Senior Animal Care Technician

Altos Labs•San Francisco, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Animal Care Technician will be responsible for delivering high-quality, humane rodent care and supporting reliable in vivo research at Altos Labs. In this role, you will focus on advanced, hands-on husbandry and rodent colony management to ensure animals are healthy, appropriately managed, and available on time for experimental needs. You will help maintain a clean, compliant, and inspection-ready facility through meticulous animal care, accurate documentation, and adherence to IACUC protocols and SOPs. You will work closely with veterinary staff, vivarium leadership, and research teams to address animal-related issues, share best practices, and support efficient, high-integrity science in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science, Biology, Laboratory Animal Science, or a related field (or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience).
Minimum 5+ years of hands-on rodent vivarium experience in an industry setting (biotech, pharma, CRO, or other fast-paced, highly regulated research environment).
Strong attention to detail, organization, and documentation skills, including electronic recordkeeping.
Ability to work collaboratively in a team-based, SOP-driven environment, including participation in weekend/holiday rotations as required.

Nice To Haves

AALAS certification (ALAT, LAT, or higher) or equivalent.
Experience using colony management software such as SoftMouse or similar tools for tracking breeding, genotyping, and animal use.
Familiarity with AAALAC accreditation standards and IACUC processes

Responsibilities

Perform and oversee daily rodent husbandry, including cage changing, bedding and enrichment, feed/water provision, room cleaning, and rack/equipment sanitation per SOPs.
Perform routine animal observations and measurements (e.g., daily health and welfare checks, weighing per study/monitoring schedules).
Implement study or veterinary-directed interventions, including special/experimental diets, medicated feed, and water treatments, and promptly escalate and treat health cases based on guidance from veterinary staff (e.g., illness, injury, abnormal behavior, weight loss) or welfare concerns (e.g., illness, injury, abnormal behavior, weight loss) to veterinary and supervisory staff.
Maintain species-appropriate environmental and housing conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, lighting, enrichment, group/single housing) in accordance with institutional and regulatory standards.
Receive research animals, assign identification and housing, manage transfers, and print/maintain cage cards and other identifiers to ensure accurate records of animals, breeding status, and study assignments.
Operate and perform routine care on vivarium facility equipment (e.g., ventilated racks, biosafety cabinets, sanitizing equipment); support recycling activities and general facility upkeep to maintain a clean, safe, and inspection-ready environment.
Assist with ordering, receiving, and stocking of animal care and facility supplies to ensure continuous availability of required materials.
Prepare and maintain the facility in a state of readiness for internal IACUC inspections, including documentation, room/equipment condition, and follow-up on corrective actions.
Adhere to biosafety and biosecurity procedures to maintain a safe and compliant environment.
Document all relevant husbandry, health, breeding, and environmental data in designated systems and support institutional health-surveillance activities.
Follow IACUC-approved protocols, SOPs, and institutional guidelines; communicate clearly with veterinary, management, and research staff and collaborate with colleagues to ensure consistent, compliant operations.
Plan, set up, and monitor rodent breeding schemes (pairs/trios) in alignment with requests and colony objectives.
Perform timely weaning and identification of animals, ensuring appropriate housing and minimizing stress.
Collect tissue samples for genotyping (e.g., ear punches, tail tips, or other IACUC-approved methods) following welfare-focused best practices.
Coordinate submission of genotyping samples to external vendors; ensure accurate sample labeling, documentation, and chain-of-custody.
Record breeding events, litters, weaning, animal assignments, diet changes and genotyping results in colony management software (e.g., SoftMouse or similar platforms).
Support investigators in ensuring the timely availability of correctly genotyped animals for experiments and in optimizing colony size to meet demand while minimizing surplus animals.