Animal Keeper

About us The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is a wildlife conservation charity with a bold vision: a world where nature is protected, valued and loved. Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park are our gateways to the natural world through which people can experience nature.

The Role With direction from your Team Leader and Senior Keeper, deliver the day-to-day operations including performing all assigned duties to ensure the smooth running of the allocated animal section/project, aiming to optimise the quality of animal welfare and to deliver or support delivery of an innovative and creative programme of live animal interactive activities to engage and excite visitors in support of RZSS’ vision and mission.

Some of the things you’ll do:

• Take action to ensure the animal welfare, husbandry and management you provide is of the highest standard, taking into account relevant legislation and best practice animal management.
• Contribute to enclosure design, maintenance, enrichment and enclosure furnishing to ensure it meets all the needs of the animal and is presentable to the public, e.g. positive visitor engagement and suggest ideas for development to team manager.
• Engage with and support visitors, ensuring your message is consistent with team objectives and in line with RZSS’ mission and vision whilst providing first-class customer care and service, e.g. answering visitor queries and undertaking public talks, tours and Keeper for a Day experiences.
• Collate and record detailed and accurate animal records via daily record sheets, directly onto ZIMS or using other relevant recording methods in relation to the good management of the animal collection to ensure accurate data preservation (e.g. weights, behaviours, health, births, deaths, training, enrichment and treatments) and provide support to other colleagues/teams including the assessment or analysis of e.g. ZIMS or field data.
• Work with departments across RZSS, as appropriate to your level of responsibility, to ensure you and the team are informed of any potential impacts to animal welfare or visitor experience, e.g., P&E department regarding maintenance activity.
• Proactively ensure your knowledge of RZSS, our conservation work and species within the collection is up to date, e.g. attending team meetings, accessing team brief.

What we are looking for:

• Degree level qualification in animal/zoology related subject.
• Willingness to undertake further professional development meeting the requirements of the European Professional Zookeepers Qualification Framework.
• Knowledge and understanding of Zoological legislation and best practice and a practical understanding of current conservation science, zoo biology and animal welfare ethics.
• A range of animal management skills.
• Significant practical experience managing a range of exotic animal taxa in a zoo or similar environment.
• High degree of observational skills and attention to detail and first-class customer service, e.g. interpersonal skills and ability to engage with a wide range of individuals, e.g. the public, internally and externally.

What you’ll get in return:

• Starting pro-rated salary of £23,868 or £24,378 (offer based on experience) with future salary progression up to £24,888 per annum.
• 37.5 working week (may require some weekend working).
• 34 days annual leave (pro rata).
• Discount in both retail/catering.
• Access to a healthcare plan.
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), that provide 24-hour counselling and support, including health, legal, finance, wellbeing and family advice.
• Employer contributory pension scheme.
• You will receive a staff membership which will give you (and family/friends) free (and discounted) entry to both the Highland Wildlife Park and Edinburgh Zoo as well as a number of other Zoos across the UK.

If this role excites you and aligns with your career aspirations, click APPLY now. This role is subject to standard pre-employment checks, including the candidate's right to work in the UK and Basic Disclosure check. Please note that shortlisting of applications and interviews for this position will take place while the advert is live. The advert will close once a successful candidate has been found. Interested candidates are therefore encouraged to submit applications, as soon as possible. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is an equal opportunities employer. Our policy is to recruit a diverse workforce following the guidelines of the Equality Act 2010.