preventive and corrective maintenance, coordinating troubleshooting and repairs, tracking uptime and incidents, and maintaining standard configurations for key tools and machines.

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  Access Governance & Safety – Promote a strong safety culture by setting expectations, supporting training, and enforcing safety procedures and access rules through the team, ensuring proper use of PPE and safety systems, and governing user access based on training and badges.

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  Member Experience & Service Quality – Guide front-line staff to deliver an excellent member experience across front-desk and help desk operations, member inquiries, onboarding and orientations, tool tests and badging, and on-the-spot technical support while monitoring service quality and consistency.

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  Hands-on Activities Support – Coordinate the lab team’s contribution to programs and lab-based activities by aligning staffing, space, and equipment support for orientations, workshops, courses, and drop-in activities.

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  Team Leadership & Development – Lead and develop the lab team by delegating responsibilities, managing schedules and shift plans, providing coaching and feedback, and fostering a healthy, inclusive, safety-focused team culture.

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  Systems Discipline & Process Improvement – Ensure consistent use of lab systems (booking, inventory, CRM, POS, ticketing) and drive continuous improvement by using data and usage analytics to identify bottlenecks and running targeted experiments to improve workflows with the team.

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  Growth, Partnerships & Visibility – Support growth, partnerships, and visibility by hosting tours and custom visits, supporting events such as hackathons, demo days, and open days from the lab side, and surfacing impact stories and strong project examples for communications and reporting.

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  Planning, Governance & Reporting – Contribute to planning and governance by providing operational insight into annual plans, capacity and equipment decisions, policies and pricing changes, and regularly reporting on lab KPIs, risks, safety incidents, and improvement opportunities to management.

Requirements

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  Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent hands-on experience in digital fabrication/making.

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  5+ years of relevant experience in a Fab Lab, makerspace, co-working space, workshop, studio, training center, or similar environment.

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  At least 1–3 years in a lead, senior, or supervisory role, coordinating people, schedules, and operations.

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  Strong hands-on experience with at least one craft or basic makerspace equipment (CNC, laser cutters, 3D printers, electronics, etc.).

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  Strong customer service mindset and community-building mindset.

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  Strategic level of conceptual independent thinking, and attention to detail.

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  Clear written and verbal communication in Arabic and English.

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  Ability to meet all-on-site consistent attendance.

Nice-to-Have

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  Bachelor’s degree in engineering, design, architecture, computer science, or education.

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  Experience designing or delivering workshops.

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  Experience with membership-based environments.

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  Knowledge of 5S, Lean operations, and workflow optimization.

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  Experience with booking systems, CRMs, access control, or POS systems.

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  Background in UX, experience design, or service design.

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  Experience with the application of computer-aided-design (CAD) or programming.

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  Ability to teach/instruct basic and advanced prototyping workshop skills.

Benefits