Aquatic Technical Specialist

University of Virginia; Charlottesville (VA); On-site; USD 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Virginia's Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM) seeks an Aquatic Technical Specialist to manage daily husbandry and care of zebrafish, xenopus, and other aquatic species on site. You will maintain life-support systems, ensure water quality, and support investigators with scheduling and training.

This full-time, in-person role requires on-call weekends/holidays and collaboration with IACUC and CCM staff.

Qualifications

• Education: High school diploma (or equivalent) or higher.
• Experience: 1 plus years of experience working with animals with an understanding of different life support systems, husbandry, nutrition, and associated facilities.
• Knowledgeable in AAALAC accreditation standards and principles in the Guide (2011, NRC) as applied to aquatic species.

Responsibilities

• Perform daily husbandry, colony census and feeding for zebrafish, xenopus, and other aquatic species, ensuring adequate feed supply and type based on life stage.
• Conduct water quality testing, equipment calibrations (pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen), and system performance audits.
• Serve as point of contact during system emergencies (system alarms, leaks, power disturbances, etc), including on‑call availability.
• Operate, monitor, and troubleshoot aquatic life support systems and racks; ensure environmental stability (temperature, photoperiod, alarms); assist with system upgrades and rack installations; and coordinate repairs with vendors and in‑house engineers.
• Maintain inventory of supplies, equipment, chemicals, and feed; coordinate purchasing to ensure timely stock availability. Prepare and use disinfecting and sanitizing solutions as per SOPs.
• Conduct daily health checks, triage issues to veterinary staff, and administer veterinary‑directed treatments (e.g., immersion therapies, injections) while maintaining documentation.
• Support sentinel monitoring, quarantine, imports/exports, disease screening, and colony‑level health audits with proper documentation, while enforcing biosecurity SOPs such as equipment segregation, quarantine entry/exit procedures, and facility traffic patterns.
• Provide training to investigators, their staff and back up weekend CCM staff on relevant aspects of colony maintenance, aquatic husbandry and specialized techniques to support wild type, mutant and transgenic lines of aquatic animals. Ensure training is captured in the enterprise training documentation system.
• Create and update standard operating procedures or guidelines in conjunction with IACUC and CCM for all relevant tasks associated with husbandry, experimentation and system maintenance.
• Ensure the facility operates per institutional (IACUC, IBC and safety) guidelines and adheres to the principles in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Prepare facility for IACUC semiannual inspection and AAALAC site visits.
• Remains familiar with Center for Comparative Medicine emergency response procedures.
• Serve as a backup for other facility husbandry needs and execute supervisor‑assigned special projects supporting husbandry, clinical care, and animal welfare.

Skills

Excellent communication

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

The University of Virginia’s Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM) is seeking an Aquatic Technical Specialist who will be responsible for the daily husbandry and care of the zebrafish, xenopus and other aquatic species within the facility. As part of this, the incumbent will ensure high quality operation and maintenance of aquatic life support systems and associated equipment and tasks and provide timely customer service to investigators and their staff. In addition, the Aquatic Technical Specialist must collaborate with investigators, IACUC and CCM staff to provide all the necessary training and scheduling to ensure smooth operation of the facility. This is a full‑time, in‑person position based onsite within the aquatic research facilities. The position is expected to work holidays and weekends on a rotating assignment basis or as required by the management.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Perform daily husbandry, colony census and feeding for zebrafish, xenopus, and other aquatic species, ensuring adequate feed supply and type based on life stage.
• Conduct water quality testing, equipment calibrations (pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen), and system performance audits.
• Serve as point of contact during system emergencies (system alarms, leaks, power disturbances, etc), including on‑call availability.
• Operate, monitor, and troubleshoot aquatic life support systems and racks; ensure environmental stability (temperature, photoperiod, alarms); assist with system upgrades and rack installations; and coordinate repairs with vendors and in‑house engineers.
• Maintain inventory of supplies, equipment, chemicals, and feed; coordinate purchasing to ensure timely stock availability. Prepare and use disinfecting and sanitizing solutions as per SOPs.
• Conduct daily health checks, triage issues to veterinary staff, and administer veterinary‑directed treatments (e.g., immersion therapies, injections) while maintaining documentation.
• Support sentinel monitoring, quarantine, imports/exports, disease screening, and colony‑level health audits with proper documentation, while enforcing biosecurity SOPs such as equipment segregation, quarantine entry/exit procedures, and facility traffic patterns.
• Provide training to investigators, their staff and back up weekend CCM staff on relevant aspects of colony maintenance, aquatic husbandry and specialized techniques to support wild type, mutant and transgenic lines of aquatic animals. Ensure training is captured in the enterprise training documentation system.
• Create and update standard operating procedures or guidelines in conjunction with IACUC and CCM for all relevant tasks associated with husbandry, experimentation and system maintenance.
• Ensure the facility operates per institutional (IACUC, IBC and safety) guidelines and adheres to the principles in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Prepare facility for IACUC semiannual inspection and AAALAC site visits.
• Remains familiar with Center for Comparative Medicine emergency response procedures.
• Serve as a backup for other facility husbandry needs and execute supervisor‑assigned special projects supporting husbandry, clinical care, and animal welfare.

Anticipated Hiring Range

$19 - $23/hour; based on qualifications and experience.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: High school diploma (or equivalent) or higher.
• Experience: 1 plus years of experience working with animals with an understanding of different life support systems, husbandry, nutrition, and associated facilities.

Additional Qualifications

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with people from a wide variety of social and educational backgrounds. Ability to use Microsoft Office suite especially Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Knowledgeable in AAALAC accreditation standards and principles in the Guide (2011, NRC) as applied to aquatic species.

Physical Demands

• Maintains ability to lift bags or equipment items weighing up to fifty pounds.

Pressure in this position will vary depending on the workload. The workload will be heavy but manageable most of the time. Pressure may arise in the face of deadlines associated with grants, required documentation related to the faculty appointment, etc.

The above list of duties is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by individuals assigned to this classification. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive list of duties performed by the individual so classified, nor is it intended to limit or modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct, and control the work of employees under his/her supervision. This position is not eligible for remote or hybrid work; all duties must be performed in person.

The selected applicant will be required to complete a background check and health screening prior to their first day of employment per University policy.

For information regarding the position or the application process, please contact Jessica Speth, [e-mail].

The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.