Scientific Liaison – Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare Full-time NEW

Location: Remote, with occasional travel
Compensation: $50-150K USD (depending on skill and experience)
Commitment: Full-time
Organization: Breeding Genetics for Animal Welfare and Health
Timeline: Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis, so please apply as soon as possible

To see the full range of areas that we’re hiring in, visit this page. 

About the Role

We are seeking a motivated and experienced scientist to liaise with animal welfare and behavioral scientists, ethologists, and selective breeding companies. Together with these collaborators, you will play a crucial role in shaping breeding strategies to improve health and welfare among numerous animals, starting with shrimp and chickens.

You will engage deeply with researchers who study animal behavior as an indicator of affective states. You either have a nuanced understanding of the limitations and nuances of interpreting different behavioral assays, or can quickly assimilate this information from research papers and by corresponding with top scientists. You will use this knowledge to determine the best systems for studying behavior and assigning phenotypic profiles of animal stress. 

We are looking for someone capable of proactively making decisions and weighing complex tradeoffs in a transparent and systematic way with diverse stakeholders. This role will give you the opportunity to lead, and to apply your knowledge of animal behavior and welfare.

Key Responsibilities

• Synthesize and design ways to accurately phenotype animals based on behavioral signs of stress.
• Draw on your existing knowledge of animal behavioral assays and quickly assimilate new scientific literature.
• Proactively liaise with and lead discussions between scientific experts, colleagues, industry collaborators, and other stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with academic institutions, industry partners, and other relevant organizations.
• Draw on your experience, discussions, and literature reviews to make evidence-backed recommendations for behavioral assays that are appropriate for phenotyping animals in the context of agricultural breeding operations.

Qualifications

Note, these are ideal. Even if you do not meet all the criteria, we encourage you to apply if you believe you could excel in this role.

• Proactive, entrepreneurial, and self-starter attitude.
• Experience leading and coordinating teams.
• Relevant academic and/or industry experience in animal behavior, ethology, behavioral or affective neuroscience, animal welfare science, or a related discipline.
• Ability to evaluate the tradeoffs between different behavioral assays for welfare (e.g., conditioned place preference, gait scoring in poultry).
• Familiar with industrial conditions in selectively-bred farmed animals, especially shrimp and/or chickens.
• Comfortable driving progress on topics with incomplete or evolving evidence.
• Scientific integrity, alignment with our mission, openness to occasional travel, and ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.

About APRI

The Animal Pain Research Institute is a nonprofit organization advancing and translating scientific understanding of pain and distress into welfare improvements across species. We partner with industrial selective breeding programs to produce animals with improved health and welfare, with current projects in shrimp and chickens.

Tagged as: Life Sciences