Vivarium Support Technician

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.

About the role

Charles River Laboratories (CRL) is seeking a Vivarium Support Technician (cage wash) to join our Integrated Toxicology (ITox) team at the Kansas City (CR-KAN) Site. This site is the first of its kind, bridging CRL’s Discovery and Safety Assessment business units, while bringing automation to standard lead optimization toxicology study models to deliver rapid study results to our clients.

Responsibilities

• Clean and sanitize animal cages and related environmental items.
• Perform daily routine maintenance checks on the automated cage wash machines.
• Prepares appropriate housing for receipt of new animals; may assist with receiving animals.
• Report the need for equipment repair (cages, racks, cagewash machines, etc.) to the appropriate personnel.
• Sanitize floors, walls and other surfaces in the automatic cage wash area and in other areas of the lab.
• Maintain a clean cage wash area.
• Maintain storage area in an organized fashion.
• Complete animal care technical duties such as changing liners and sanitizing animal room walls and floors.
• Receive, store, and distribute animal husbandry supplies.
• Perform limited troubleshooting and calibration of instruments as appropriate for assigned area.
• Prepare environmental enrichment items (edible and durable).
• Operate basic lab equipment and perform routine maintenance as needed.
• Prepare study and colony supplies as needed.

Requirements

• High School diploma or General Education Degree (G.E.D) preferred.
• No experience necessary.
• Demonstrated ability to problem solve, make quick decisions, communicate decisions effectively.
• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing at all levels inside and outside the organization.
• Ability to work extended hours beyond normal work schedule to include, but not limited to evenings, weekends, extended shifts, and/or extra shifts; sometimes on short notice.
• Ability to work under specific time constraints.

Physical Demands

• Regularly required to talk, hear, and lift.
• Specific vision abilities required include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• Must be able to regularly lift and manipulate up to 50 pounds on a repetitive basis each day.
• Must be able to regularly manipulate objects on shelves from one and one-half to six and one-half feet above the floor on a repetitive basis each day.
• Must be able to use a broom and mop to sanitize floors on a repetitive basis each day.
• Must be able to regularly push wheeled carts weighing up to 800 pounds on a continuous basis each day.
• Duties require regular standing for an average of eight hours a day.
• Must be able to regularly read, understand, and follow written procedures.
• Must be able to occasionally work in spaces as narrow as 2 feet in width.

Work Environment

• The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high. Noise protection devices are provided for use in the cage wash area.
• Must be able to regularly endure wet, humid, and hot conditions.
• Must be able to wear a respirator where required by OSHA regulations.
• Works near or with caustic chemicals.
• Regularly exposed to rodent dander.
• Occasionally exposed to live animals with risk of exposure to allergens, zoonotic disease, and biohazards.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $19 USD/hour.

About the company

Charles River is committed to helping our partners expedite their preclinical drug development with exceptional safety assessment services, state-of-the-art facilities and expert regulatory guidance. From individual specialty toxicology and IND enabling studies to tailored packages and total laboratory support, our deeply experienced team can design and execute programs that anticipate challenges and avoid roadblocks for a smooth, efficient journey to market. Each year approximately 300 investigational new drug (IND) programs are conducted in our Safety Assessment facilities.

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.