Salary: £25,249 with progression to £26,707 per annum
Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Closing Date: 15 December 2025
The Role
The University’s Vision and Strategy sets out an ambitious and exciting journey, to be a people focused, world-leading university that harnesses academic excellence, innovation and creativity to advance knowledge and provide benefits to individuals, to organisations and to society as a whole.
The role holder will be located in the Comparative Biology Centre (CBC), Newcastle University’s facilities for all research work which involved the use of laboratory animals. Newcastle University has a policy of using animals in research only if there are no realistic alternatives and in projects of major importance. UK standards of care are among the highest in the world, and we strictly enforce them.
You will play an active and engaging role within the CBC team providing excellent technical support and customer service to research groups utilising CBC facilities and services. They will be prepared to work with multiple species and ensure the highest level of animal care and welfare standards are upheld. They will be open to embracing change, continued professional and personal development.
Newcastle University’s policy on animal research can be found here:
For informal enquiries contact heather.crawford@ncl.ac.uk
Please note that if you are successful to this role, you will require medical clearance before you can commence in the role.
Key Accountabilities
* General animal husbandry including, care and feeding of animals to the highest of industrial standards and maintenance of resources
* Assist, support and communicate with research groups, peers and senior technical team staff. This may include working in any of the designated areas including theatres and service area
* Provision of excellent customer service for all stakeholders
* Hold a personal licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act and competently carry out regulated procedures, where appropriate
* Pre and post-operative care of animals, including appropriate recording
* Flexible to work outside of normal core hours when required to cover departmental needs. In addition participation in weekend and holiday rotas
* To support both staff and student teaching and learning activities through the demonstration of standard equipment and techniques
* Read, understand and refer to study plans in order to effectively support related activity. Follow protocols, working practices and risk assessments- ensuring a safe working environment is maintained and high standards of animal welfare are maintained
* Support theatres as and when required
* As a team member, uphold the security and biosecurity of the department at all times
The Person
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
* Relevant experience in similar environment, demonstrating good animal handling skills
* Good written, oral and communication skills
* Ability to use computers including email, calendars and Microsoft Office
* Knowledge of Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act and other relevant Home Office legislation (Desirable)
* Understanding of Health and Safety regulations (Desirable)
* Holds PILAB or has completed modules (Desirable)
* Knowledge of abnormal behaviours or sickness in animals (Desirable)
* Experience of customer service provision (Desirable)
Attributes and Behaviour
Team-working
* Gets involved with team tasks
* Willing to help others and share workloads
* Supportive of team decisions
* Talks about other team members in a positive way Respects the value that different views bring to the team
Delivering services
* Sees other departments and colleagues as “customers” and follows through on their enquiries and requests
* Keeps fellow team members up to date with progress
* Co-operates with others in achieving targets
* Has a positive attitude for doing things better
* Strives to deliver high quality results
* Is enthusiastic in getting the job done on time
Embracing change
* Accepts change and “runs” with it
* Builds on others’ ideas and suggestions
* Willing to change ways and policies in light of new information
Understanding others
* Makes time to listen
* Clarifies understanding of others to avoid misinterpretation
* Recognises emotion in other peoples’ reactions
* Adapts own response to take into account cultural differences, behaviours and perspectives
Qualifications
* Minimum 5 GCSE A-C or equivalent
* Gained or working towards IAT level 2 Diploma in Lab Animal Science and Technology (Desirable)
Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.
We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.
At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 28587