Senior Manager, Animal Care

The Senior Manager, Animal Care, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Transgenic Mouse Facility (TMF), the largest animal facility on the BCM campus. The senior manager will be responsible for the oversight of husbandry activities, staff, and facility maintenance in TMF. The senior manager will directly supervise the TMF supervisors, animal care associates, and ACAs. This position will also provide oversight of the ABBR vivarium, including supervision of the facility manager and support of husbandry activities within the building. The Senior Manager will adhere to laws, regulations, and policies to assure CCM and investigative staff are in compliance with applicable laws and guidance documents. It is the responsibility of this position to ensure the physical condition of each vivaria (TMF & ABBR) applying available resources and personnel to achieve clean and safe environments for the animals, CCM staff, and researchers. Standard shift will be 7:00am – 4:00pm, weekend/holiday on call rotation, and possible ride out days during weather related emergencies.

Job Duties

• Responsible for ensuring excellent care of animals and maintenance of equipment and facilities.
• Provide support, education, and training to staff to ensure alignment with CCM mission.
• Interact with researchers to support their research needs and maintain positive working relationships with investigators.
• Monitor and ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines.
• Ensure proper function of cage wash equipment and ensure appropriate sterilization of animal housing.
• Assist with the development and revision of CCM standard operating procedures.
• Ensure adherence to standard operating procedures and industry standards.
• Ensure adequate inventory of feed, bedding, and supplies to support facility operations.
• Interact and coordinate with veterinary staff to assure health and welfare of animals.
• Maintain and provide reports on facility function, equipment function, personnel issues, inventory, data collection, and room/animal logs and records.
• Supervise facility manager for ABBR and supervisors of TMF.
• Create and/or review work plans and schedules including assignment and reassignment of personnel to tasks, as required, by shifting workloads or priorities.
• Maintain a safe and healthy work environment for all employees.
• Provide regular direction and feedback to facility manager, supervisors, and ACA’s on performance, disciplinary actions, and preparing and delivering annual performance reviews.
• May perform hands-on animal husbandry and other technical duties, as necessary, to ensure that all requirements are met according to established protocols.
• Assure competence, from staff and self, in laboratory animal science, technology, and management.
• Monitor attendance of staff.
• Counsel staff with regard to proper behavior and proper techniques.
• Perform quality assurance checks and weekly facility inspections.
• Participate in the interview process, performance reviews, and disciplinary actions for TMF and will provide leadership oversight of similar processes in ABBR.
• Schedule and perform facility tours with new research personnel.
• Provide support and participate in conducting disciplinary actions, as needed.
• Participate as management resource for disaster/hurricane emergencies as ride out team member, as needed.
• Manage and oversee daily operations of cage wash facilities.
• Ensure SOP compliance by all CCM employees, investigative staff, and immediately report deviations to management.
• Ensure that all equipment is operational and works with Director of Husbandry to schedule on-going maintenance and repair of equipment.
• Maintain logs and on call schedules.
• Assist with Quality Assurance reviews. Provide training to new hires, leads, and supervisors.
• Work closely with CCM training team to ensure adequate on boarding of new hires.
• Work with the IACUC office for scheduling inspections and/or reporting compliance concerns.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Five years of relevant experience.
• Laboratory Animal Technologist (LATG) by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS).

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledgeable of animal welfare laws ands regulations to ensure continued compliance.
• CMAR certification.