Animal Care Technician I or Animal Care Technician II

About the role

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• Job Category: University Staff
• Employment Type: Regular
• Job Profile: Animal Care Technician I

Job Summary

Are you looking for a job working with research animals? We offer a rewarding career with a flexible work environment. Animal Care staff provide routine and specialized animal husbandry and facility maintenance. If you are passionate about animals, supportive of biomedical research and want to learn how you can play a critical role within BRMS, we invite you to apply for this position.

The animal program involves all aspects of animal use for research, teaching, and outreach. BRMS is seeking an Animal Care Technician to join their Rodent Breeding Core. The BRMS Rodent Breeding Core provides research support across all animal programs on campus. The Breeding Core breeds over 700 strains of mice.

This position will be responsible for performing routine and specialized animal husbandry tasks and general facility maintenance for the Mouse Breeding Core in Biomedical Research Model Services (BRMS).

These duties include general animal husbandry, feeding and watering animals, weaning, sampling for genotyping, monitoring animal room environments, cleaning primary and secondary enclosures, receiving animals, preparing animals for transport, restraining, and handling animals, reporting sick and injured animals, general facility maintenance and housekeeping. ACT positions interact with researchers and veterinary staff as required.

Other duties to be assigned by the supervisor. We offer flexible hours after passing the probationary period, extra hourly differential pay for weekend hours worked, and additional hourly pay for each level of AALAS certification.

• This position requires work to be completed onsite, at a designated campus work location.
• The standard schedule for this position is Monday through Friday and every other weekend from 7a.m.- 3:30p.m. This position will have one weekday off. Holiday work may be required. Exact schedule will be determined at time of hire.
• Applicants for this position will be considered for the following titles: Animal Care Technician I and Animal Care Technician II. The title is determined by the experience and qualifications of the finalist. The responsibilities in this job posting are for the Animal Care Technician I title. An Animal Care Technician II will perform tasks more independently, assist with training students and new staff, and collect samples from animals and administer medications, injections and treatments according to the established protocols and procedures to be used for diagnostic tests and research.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Perform breeding and colony management.
• Maintains organization of and updates records related to research procedures
• Inventories, cleans, and maintains organization of animal holding spaces and supplies
• Inspects and reports equipment problems to ensure optimal and safe operation
• Observes animal behavior, performs basic animal care and reports concerns to the appropriate entities to contribute to the health and well-being of animals to support research and teaching.
• Assists with preparing food and formulas and feeds animals according to established schedules and specifications.

Department

School of Medicine and Public Health, Biomedical Research Model Services, Breeding Core

Biomedical Research Model Services is here to assist researchers in making significant discoveries in biological and medical science while ensuring the health and well-being of all animals in our care. Our goal is to maintain facilities and provide services and care that exceed the standards of regulatory and funding agencies. We strive to create a safe and welcoming workplace.

Compensation

The starting hourly wage for the position is $19.00 per hour; but is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. For more information, refer to the campus benefits webpage and the SMPH University Staff Benefits Flyer 2026.

Required Qualifications

• Physical ability to sit, stand, bend, reach, squat, twist and push carts, bedding, feed bags and equipment up to 50 lbs.
• Ability to follow verbal and written instructions.
• Proficient computer skills, emailing, website experience, and experience using Microsoft Excel and Word

Preferred Qualifications

• At least 6 months of animal care experience.
• Knowledge of acceptable animal husbandry procedures.
• Familiarity with University requirement concerning Responsible Use and Care of Animals in Research and Training and the Guide to the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
• Knowledge of animal health records maintenance and ability to perform animal health checks.
• AALAS Certification (ALAT, LAT or LATG)

Education: H.S. Diploma Preferred

How to Apply

• For the best experience completing your application, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox as your web browser.
• To apply for this position, select either "I am a current employee" or "I am not a current employee" under Apply Now. You will then be prompted to upload your application materials.
• Important: The application has only one attachment field. Upload the following documents in that field, either as a single combined file or as multiple files in the same upload area.

• Cover letter preferred
• Resume

Additional information

Your cover letter should address how your training and experience aligns with the required and preferred qualifications listed above. Application reviewers will rely on these written materials to determine which applicants move forward in the process. References will be requested from final candidates. All applicants will be notified once the search concludes and a candidate is selected.

University sponsorship is not available for this position, including transfers of sponsorship and TN visas.

The selected applicant will be responsible for ensuring their continuous eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of an employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment. This position is an ongoing position that will require continuous work eligibility.

If you are selected for this position you must provide proof of work authorization and eligibility to work.

Contact Information: Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Institutional Statement on Diversity

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies, crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years, and on-campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW-Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.