Animal Care Technician I

Charles River Laboratories; Reno (NV); On-site; USD 22,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

Charles River Laboratories in Reno, NV is seeking an Animal Care Technician I to support safety assessment activities. The role involves humane animal care, husbandry, data recording, and strict adherence to safety and quality standards in a windowless vivarium.

The starting pay is $19.00 USD per hour with training for about six months. Workweeks transition from M-F 7am–4pm to 7am–4pm with alternate Tue-Sat or Sun-Thurs shifts after training.

Qualifications

• Education: High School Diploma or GED preferred, but not required.
• Experience: No previous experience required.
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Ensure good welfare and humane care for all animals through gentle, positive human‑animal interactions.
• Perform animal husbandry, handling, cage manipulation, movement, and equipment maintenance.
• Collect, document, review, and verify data on forms or electronic data systems.
• Review documentation for quality control purposes.
• Stock supplies and perform facility cleaning duties.
• Use and maintain instruments and equipment.

Skills

Strong communication

Attention to detail

Computer skills

Education

High School Diploma or GED preferred

Tools

Computer skills

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 I for our Safety Assessment site located in Reno, NV.

Basic Responsibilities

• Ensure good welfare and humane care for all animals worked with through gentle, positive human-animal interactions
• Perform duties such as animal husbandry, animal handling, cage manipulation, and movement, equipment storage/tracking, wash systems, and water delivery system maintenance for various animal species throughout the site
• Collect, document, review, and verify data on forms, or in electronic data systems
• Review documentation for quality control purposes
• Stockingn supplies and facility cleaning duties
• Use and perform maintenance on instruments and equipment

Progress Through Training For Skills Required In This Position

• Works in a research environment, which requires use of sharp objects, working around mechanical parts, heavy mobile caging, working with or near known or unknown toxic or caustic chemicals and/or biological hazards, exposure to fumes and airborne particles
• The employee regularly works with live animals with risk of exposure to dander, allergens, zoonotic disease, and biohazards in a windowless vivarium
• The noise level in the work environment ranges from low to high depending upon the species housed, and vivarium locations

The starting pay for this position is $19.00 USD per hour with room for advancement through Animal Care Technician V

Schedule is M-F, 7 am - 4 pm while in training for roughly 6 months. After training, work week is either Tues-Sat or Sun-Thurs, 7 am - 4 pm daily

Job Qualifications

• Education: High School Diploma, General Education Degree (G.E.D) preferred, but not required.
• Experience: No previous experience required.
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience in a physically demanding environment
• Previous personal or professional experience in animal care
• Computer skills
• Ability to maintain a safe work environment by observing all safety procedures and making use of protective clothing
• Ability to follow all Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Business Operating Procedures (BOP) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) rules
• Ability to work extended hours beyond normal work schedule, which may include evenings, weekends, extended shifts, and/or extra shifts, sometimes on short notice
• Ability to work under time constraints

Physical Demands

• Employees must be able to lift, move, manipulate, and/or hold heavy objects up to and including 50 pounds; this includes work materials, equipment, and/or animals
• Must be able to perform procedures, which require, talking, hearing, standing or sitting for long periods of time, entering data into a computer, using appropriate instruments, reaching with hands and arms, working in narrow spaces, and wearing safety equipment (PPE) according to OSHA regulations and company standards
• Must be able to frequently firmly hold species while utilizing fine motor skills
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

About Safety Assessment

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.

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 supported the development of 86% of the drugs approved by the FDA in 2021.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Charles River Laboratories is an Equal Opportunity Employer - all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

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.