Job opportunities

Aquarist

Deep Sea World is Scotland’s National Aquarium and is a proud member of the Aspro Parks family with sister Aquariums Blue Planet Aquarium (Chester), Bristol Aquarium (Bristol), Tynemouth Aquarium (Tynemouth) and the Blue Reef Aquariums (Portsmouth, Newquay and Hastings).  Established in 1993, Deep Sea World is situated next to the UNESCO Forth Rail Bridge and has as over 100,000 tourists visit the Fife aquarium annually.

Duties/ Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Aquarist will be varied, at times challenging, but extremely rewarding. Reporting to the Displays Supervisor, you will be responsible for ensuring highest standard of animal care and husbandry.

You will be responsible for

• Maintaining and developing all displays, including freshwater and marine exhibits, amphibians and reptiles, invertebrates, seals and our 4.5 million litre shark exhibit.
• You will ensure the highest standards of animal husbandry.
• You will continuously maintain and develop exhibits with enthusiasm, operating with pace and vigour, employing Zoological strategies to display exhibits in a fun, educational and engaging manner whilst prioritising animal welfare and the objective of raising conservation awareness.
• Promoting public education and awareness in relation to conservation of biodiversity and delivering a memorable and entertaining experience to visitors.
• You’ll be responsible for the maintenance plans of the life support systems.
• You will ensure suitable diets and feed plans are in place for our creatures.

Full job description is available for those short listed for interview.

This post is full time, including weekend shifts and rota on call cover for emergency life support systems.

Person Specification

Please note the following essential criteria are required in order to be successful in gaining this post at recruitment and to be able to effectively undertake the duties required.

Essential

• Qualification in Marine Biology/Zoology/Ecology/Marine Sciences/ similar
• Animal husbandry and welfare knowledge
• Has good working knowledge of life support systems
• Experience in the design, installation, and maintenance of a wide variety of aquatic systems
• Zoo Licence and Standards of Modern Zoo Practice knowledge
• Health and Safety knowledge
• Hands on approach to work who is not afraid to get their hands dirty
• Imaginative- can make things happen!
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Problem-solving attitude with an eye for detail
• Positive “can do” attitude

Desirable

• Experience in the design, installation & maintenance of a variety of pump systems
• Experience with Reptiles & Amphibians
• Animal Handling Experience
• Plumbing experience
• Carpentry experience
• Fibre glassing experience with aquatic life systems
• Experience in PVC pipe work
• Experience in Public speaking

We are also here to sell fun, and this is what makes us so unique. So, if you have a passion to work in the leisure industry, can offer outstanding customer service to all our visitors and you aren’t afraid of hard work, then we may just have the job for you!