Aquarist (marine animal husbandry and life support systems) 

Aquarium Support Services

Woods Hole Science Aquarium, NOAA/WHOI, Falmouth, MA

This role leads animal care and life support system operations at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium and is responsible for daily husbandry tasks, habitat monitoring, health evaluations, and veterinary support for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)

Join @Orchard in supporting the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) public outreach and ocean literacy efforts through expert marine animal care at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium. The aquarium hosts approximately 140 native marine species and welcomes over 80,000 visitors annually, including thousands of schoolchildren. It also plays a critical role in marine wildlife rehabilitation and education.

As the Aquarist, you’ll serve as the lead for daily marine animal husbandry, habitat care, and life support system operations. You’ll ensure that both aquatic species and their environments are maintained to the highest standards while also supporting veterinary care and visitor engagement. From monitoring water quality and supporting enrichment to contributing to intern training and educational tours, this position balances science, stewardship, and public connection.

This role requires both technical expertise and flexibility, including occasional overtime, travel, and weekend work, as well as experience working hands-on with marine animals in display or lab settings. If you’re passionate about ocean life and committed to the care and communication that keep public aquariums thriving, this is your opportunity to make an impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing services utilizing NEFSC’s established standards and protocols to achieve necessary animal health monitoring, care, and feeding. 

• Providing staff training to achieve those animal health standards

• Providing food preparation and supply for animals in the collection

• Conducting routine inspections of animal habitat quality and condition 

• Remedying deficiencies in animal and habitat monitoring and care.

• Assisting in animal enrichment, ensuring animals have sufficient stimulation and opportunity to engage in natural behaviors.

• Providing services utilizing NEFSC’s established standards and protocols to achieve necessary life support system monitoring, operation, maintenance, and condition.  

• Delivering sound day-to-day husbandry and life support system operations

• Providing quality assurance and quality control to ensure aquarium standards are met and protocols are followed. 

• Providing recordkeeping to document staff activities and animal health/life support system issues.

• Conducting regular observation, evaluation, and examination of captive specimens for injury, illness, aggression, stress, breeding activity, and food intake.

• Providing veterinary assistance during the vet’s regular rounds and medical procedures.

• Administering medications per instructions 

• Using NEFSC’s protocols and staff training to reduce the risk of illness among specimens.

• Ensuring recordkeeping is sufficient to improve care and protocols

• Administering and executing the animal acquisition and dispensation plan

• Monitoring and reporting on facility issues critical to maintaining animal health and visitor safety:

• Participating as needed in providing visitor services (tours, presentations, special events, interns and volunteers)

Required Experience and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology, Zoology, Biology, or related field with a minimum of 4 years of full-time experience.  At least two years of specialized experience caring for marine animals in a display or laboratory aquarium system and in maintaining those systems.

• Experience with animal training and public presentations. 

• This position requires schedule flexibility and weekends/holidays.

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to set standards for animal health monitoring, care, feeding, and enrichment.  

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to maintain life support systems.  

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to monitor water quality, inspect habitats for quality and condition, and remedy or suggest improvements to address deficiencies in these areas. 

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to oversee the day-to-day husbandry and life support system operations for all animals

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to ensure quality assurance and control for tasks critical to animal husbandry and life support - special duties in these areas will be assigned when the collection includes marine mammals.

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to provide health monitoring medical care for captive animals under the direction of the collection veterinarian.  

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to develop an animal acquisition plan and to execute it.

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to work closely with other staff on facility issues critical to maintaining animal health and visitor safety

• Knowledge, skill, and ability to provide visitor services (interpretive tours, presentations to groups, assisting with content development for NEFSC digital platforms, organizing and executing special events, assisting with interns and volunteers). 

Essential Conditions of Employment

• Hours and Location: Ability to work occasional overtime, with a flexible schedule in conjunction with events and opportunities supporting content development, and the ability to travel within the region as required to support content development

• Driver's License: Qualified and able to drive a government vehicle. 

Established in 2010, @Orchard LLC has an exceptional reputation, providing staffing solutions to time-sensitive, talent scarcity issues to deliver better talent management ROI.  Our specialty lies in the critical area of program talent acquisition and resource management, not in one narrow skillset, but across many areas of technical and functional delivery. To learn more about our other exciting opportunities, visit our Jobs Page at www.atOrchard.com.