Research Technician - Surgical Support and Overnight Care (Spinal Cord Injury Research)

Location: hirify.global Hospital Site and hirify.global Animal Care Services facility, Vancouver, BC, Canada; occasional travel to the main lab at VGH is required.

Salary: $5,538.94–$6,497.44 CAD monthly

Company

hirify.global's International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries and Kwon Pre-clinical Group conduct translational spinal cord injury research through clinical and preclinical projects.

What you will do

• Perform complex surgical procedures on large-animal swine models, including surgical preparation, intraoperative technical support, tissue collection, and anesthetic monitoring.
• Lead acute and postoperative animal care, anesthetic recovery, veterinary nursing, treatments, and scheduled overnight monitoring.
• Make informed decisions about veterinary interventions and document animal health observations, welfare concerns, and unexpected outcomes.
• Operate advanced veterinary, monitoring, imaging, and research equipment, including fluoroscopy, in accordance with safety requirements.
• Collect and analyze spinal cord injury research data, process samples, and contribute subject-matter expertise to experimental and surgical protocol refinement.
• Train, mentor, and provide technical guidance to students, junior staff, and laboratory personnel.

Requirements

• University degree in a relevant discipline or technical program and at least four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience; some positions may require a graduate degree.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, set priorities, exercise sound judgment, and manage multiple concurrent research projects and deadlines.
• Ability to work flexible schedules including evenings, overnight shifts, weekends, and statutory holidays, including working alone under hirify.global policies.
• Ability to operate veterinary medical and research equipment independently, including anesthetic machines, monitoring devices, pumps, ventilators, autoclaves, and imaging modalities.
• Ability to handle research animals safely and work with laboratory reagents, research compounds, and chemicals under established protocols and safety requirements.
• Ability to lift up to 40 kg repeatedly, stand for long periods, perform repetitive bending, stooping, twisting, and turning, and meet the required manual, mobility, auditory, olfactory, and visual demands.
• Ability to work in humid environments with varying temperatures and continuous exposure to animal dander, odours, excreta, dust, and noise.
• Exceptional organizational, record-keeping, written, and verbal communication skills, including scientific writing and preparing figures, reports, presentations, manuscripts, and knowledge-translation materials.
• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives and commitment to developing knowledge and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Nice to have

• Registered Veterinary Technician designation and RLAT or RLATR CALAS certification; a DVM degree is an asset.
• Hands-on experience with complex large-animal surgical procedures, including laminectomy, spinal cord contusion, device and biomaterial implantation, vascular catheterization, and abdominal procedures.
• In-depth knowledge of veterinary best practices, CCAC guidelines, and ethical considerations in animal research.
• Experience with perioperative care, anesthesia monitoring, postoperative animal monitoring, and designing or refining complex surgical and experimental protocols.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time, grant-funded position beginning January 15, 2027, initially for one year with the possibility of extension; job end date is January 14, 2028.
• Work in a technically complex research environment with close collaboration among laboratory staff, graduate students, animal care technicians, clinical veterinarians, and national and international research teams.
• Work is governed by approved animal-care protocols, CCAC guidelines, and the hirify.global Animal Care Committee.
• The role offers a high degree of autonomy and responsibility for surgical support, animal welfare, technical precision, and research outcomes.