Team Leader- Animal Care in Margate

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.

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

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.

What you’ll do

• Lead & Develop People: Inspire, support and develop a team of animal technicians. 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.)

Benefits: Life assurance, Single PMI, bonus, career development, training opportunities, free onsite parking, subsidised staff room, pay for participation on volunteer days, on-site team building, charity fundraising days, employee engagement programs.

Pension plan: 1st year employee -Company contribution 5% - Employee 4%, After 3 years: Company contribution 9% and employee 1%

Holidays: 26 days + 8 for Public holidays

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.