Food Preparation - Harborview Aquarium

Aquarium Food Preparation Specialist

Responsible for the day-to-day food preparations in the Aquarium in order to maintain the wellbeing of all animals under the facility's care. This position may also assist in the daily husbandry of exhibits and other duties, including cleaning equipment and maintaining back of house areas.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Undertake daily operations within the Life Sciences Department to ensure highest level of safety, courtesy, education, efficiency and operational readiness at all times.
• Comply with health and safety standards in accordance with local municipality, state and federal rules and regulations.
• Prepare animal diets in accordance with the appropriate species-specific Diet Worksheets, including weighing, measuring and mixing ingredients.
• Order all animal food and related supplies through inventory management.
• Rotate animal food stocks to ensure that older items are used first.
• Routinely inspect expiration dates of food items and supplies to ensure they are used prior to expiration or discarded after expiration.
• Ensure animal food is being stored properly to maximize freshness and to minimize contamination, pests and spoilage.
• Maintain the kitchen and all food storage areas, including walk-in freezers and refrigerators, in a clean, organized fashion exceeding industry standards and regulations.
• Perform maintenance on all food preparation and storage facilities and equipment as required.
• Ensure animal food is of an appropriate quality through inspection at arrival and at the time of preparation.
• Perform duties in order to reduce loss/waste and control costs.
• Comply with all policy and procedure documents.
• In collaboration with Guest Experience Department and the Aquarium Foundation, ensure exhibits and programs engage, educate and entertain diverse audiences.

Other duties as assigned.

Experience, Skills, & Qualifications

• Food handling and preparation experience required.
• PADI Open Water or equivalent (or able to obtain within 90 days of employment) preferred.
• First Aid, Emergency O2, and AED certification are preferred but will be provided if needed.
• Experience working with relevant authorities and accrediting associations.
• Competency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Must have strong teamwork, interpersonal, and organizational skills conducive to a positive work environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong listening, presentation and decision-making skills.
• Creative problem solver who thrives when presented with a challenge.
• Energetic and eager to tackle new projects and ideas

Abilities

• Requires walking/ standing for long periods of time, bending and crouching, climbing, working in small/tight spaces, and lifting up to 50 lbs.
• May require driving aquarium vehicles, operating heavy machinery, using power tools, and working around chemicals.
• Ability to read, listen and communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to access and accurately input information using a moderately complex computer system.
• Hearing and visual ability to observe and detect signs of emergency situations.
• Requires the ability to perform the physical, visual and hearing requirements in the working conditions above.
• May require immunizations including TB testing and rabies.

Other

• Upon employment all team members are required to comply with the standards, rules and regulations, which may be established by the Company and updated from time-to-time. Team members who violate property rules or have irregular attendance will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
• The leisure business functions seven days a week. Due to the seasonal nature of the industry, team members may be required to work varying schedules, weekends, holidays and overtime to reflect the business needs of the property. Team members may also be required to attend group and/or department meetings in addition to the work shift as necessary.
• This job description is not an exclusive or exhaustive list of all job functions that a team member in this position may be asked to perform.