Animal Care 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 Summary

We are seeking an Animal Care Technician I to work at our client's animal facility in LaJolla, California.

The Animal Care Technician I will observe, monitor, and document the health and physical environment within the Charles River Accelerator & Development Labs (CRADL) animal facility. Perform routine husbandry tasks such as feeding, watering, cage changing, and cleaning of equipment and rooms to maintain a safe and compliant environment. Support animal health and welfare by accurately reporting concerns and collaborating with veterinary staff, ensuring all work aligns with institutional, state, and federal guidelines.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 6:00 am - 2:30 pm with rotating weekends.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Cage Wash:

• Operate a washer for cleaning and sanitizing animal cage supplies through automatic processes.

• Operate autoclave machine to sterilize caging equipment and instruments for the animals.

• Maintain documentation for QA including but not limited to temperature strips, room environmental reports and logs, dish washer and/or autoclaving logs.

• Handle, transfer, and deliver animals, supplies (caging, gases, dry ice, liquid nitrogen), and waste as needed to and from work area(s).

• Perform daily cage duties including recycling and scheduled sanitation procedures.

Animal Care:

• Review and comprehend relevant SOPs, BOPs, and quality standards at the entry level, applying them to routine animal care and facility tasks under supervision. Demonstrate basic understanding and consistency in following written procedures.

• Monitor daily animal health and welfare while performing daily animal health observations.

• Perform animal husbandry duties to maintain quality and health of research animals, to include performing daily water bottle 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.

• Dispose of biological, hazardous, and animal facility waste following established procedures.

• Perform humane euthanasia in accordance with the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the AVMA Guide on Euthanasia, and under the direction of the attending veterinarian, or designee.

• Operate equipment and use supplies according to safety guidelines; perform general housekeeping (i.e. check pest traps, common area cleaning, testing eye wash stations and emergency showers) and adhere to safety procedures.

• Assist with receiving and housing incoming animals under supervision based on site needs.

• Cage card distribution including but not limited to printing cage cards for incoming shipments and requests from clients.

• Collect census data from animal cages and assist with uploading manual or handheld scanner data into approved software.

• Assist with monitoring client row assignments in shared animal holding rooms to ensure racks/rows are labeled and assigned correctly per facility needs.

• Report non-compliance or animal welfare concerns to the appropriate Animal Welfare Team member or IACUC office.

• Maintain an organized and clean work environment including but not limited to animal rooms, common areas such as corridors, cage washrooms, procedure rooms, anterooms, storage areas and grounds by cleaning at prescribed intervals following established procedures.

• Training and Development:

• Attend and participate in on-the-job and classroom training sessions and complete all assigned computer-based safety and professional development training by predetermined due dates.

• Communicate procedural questions and self-identified training deficiencies to team lead or supervisor.

• Maintain required attendance level and adherence to work schedule in accordance with required staffing levels in order to ensure that assigned duties are completed.

• Perform all other related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Education: High school diploma, General Education Degree (G.E.D.)

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Education: Bachelor's degree (B.A./B.S.) in animal or life sciences field

• Experience: Directly related laboratory animal experience in a laboratory animal facility

• Certification/Licensure: Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician (ALAT) certification from AALAS

The pay range for this position is $23.00-$25.00/hour. Please note that salaries vary within the range based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, education, certifications, and location.

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 View email address on click.appcast.io. This contact is for accommodation requests for individuals with disabilities only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.

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