Aquatic Technical Specialist
About The Position
The University of Virginia’s Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM) is seeking an Aquatic Technical Specialist who will be responsible for the daily husbandry and care of the zebrafish, xenopus and other aquatic species within the facility. As part of this, the incumbent will ensure high quality operation and maintenance of aquatic life support systems and associated equipment and tasks and provide timely customer service to investigators and their staff. In addition, the Aquatic Technical Specialist must collaborate with investigators, IACUC and CCM staff to provide all the necessary training and scheduling to ensure smooth operation of the facility. This is a full‑time, in‑person position based onsite within the aquatic research facilities. The position is expected to work holidays and weekends on a rotating assignment basis or as required by the management.
Requirements
- High school diploma (or equivalent) or higher.
- 1 plus years of experience working with animals with an understanding of different life support systems, husbandry, nutrition, and associated facilities.
Nice To Haves
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with people from a wide variety of social and educational backgrounds. Ability to use Microsoft Office suite especially Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Knowledgeable in AAALAC accreditation standards and principles in the Guide (2011, NRC) as applied to aquatic species.
Responsibilities
- Perform daily husbandry, colony census and feeding for zebrafish, xenopus, and other aquatic species, ensuring adequate feed supply and type based on life stage.
- Conduct water quality testing, equipment calibrations (pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen), and system performance audits.
- Serve as point of contact during system emergencies (system alarms, leaks, power disturbances, etc), including on‑call availability.
- Operate, monitor, and troubleshoot aquatic life support systems and racks; ensure environmental stability (temperature, photoperiod, alarms); assist with system upgrades and rack installations; and coordinate repairs with vendors and in‑house engineers.
- Maintain inventory of supplies, equipment, chemicals, and feed; coordinate purchasing to ensure timely stock availability. Prepare and use disinfecting and sanitizing solutions as per SOPs.
- Conduct daily health checks, triage issues to veterinary staff, and administer veterinary‑directed treatments (e.g., immersion therapies, injections) while maintaining documentation.
- Support sentinel monitoring, quarantine, imports/exports, disease screening, and colony‑level health audits with proper documentation, while enforcing biosecurity SOPs such as equipment segregation, quarantine entry/exit procedures, and facility traffic patterns.
- Provide training to investigators, their staff and back up weekend CCM staff on relevant aspects of colony maintenance, aquatic husbandry and specialized techniques to support wild type, mutant and transgenic lines of aquatic animals. Ensure training is captured in the enterprise training documentation system.
- Create and update standard operating procedures or guidelines in conjunction with IACUC and CCM for all relevant tasks associated with husbandry, experimentation and system maintenance.
- Ensure the facility operates per institutional (IACUC, IBC and safety) guidelines and adheres to the principles in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Prepare facility for IACUC semiannual inspection and AAALAC site visits.
- Remains familiar with Center for Comparative Medicine emergency response procedures.
- Serve as a backup for other facility husbandry needs and execute supervisor‑assigned special projects supporting husbandry, clinical care, and animal welfare.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
Education Level
High school or GED
