Animal Care Technician I

Charles River Laboratories; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 28,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

bonus/incentives based on performance

401K

paid time off

stock purchase program

Health and wellness coverage

employee and family wellbeing support

work life balance flexibility

Job summary

Charles River Laboratories in Cambridge, MA, seeks an Animal Care Technician to join our Insourcing Solutions team. You will handle animals, supplies, and waste, perform daily cage duties and health observations, and help maintain a clean, compliant environment.

The role requires a high school diploma; ALAT certification is preferred. Experience ranges 0–6 months. Compensation ranges from $20 to $22 per hour, with location-based adjustments and benefits.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Bachelor’s degree in animal or life sciences preferred.

Responsibilities

• Handle, transfer, and deliver animals and supplies as needed.
• Perform daily cage duties and sanitation.
• Monitor daily animal health and welfare.
• Operate cage washers and autoclaves to sterilize equipment.
• Maintain QA documentation and logs.
• Perform humane euthanasia per Guide standards.
• Communicate training needs to Team Lead.

Skills

Animal care

Health observations

Communication

Education

High school diploma / GED

Bachelor’s degree preferred in animal or life sciences

Tools

Autoclaves

Cage washers

Job description

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 to join our Insourcing Solutions team located in Cambridge, MA.

Key Responsibilities

• Handle, transfer, and deliver animals, supplies (including caging, gases, dry ice, and liquid nitrogen), and waste to and from work areas as needed.
• Perform daily cage duties, including recycling and scheduled sanitation procedures.
• Monitor daily animal health and welfare while conducting routine health observations.
• Operate cage washers and autoclaves to sterilize caging equipment and instruments.
• Maintain quality assurance documentation, including temperature strips, room environmental reports and logs, and washer or autoclave logs.
• Perform animal husbandry duties to maintain the quality and health of research animals, including daily water bottle and cage checks, providing appropriate food and water, performing cage changes and cleaning, and recording animal health concerns in accordance with SOPs and specified protocols.
• Communicate procedural questions or training needs to the Team Lead or Facility Supervisor.
• Perform humane euthanasia in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
• Monitor client rack and row assignments in shared animal holding rooms to ensure proper labeling and assignment based on facility needs.
• Maintain a clean and organized work environment, including animal rooms, corridors, cage wash areas, procedure rooms, anterooms, storage areas, and grounds, following established cleaning procedures and schedules.

Job Qualification

Education

• High school diploma, General Education Degree (G.E.D.) or equivalent required.
• Bachelor’s degree (B.A./B.S.) in animal or life sciences field preferred.

Experience

• Minimum of zero - six (0-6) months directly related laboratory animal experience in a laboratory animal facility.
• Directly related laboratory animal experience in a laboratory animal facility preferred.

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

The pay range for this position is $20-$22 USD per hour. Please note that salaries vary within the range based on factors including 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 [e-mail]. This contact is for accommodation requests for individuals with disabilities only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.

For more information, please visit www.criver.com.

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