Chief Animal Science Technician

at  McGill University

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Job Description

45% Facility Operations

• Coordinates the day-to-day operations of an animal facility
• Interacts and communicates with veterinary services staff during to discuss various topics including any urgent animal health care issues, or for any training purposes. (This happens during the daily meetings where an Animal Health Technician is present and various topics are discussed).
• When necessary, performs technical duties related to animal husbandry (i.e. when more than 1 Animal Attendant is absent. (Ideally, 2-4 times per month for the day. This should only happen when more than 1 person on team calls in sick. Health treatment issues are discussed).
• Maintain the functionality of animal spaces such as housing rooms, holding rooms, procedure rooms and storage rooms. This includes setting up the rooms for standardized workflow.
• Reports any deviation of key equipment and reports any deviations. Performs scheduled maintenance on animal related equipment such as replacing water filters. (This happens daily for key equipment in husbandry).
• Performs minor repairs and arranges for service repairs by coordinating with the equipment and infrastructure manager as well as Facilities Management. ( no electrical stuff. Flags equipment issues to equipment manager. Any major equipment broken is flagged to facilities manager and equipment manager).

10% Scheduling and Monitoring of Tasks

• Monitor the completion of tasks completed by the animal care attendants. This includes reviewing the task boards as the day progresses and coordinate with team members to ensure the work is completed.
• Monitors daily the quality of the work performed and reports to the Facility Manager on recurring and/or major issues.
• Updates and maintains the task management system daily and ensures it is followed by the animal attendant teams. Creates, organizes, and modifies the board to distribute tasks daily to staff. Communicates finalized scheduled to staff.
• Leads the daily team meetings.
• Provides guidance and assistance concerning work methods. Verifies the work of others and escalates operational issues to Facility Manager.
• Provides, updates and completes standard reports and logs (Daily room logs, health reports, procedure room logs etc.)

5 % Training

• Facilitates communication between the team and the various units in the department. Also disseminates information from the research community to the team and vice versa.
• Attends continuing education workshops/seminars to improve knowledge base in this area, including a yearly CMARC yearly seminar series that is mandatory and certain HR/EHS courses proposed by the Facility Manager (Team Leaders are mandated to attend certain courses based on feedback from their manager).

15% Customer Service

• Provide facility orientations ( rooms only) for clients and trains clients (Internal and external) on existing procedures and equipment.
• Provides customer service to clients and team. Ensures they have what they need to work safely and effectively.

Acts as a resource person for any animal-husbandry related inquiries or concerns from clients.

• Ensures compliance within the team members and clients, provides guidance and escalates concerns or issues to Facility Manager.
• Completes or delegates requests from the research community whenever possible

5% Projects

• Participates and/or or leads continuous improvement projects such as revising room daily logs or room standardization.
• Attends a mandatory continuous improvement program training (Currently Lean Six Sigma white and yellow belts) and applies the tools in all projects.

10% AMS –This is the animal use protocol and cage card management system. This involves sitting at a computer and printing cage card requests coming in from all researchers, activating and deactivating cage cards, receiving animal orders electronically, and troubleshooting issues.

• Oversees and conducts Darwin activities related to the animal facility operation

o Approves and receives animal orders based on space availability
o Activates and deactivates cards on a regular basis to maintain up-to-date census
o Prints cards for animal orders and researcher requests
o Performs facility scans and reconciliations
o Maintains standing inventory for supplies
o Ensures facility cages are properly labeled
o Communicates to the clients any issues involving Darwin
o Assists clients with the AMS system (Card ordering, animal ordering, other questions)
10% Performs other duties as assigned
One-year temporary position
Knowledge of French and English: McGill University is an English-language university where day to day duties may require English communication both verbally and in writing. The level of English required for this position has been assessed at a level # 2 (qualifier) on a scale of 0-4.
Minimum Education and Experience:
DEC III - Animal Health Technology 3 Years Related Experience / DEC III - Farm Management Technology
Hourly Salary:
(MUNACA Level G) $31.19 - $38.65
Hours per Week:
35 (Full time)
Supervisor:
Equipment and Infrastructure Manager
Position End Date (If applicable):
2025-06-03
Deadline to Apply:
McGill University hires on the basis of merit and is strongly committed to equity and diversity within its community. We welcome applications from racialized persons/visible minorities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as from all qualified candidates with the skills and knowledge to productively engage with diverse communities. McGill implements an employment equity program and encourages members of designated groups to self-identify. Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations for any part of the application process may contact, in confidence,
accessibilityrequest.hr@mcgill.ca

• Monitor the completion of tasks completed by the animal care attendants. This includes reviewing the task boards as the day progresses and coordinate with team members to ensure the work is completed.
• Monitors daily the quality of the work performed and reports to the Facility Manager on recurring and/or major issues.
• Updates and maintains the task management system daily and ensures it is followed by the animal attendant teams. Creates, organizes, and modifies the board to distribute tasks daily to staff. Communicates finalized scheduled to staff.
• Leads the daily team meetings.
• Provides guidance and assistance concerning work methods. Verifies the work of others and escalates operational issues to Facility Manager.
• Provides, updates and completes standard reports and logs (Daily room logs, health reports, procedure room logs etc.