Team Leader in Kent

For nearly 75 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we’ll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.

Job Overview

Team Leader – Barrier Production

Location: On Site - Margate, Kent | Full time (35 Hrs) Mon-Thurs 7.5hrs, Friday 5hrs

Lead people. Shape culture. Support world‑class research. This is a leadership role first and foremost. You don’t need to walk in as a technical expert — we can teach the technical skills. What matters most is your ability to lead, coach, motivate and develop people. We're looking for a confident, resilient and positive people leader to guide a team working within a high‑standard barrier rodent model production environment. You will be required to be hands on for this position.

Job Description

What you’ll do

• Lead & Develop People. Inspire, support and develop a team of animal technicians and working with rodents. Set clear expectations around behaviour, performance and accountability. Build a positive, inclusive and psychologically safe team culture. Address challenges early, fairly and constructively.
• Drive Operational Excellence. Coordinate daily and weekly work to meet production and welfare standards. Monitor workloads, staffing and training needs, adapting plans as required. Maintain high standards of barrier practice, routines and cleanliness. Ensure all work meets training documentation, regulatory requirements and internal quality standards.
• Be a Visible, Hands‑On Leader. Spend the majority of your time in the barrier facility—engaged, accessible and working alongside the team. Act as the first point of escalation for operational, welfare or people issues.
• Collaborate & Improve. Work closely with peer leaders and managers to ensure smooth operations (some weekend/bank holiday working on a rota basis). Support audits, inspections and continuous improvement initiatives.

What we’re looking for

• Experience leading or influencing people in an operational, regulated or production environment.
• Confidence to hold honest conversations and make fair, balanced decisions.
• Calm, steady and consistent leadership — especially under pressure.
• A genuine passion for helping others grow, not just managing tasks.
• Strong communication skills, integrity, and self‑awareness.

(Experience in laboratory, animal care or technical production environments is helpful but not essential — we’ll teach you what you need to know.)

About Research Models & Services

Fundamental to basic research and discovery is the use of in vivo models to help identify disease targets and determine potential biological pathways that regulate the condition. As the world’s leader in the production and distribution of the highest quality research animal, with 1 out of 2 animal models produced for preclinical research globally, we understand the importance of this step. With seven decades of experience, our expertise is unmatched, allowing us to provide you with the perfect model, including disease-specific and preconditioned options, for basic research and beyond.

About Charles River

Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients’ clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.

With over 20,000 employees within 110 facilities in over 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client’s unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world.

At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly worked on 80% of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past five years.

At Charles River Laboratories, we recognize and recruit all talent. We are a company committed to fostering a sense of belonging and work daily in this direction.