Licensed Veterinary Technician/Certified Assistant

Role Description

Kalamazoo Michigan is the world headquarters for Veterinary Medicine Research and Development (VMRD) for Zoetis. The Veterinary Service group, within Animal Research Support (ARS), at Zoetis, has the mission and responsibility of developing and implementing the program of veterinary care and providing veterinary support to VMRD projects at the Richland and Kalamazoo sites. We are seeking an experienced, innovative and highly motivated veterinary technician to contribute towards delivering an exceptional animal care program as well as partnering with VMRD researchers to conduct excellent research studies.

This position is a for a limited duration contract that will be for 2 years following start date.

Educational Requirement:

• Suitable candidates will be Licensed Veterinary Technicians from an accredited institution or Certification in Veterinary Assistant or equivalent.
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in clinical practice or laboratory animal practice with a primary focus on companion animal medicine and surgery is preferred.
• Strong hands-on expertise in a range of companion animal techniques including handling, restraint, dosing, venipuncture, clinical examination and diagnosis and minor surgical procedures.

The Vet Technician or Assistant will be in Animal Research Support, as a part of the Veterinary Services team. This role will support veterinary services and job duties may include:

• Inventory control
• Medical case management
• Colony diet and weight management
• Colony preventive health management, scheduling, and administration
• Daily detailed observations and recording in electronic medical records or as raw study data
• Attendance at Veterinary Service meetings
• Attendance and participation in clinical rounds
• Working on miscellaneous projects for veterinary service
• Regulatory paperwork as needed
• Dental and surgical procedures including all pre-operative preparation, perioperative and post-operative care and monitoring on animals
• Anesthesia monitoring
• Training of animal care technicians for companion animal observations, husbandry, and other clinical or experimental procedures
• Technical procedures include but are not limited to: blood draws on companion animal species, urine collection, TPR and triage examination, IV catheterization, fluid admiration, hospitalization and ICU care, euthanasia and necropsy support, diagnostic testing including in house bloodwork, fecal exams and urinalysis
• Study specific procedures may include but are not limited to: administration of experimental products, monitoring of animals, surgical support for surgical models, sedation or anesthesia support for models, blood collection
• Lab and veterinary equipment maintenance and reference lab submissions.

In addition, the individual may take responsibility for leading the Colony Management for dedicated in-house colonies, and all duties listed above will be prioritized to this colony. This individual may be required to work weekends at a frequency that is dictated by the needs of the colony but may include up to every other weekend.

Desirable attributes:

• Experience executing the program of veterinary care in AAALAC accredited programs
• Experience working in an environment that is routinely inspected by regulatory agencies (e.g. USDA, FDA)
• Previous experience in an animal research setting.

Any unsolicited resumes sent to Zoetis from a third party, such as an Agency recruiter, including unsolicited resumes sent to a Zoetis mailing address, fax machine or email address, directly to Zoetis employees, or to Zoetis resume database will be considered Zoetis property. Zoetis will NOT pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume.

Zoetis will consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume to have been referred by the Agency free of any charges or fees. This includes any Agency that is an approved/engaged vendor but does not have the appropriate approvals to be engaged on a search.