Technician II, Animal Care

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Position Purpose
Reporting to the Associate-Supervisor, Animal Care Operations (Aquatics), the incumbent participates in the delivery of the program of animal care in order to maintain Animal Care and Veterinary Service's (ACVS) high standards of animal care and welfare and regulatory compliance. Responsibilities will include daily animal feeding and observation, tank cleaning, conducting water quality tests, facility maintenance and routine sanitation procedures.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Animal Husbandry: Perform daily behavior and health observation of fish and other aquatic animals. Monitor and record environmental parameters of the animal housing system and room.  Execute live feed (rotifer and Artemia) culture and feeding. Perform all other husbandry care required for the aquatic animals kept in the facility. 

• Animal Health: Provide treatment as prescribed by the veterinarians and provide updates to the veterinarians.Perform occasional aquatic animal necropsy and preparation of the fixed samples for histopathology labs. Prepare biological samples for shipment to diagnostic labs. 

• Facility Maintenance: Perform assigned daily exchange or cleaning, sanitation and disinfection of fish tanks and related equipment as well as routine facility housekeeping. Complete recirculating and flow-through aquaculture system maintenance and minor troubleshooting and repairs. Perform daily water quality analysis.

• Record Keeping: Complete inventory checks, recordkeeping and routine animal census. 

• Communication: Ensure daily communications with researchers, animal users, animal care staff and facility manager regarding animal health and welfare. 

What you will bring:

• Post-secondary education in aquaculture, or a related field is preferable.

• Two (2) years of relevant experience may be substituted for the formal education.

• Ability to follow detailed instructions and be able to adhere to written Standard Operating Procedures.

• Solid ability to work independently while being able to function well in a team environment.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills. 

• Demonstrated ability to identify and apply relevant solutions to problems such as animal health problems, daily task conflict or water treatment units' failure. 

• Strong ability to adapt to fit changed circumstances in the workplace such as adjusting your actions in response to operational shifting priorities, system failure, etc.

• Willingness and ability to work after hours, evenings, weekends and statutory holidays as assigned.

• Willingness to provide proof of vaccination history as per standard provincial protocols.

• Ability to work in wet or humid condition and lift 20kgs.

• Bilingualism - French and English (spoken and written).

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.