Cage Wash Lead

Title:

Cage Wash Lead

Job code: 8421OS

Employee Group:
Civil Service

Full/Part Time (FTE): 100% FTE

Regular/Temporary:
Regular

As a Cage Wash Lead, you ensure a seamless flow of sanitized equipment critical to biomedical research. Balancing logistics, technical troubleshooting, and daily leadership, you maintain equipment inventory based on cage census and eliminate operational bottlenecks. You serve as a key expert on cage wash facilities and equipment operations, connecting animal care staff, management, and maintenance teams. You assist staff through onboarding and training, and perform daily cage wash duties during staff shortages or high-demand periods.

In-person at multiple facilities on the Twin Cities campus.

This position is defined as an essential role under the University's State of Emergency policy, and plays a key role in ensuring the health and welfare of RAR's research animals. During emergencies or other situations that impact normal operations, this position may be required to perform additional duties as assigned to support the team and ensure animal care is not compromised.

These duties may include, but are not limited to, animal husbandry, sanitation, feeding, health monitoring, and will be determined at the discretion of the direct supervisor and/or RAR senior leadership based on operational needs. Training will be provided as needed. Unscheduled, mandatory overtime may be assigned by the direct supervisor/leadership as needed to ensure animal health and welfare.

• There will be exposure to animal allergens
• Current Tetanus vaccination is required (may be obtained during first week of employment)
• An annual test for Tuberculosis will be completed for working with certain species
• Due to the high level of noise, a hearing test is performed annually when assigned to a hearing conservation area
• Rabies Vaccines or titer will be completed when working with certain species or the employee may complete a declination form.
• An annual Flu vaccine is a requirement to work with some animal species
• Measles titer may be drawn
• The employee may work in wet rooms or around large industrial cage washers
• The employee may work in an outside environment in any weather conditions
• The employee may be required to wear a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) or N95 mask

Monday through Friday 6:00 am-2:30 pm and may require occasional evening, weekend, holiday, or on-call hours to meet operational needs.

30% Cage Wash Daily Operations

• Complete safety checks, temperature/steam monitoring, preventative maintenance tasks, and minor troubleshooting of machines.
• Promptly elevate unresolved mechanical failures or significant safety hazards to the Supervisor/Manager.
• Perform daily cage wash duties, including but not limited to dumping cages, operating tunnel and rack washers, emptying and filling water bottles, facility sanitation, equipment sanitation, autoclaving, and using microisolator technique.
• Service procedure rooms, including replacing compressed gases.
• Maneuver chemical drums up to 55 gallons using a mechanical lift/dolly.
• Identify and remove broken or improperly sanitized supplies/equipment.
• Maintain accurate records in accordance with departmental documentation standards.
• Ensure continuous audit-readiness for AAALAC and IACUC inspections by verifying label accuracy, monitoring expiration dates, and auditing logbook completion.
• Perform delegated duties during peer absences to ensure operational continuity.

30% Training & Leadership

• Act as the primary hands‑on trainer for cage wash operations, including sanitation processes, cage wash equipment, and safety, as well as autoclave processes and microisolator technique.
• Assist with onboarding and ongoing assessments of the cage wash personnel.
• Partner with leadership and the Training Team to implement educational initiatives, providing direct mentorship to staff to ensure SOP compliance.
• Assist in auditing SOPs for technical accuracy and operational alignment.
• Provide essential onsite guidance for the cage wash team and facilitate communication with supervisors.
• Coordinate production workflows and communicate resource needs to leadership; conduct regular facility rounds to verify that caging orders/needs remain on schedule.
• Serve as a technical mentor and resource for peer professional development.
• Engage in specialized projects to optimize workflow efficiency and upgrade vivarium…