LAR Training Specialist

Essential Job Duties

The Laboratory Animal Resources (LAR) Training Coordinator (Training Specialist) is a core operational and supervisory role responsible for managing daily animal care, staff training, and regulatory record-keeping to support university research and teaching efforts. This position designs, implements, and tracks comprehensive training programs for staff, faculty, and students, ensuring proficiency in animal husbandry, handling, clinical techniques, and safety protocols. Acting as a liaison with the IACUC, the Coordinator promptly addresses compliance-related training gaps and maintains accurate institutional databases.

In addition to training, this role oversees daily facility operations, delegates tasks based on staff competency, conducts facility checks, and assists in hiring. As mandatory personnel, the individual provides direct, hands-on animal husbandry, assists with veterinary student laboratories across multiple species, and handles physical demands including seasonal farm management tasks and heavy lifting.

Key Responsibilities & Physical Demands

• Training & Professional Development: Develop and deliver hands-on workshops, SOPs, and Job Aids tailored to varied learning styles; identify competency gaps and design corrective training; mentor staff pursuing industry certifications (ALAT, LAT, LATG).
• Clinical & Instructional Support: Assist faculty with veterinary teaching labs, demonstrating handling, restraints, blood collection, injections, and species-specific production procedures (e.g., swine processing, dairy milking, ultrasound use).
• Operations & Compliance: Maintain meticulous medical, census, and training records; update institutional SOPs; assist with billing and day-to-day species management alongside other technicians.
• Supervisory Leadership: Conduct facility checks, delegate daily tasks, train student workers, and participate in the interview and hiring process.
• Environmental & Physical Requirements: Must be able to lift at least 70 lbs. with or without reasonable accommodations (including handling heavy bales of hay seasonally). Ability to work around sick animals, potentially hazardous materials, cleaning chemicals, gas anesthetics, zoonotic diseases, and unpleasant odors. Position is classified as mandatory personnel and requires flexibility to work weekends and holidays.

Other Work/Responsibilities

Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Experience/Education

Bachelor's degree in a discipline related to the area of assignment; or an equivalent combination of training and experience. All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in animal husbandry and identifying signs of illness in all species housed within LAR.
• AALAS certifications LATG certification is required to be completed for continued advancement with training.
• Experience in a wide variety of species care.
• Experience training and the professional development of staff.
• Development of institutional SOP's and Job Aid's while ensuring all staff is kept up to date on new standards requiring to be adhered to within LAR.

Required license or certification

Valid NC Driver's license or the ability to obtain NC license within 60 days of hire.