Animal Health Technician I

For 75 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we’ll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.

Job Overview

We are looking for a Animal Health Technician I to join our Insourcing Solutions team located in Carlsbad, CA.

In the Animal Health Technician I role, you will maintain, monitor and document animal health and welfare, post-operative care and the maintenance of the physical environment. You will also provide cleaning and maintenance of laboratory animal caging, equipment and cage preparation areas as well as cleaning of animal support areas under minimal supervision. Will assist in the preparation of materials which enable study activity completion.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Review, comprehend and comply with all SOP's and quality assurance standards pertaining to specific area.
• Monitor daily animal health and welfare while performing daily animal health observations, animal husbandry duties to maintain quality and health of research animals, to include: perform daily water bottle /automatic water line and cage checks; provide appropriate food and water; perform cage changing and/or cage cleaning as required; record animal health concerns per SOP and/or specified protocols.
• Ear tag each rodent delivered to the facility for investigative use based on facility SOPs.
• Assist with restraint, handling and manipulation of mice and rats as assigned by the on-site Supervisor.
• Strictly follow all procedures necessary to maintain animal housing areas including room or facility personnel entry; personnel protective equipment use, spraying in all equipment and materials into controlled areas.
• Receive, inspect and put away incoming animals; ensure and provide for sentinel animals in each rodent housing area.
• Operate equipment and use supplies according to safety guidelines; perform general housekeeping and adhere to safety procedures.
• Assists housekeeping duties such as trash collection and cleaning animal facility laboratories and ancillary areas. Disposes of all waste materials in a safe and through manner as required.
• Maintain required attendance level and adherence to work schedule in accordance with required staffing levels in order to ensure that assigned duties are completed.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education:

• High school diploma or General Education Degree (G.E.D.) required.

Experience:

• One (1) year or more of animal care and handling in a laboratory or similar environment preferred.

Certification licensure:

• AALAS certification at the Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician level (ALAT) preferred.

The pay range for this position is $20.00 to $22.00 USD per hour. Please note the range will depend on factors such as experience, skills, region, and certification.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Must be able to follow verbal and written instructions and exhibit interpersonal skills that are conducive to effective communication and that contribute to a congenial work environment. Maintain positive work atmosphere by behaving and communicating in a professional manner with clients, customers, coworkers, and supervisors.
• Ability to read, write, speak and understand English.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee frequently is required to stand; sit; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• The employee must regularly lift up to 50 pounds and/or move racks and carts with supplies and equipment weighing more than 50 pounds.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee frequently works near moving mechanical parts; with laboratory animal caging of mice and rats; laboratory animal soiled rodent bedding; and is frequently exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, biohazard materials, infectious disease and risk of electrical shock.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate and occasionally high.

About Insourcing Solutions
Charles River Insourcing Solutions℠ can streamline research by delivering operational and cost efficiencies through the strategic insourcing of GMP, GLP and non-GLP research services from discovery through safety assessment. Insourcing Solutions℠ provides you with the ability to maintain control of your facility and expertise while leveraging available space.

About Charles River
Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients’ clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.

With over 20,000 employees within 110 facilities in over 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client’s unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world.

At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly worked on 80% of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past five years.

We’re committed to providing benefits that elevate your quality of life. Based on your position these may include: bonus/incentives based on performance, 401K, paid time off, stock purchase program, Health and wellness coverage, employee and family wellbeing support programs, and work life balance flexibility.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Charles River is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, family status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

It is unlawful in some states (including Massachusetts) to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

If you are interested in applying to Charles River Laboratories and need special assistance or an accommodation due to a disability to complete any forms or to otherwise participate in the resume submission process, please contact a member of our Human Resources team by sending an e-mail message to crrecruitment_US@crl.com. This contact is for accommodation requests for individuals with disabilities only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.

For more information, please visit www.criver.com.