Animal Caretaker

Summary

The employee will serve as an Animal Caretaker assigned to the Veterinary Medical Unit (VMU), Research Service, location at the Veterans Affairs Nebraska-Western Iowa Healthcare System in Omaha, NE.

Duties

• NOTE: This is a TERM appointment (not-to-exceed 1 year and 1 day, may be extended up to 4 years). Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration (more than 1 year but not more than 4). Term employees are eligible to earn leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including health and life insurance, within-grade increases and Federal Employees Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage. Term appointments may be extended without further competition (up to the 4 year maximum). The appointment to a Term position does not confer eligibility for promotion or reassignment to other positions or the ability to be non-competitively converted to permanent employment. The primary purpose of this position is responsible for caring for all animal species used in the research. Duties may include but are not limited to: Performs basic animal husbandry duties necessary for the care and feeding and watering of laboratory animals. Cleans and disinfects animal cages, cage racks, sterilize cages, sterilize bedding. Assists in transporting, loading, or unloading cages, animals, supplies, as needed for the care of laboratory animals or conduct of research. Observes animals' appearance and activity for obvious signs of illness, disease, discontent, and their general physical condition; report observed signs of illness, disease, injury or unusual activity to VMU Supervisor and/or Animal Health Technician. Observes environmental conditions in assigned animal wards and reports deficiencies such as temperature, humidity, air exchange or lighting conditions to VMU lead caretaker or supervisor. Assists in setting animal room temperature, humidity, light cycle under direction of the VMU supervisor or with lead animal caretaker; charts temperature, humidity readings as necessary. Maintains accurate animal inventory sheets for every principal investigator who has animals in his/her assigned area. Maintains accurate animal inventory sheets for every principal investigator who has animals in his/her assigned area. Maintains supply and equipment inventories in assigned areas, and reports. Identifies laboratory animals' bye ear tags, ear notches, or tattoos as directed by VMU supervisor. Restrains and handles commonly used animal laboratory species using applied techniques in handling and restraint. Catches, handles, and maintains control of docile but agile animals. Determines which animal can be placed together and which one must be housed separately. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Duty days and hours will vary and includes some weekends and holidays. Schedule is determined by the supervisor based on the need of the service. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Qualifications

PHYSICAL EFFORT AND WORK CONDITIONS: The physical strength and manual dexterity to safely work with all species of animals, both wild and domestic, are required. Animal enclosures, including cages, vary in size from shoebox dimensions to the size of a moderate dining table, and can be heavy and quite bulky. The incumbent will be required to manipulate these items around a large cage washer and sterilization equipment, which also requires strength and dexterity to work safely. Varies from the aseptic, ideally controlled environment (such as that of the surgical suite) to that of excesses of temperature, humidity and poor air quality encountered in field conditions. Work in the rack/cage washing area involved exposure to high temperatures and humidity. The work environment includes exposure to allergens, humidity and odors in animal rooms and necropsy areas, exposure to exotic and zoonotic diseases, animal bites and scratches, and biological and carcinogenic hazards. (SCREEN-OUT) - Possess the ability to perform the duties of the Animal Caretaker without more than normal supervision. Qualifying experience includes: performing health examinations on animals; monitoring animals for changes in health and unusual behaviors; collecting biological specimens for laboratory examination (i.e. feces, urine, blood and microbiological specimens); handling and restraining animals; and cleaning, sanitizing and sterilizing animal enclosures and nutrition (food/water) equipment. (Experience must be detailed in your resume to receive full credit.) Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume. You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Dexterity and Safety Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Materials Measuring Instruments Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Pre-employment physical required Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/08/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13052051. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities (i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities), and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (202) 020-2020. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.