Aquaculture Technician Lead

Riverence; Idaho; On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401K with company match

Life insurance

Short-term disability

Long-term disability

Job summary

Riverence in Idaho seeks an Aquaculture Technician Lead to guide daily farm operations across multiple facilities, including feed management, mortality removal, and load coordination with the processing plant. You will mentor a crew, uphold safety and biosecurity, and drive continuous improvement in fish husbandry.

Responsibilities emphasize timely task completion, accurate record keeping, and collaboration with hatchery staff.

Qualifications

• Ability to perform all farm tasks and lead a crew.
• Strong focus on safety and biosecurity procedures.
• Experience or interest in aquaculture operations and water management.

Responsibilities

• Lead and train a crew of 4–6 on daily farm duties and safety.
• Perform feeding, grading, mortality removal, and transport of fish.
• Record inventory, monitor fish behavior, and report abnormalities to management.
• Coordinate with hatchery staff for movement of fish and farm operations.
• Ensure sanitation, biosecurity, and proper water sampling per regulations.
• Communicate loads and grading details to plant operations.

Skills

Attention to detail

Safety

Leadership

Communication

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Job description

Description

What it’s really like to work here

At Riverence, we do things differently. We work together as a team, like a close-knit family, to achieve innovation, initiative, and encouragement in the workplace. We are on the mission to raise the standards of aquaculture, redefine what it means to be a responsible fishery and become the leading provider of truly sustainable seafood. Riverence consists of facilities located primarily in the Magic Valley of ID that range from 14 different fish farms, a research and development facility, a processing plant, and 4 brood facilities that are located in WA and rural ID.

We offer excellent comprehensive benefits to our employees to ensure their health which include medical, dental, vision, 401K with company match, life insurance, short term & long-term disability plans and more!

If you are ready to put in hard work as a valued member of our team, while making a positive difference in our environment, Riverence is the fit for you!

Summary/Objective

• The Aquaculture Technician Lead will demonstrate a passion for leading all aspects of fish husbandry, have a good work ethic, attention to detail and will perform all farm duties and chores. Leads a variety of aquaculture husbandry duties and daily farm chores including feeding, mortality removal, screen scrubbing and driving fish truck to and from processing plant. Daily duties also include supporting and motivating others to complete all tasks, including but not limited to biosecurity, hatch house, grading and sorting fish, loading fish into trucks and driving loads between farm facilities.

Essential Functions

1. Ability and willingness to perform all tasks on the farm, not being limited to one specific farm job or task; regardless of the job, skill or seniority.
2. Responsibilities include removing and recording mortalities, feeding, sorting and grading fish.
3. Monitor fish behavior and bring any abnormalities to management’s attention.
4. Lead, train and conduct in transfers.
5. Load and unload fish at farms and processing plant, ensuring correct load sizes and grad-ing.
6. Perform routine maintenance on equipment and systems. Routine cleaning including sweeping raceways, cleaning and repairing graders and equipment on farms.
7. Assist with population management, fish sampling, and research projects as needed.
8. Work with hatchery staff to coordinate movement and work in hatchery as needed.
9. Sort fish according to specification while paying close attention to detail and always work-ing towards continual improvement.
10. Recognize and make corrections on farms as needed and communicate changes and corrections to management.
11. Complete all tasks adhering to required safety guidelines.
12. Participate in all safety training.
13. Perform and practice bio-security procedures around the farm.
14. Maintain appropriate housekeeping and sanitation procedures on the farm ensuring proper protocol and required biosecurity measures are followed.
15. Provide prompt, friendly and courteous service when requests are made.
16. Help out with other areas on the farm when needed.
17. Ability to answer questions and communicate effectively about farm operations.
18. Demonstrate ability to delegate tasks effectively, ensuring that all tasks are completed.
19. Understand and communicate the required rotation and workflow on the farm.

20. Positively motivate oneself and others on the crew.

21. Understands and demonstrates company values.

22. Ability and willingness to lead all tasks on farm.

23. Holds people accountable in a respectful manner.

24. Prepare the farm for the next day’s work before leaving for the day.

25. Knowledge of basic computer recording tasks.

26. Effectively manages inventory levels and needs on the farm and ability to communicate and ensure adequate supplies.

27. Ability to estimate the pounds, population, and size of fish in ponds.

28. Treats ponds based on FHT recommendations with buy-in from manager.

29. Communicates with the appropriate people regarding any problem on the farm.

30. Communicates clear and accurate information with the plant about loads, including sizing and grading.

31. Demonstrates good decision making to determine farm priorities.

32. Records proper inventory for end of month procedures.

33. Takes initiative to keep the farm clean, ensuring good fish health.

34. Demonstrated ability and understanding of how to take proper water samples for NPDES.

35. Continually pursue sustainability of our natural resources with every decision, decreasing waste and demonstrating appropriate choices.

36. Advocates for positive change and empowers others.

37. Other duties as required.

Requirements

Competencies

1. Attention to detail.
2. Safety.
3. Continual Improvement.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position has some supervisions responsibilities for a crew 4-6 people.

Work Environment

This job operates in an outdoor environment. This role is routinely exposed to inclement weather conditions.

Physical Demands

• Often requires walking or moving to accomplish tasks.
• Often requires standing or sitting for sustained periods of time.
• Occasionally requires stooping and reaching.
• Occasionally requires pushing using upper extremities to press against something with steady force.
• Occasionally requires pulling using upper extremities to exert force in order to draw, drag, haul or tug objects in a sustained motion.
• Lifting is required on an occasional basis.
• Repetitive motions are required which involve substantial movements of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.
• Often requires feeling of products perceiving attributes of objects, such as size, shape, temperature or texture by touching with skin, particularly that of fingertips.
• Hearing must be adequate to perform duties and interact in person clearly and efficiently.
• Manual dexterity as required for specific equipment or instrumentation use.Requires clear vision, the ability to identify and distinguish color and to adjust focus.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

Full-time position is 5 days a week, which could include weekends (Saturday and Sunday). Part time position work as needed, weekly hours will vary based on location needs. Expected hours of work begins in the early morning hours and will typically end mid-afternoon as determined by the location’s needs.

Travel

Local travel is required.

Required Education and Experience

1. The ability to speak, read, understand and follow directions with or without reasonable accommodations is required.
2. Driver’s license and good driving record required with reliable transportation to and from the work site.

Preferred Education and Experience

1. High school Education or GED preferred
2. Aquaculture experience preferred.
3. Aquaculture or related degree preferred.
4. Class B-CDL preferred

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

None.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.