The Virginia Aquarium is seeking an energetic and upbeat team member to assist in the daily husbandry of the Aquarium’s animals as an Exhibits Technician I (Aquarist Keeper). A solid understanding of animal welfare standards that includes fishes, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibian husbandry is required. This position’s focus will be maintaining superb animal health and welfare by cleaning habitats, providing nutritious diets, and assisting with medical procedures.
Duties:
- Maintain and continually enhance the daily husbandry of a variety of fishes, elasmobranchs, marine invertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians
- Assist veterinary staff and senior aquarists with medical procedures
- Work collaboratively to communicate husbandry and medical needs of the animals in the section
- Work as part of a team to always maintain animal habitat cleanliness, which includes SCUBA diving
- Administer diets to a wide variety of fishes, invertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians
- Assist with the process of species planning to include animal transfers and acclimations
- Assist with live animal and food culturing
- Train new volunteers and part-time staff
- Present public programs and educational messaging to be used in a variety of settings
- Support the guest experience by participating in visitor enhancement development and actively seek out guest engagement opportunities
- Participate in professional development opportunities
Work Schedule:
- 40 hours per week; shifts between the hours of 7am – 6pm; may vary on occasion to meet operational needs.
- Days off may occur during the week and may not be consecutive.
- The City offers a generous benefits package such as health, dental and life insurance, retirement and savings plans. Other key benefits include:
- Maternity/paternity and parental leave
- Leave donation program
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Employee Assistant Program
- Professional Development
Experience Required
- Requires any combination of education (above the high school level) and/or experience equivalent to two (2) years in fields utilizing the required knowledge, skills, and abilities and associated with positions such as aquarist, exhibits technician, biologist, or animal keeper in a similar facility or program.
- Individual positions will have specific requirements regarding subject expertise, skills and training; these will be noted on job requisition at time opening is advertised.
- Must possess and maintain at all times current SCUBA certification of Open Water Diver or higher from a nationally recognized certifying agency.
- Must have, or obtain, a current and valid Virginia or North Carolina drivers license in accordance with Virginia or North Carolina DMV drivers license eligibility requirements.
Further Comments
- Preferences:
- Bachelor’s degree in biology or similar field
- Two (2) or more years full-time experience with cnidarian husbandry in aquarium/zoo setting
- Live food culture experience in aquarium/zoo setting
- Experience maintaining biosecurity in an aquarium/zoo exhibit or quarantine setting
- Experience maintaining animal records in ZIMS or similar database
- Experience diving in exhibits for maintenance
- Experience working with and training volunteers
- Working knowledge and experience with life support and water quality testing
Perks
- https://virginia-beach-departments-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/city/Careers/Full-time-Employee-Benefits.pdf
Salary
- Pay Range: G.16, $35,671.90 - $55,291.45
