Three Scientific Officers - Pigs, Poultry and Ruminants/Welfare Outcomes Assessment
Salary: £25,634 – £27,096 per annum
Location: RSPCA, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex
Closing Date: 27 July 2015
The RSPCA is the largest animal welfare charity in England and Wales. Our purpose as the RSPCA is to end cruelty and promote kindness to animals and to alleviate their suffering.
We are seeking to recruit three Scientific Officers committed to animal welfare to join the RSPCA Farm Animals Department. The posts will have a specific focus on either pigs (Ref: SO PIG), or poultry (Ref: SO PTY) or ruminant (Ref: SO RUM) species and will assist the continued development of the RSPCA’s welfare standards for these species, used within the Society’s farm assurance scheme Freedom Food and beyond. The posts entail a further general advisory, advocacy and communication role regarding welfare issues for the species concerned. The ruminants post will include general work concerning Welfare Outcomes Assessment (WOA) of farm animals.
Responsibilities include:
Contributing to the development of the RSPCA welfare standards for the relevant species, including liaison with and provision of scientific/technical advice and support to the Freedom Food scheme and its members.
Provision of scientific and technical input into specific projects, reports and campaigns, both externally and within the RSPCA.
Liaison with the farming and food industries, scientific research sector, UK and overseas governmental and non-governmental bodies.
Representation of the Society externally, including in the media.
Managing welfare assessment information (SO RUM post)
Skills and experience include:
Honours degree in a relevant discipline e.g. animal/agricultural/welfare science.
Good contemporary knowledge of farm animal welfare issues (particularly pigs or poultry) and of the UK livestock farming industry.
Practical experience of working with farm animals (ideally the relevant species); experience of working with/within the livestock industry would be advantageous.
Excellent communication skills and ability to write clear, concise reports for scientific and lay audiences.
Good organizational skills with the ability to prioritise workload.
The Pigs and Poultry posts are permanent, full-time positions; the ruminants/WOA post is initially for a two year fixed term period with the possibility of extension/permanency.
Closing date for completed applications: 27th July 2015
Interviews to take place: 25th August (SO PIG), 27th August (SO PTY) and 2nd September (SO RUM) 2015
For details and an application form please visit the careers section on our website: www.rspca.org.uk or write to: farm-animals@rspca.org.uk or Farm Animals Department, RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS. Please indicate which post you would be interested in applying for quoting the relevant reference code (SO PIG (pig post), SO PTY (poultry post) or SO RUM (ruminants/WOA post).
Promoting kindness and preventing cruelty to animals
The RSPCA offers excellent benefits including private healthcare, defined contribution pension scheme, childcare vouchers, employee assistance programme and a subsidised staff restaurant.
Charity registered in England and Wales, number 219099
We value diversity and encourage applications from all sections of the community