Assistant Technician 1
Charles River LaboratoriesFor 70 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we’ll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.
Job Summary
At our world class facility in Elphinstone, Tranent (close to Edinburgh), our Formulation Services Department currently has an exciting career opportunity for an Assistant Technician.
Working as an Assistant Technician, you’ll join you’ll join a team responsible for the storage and control of test items and the preparation of formulations supporting safety assessment studies.
Duties and responsibilities include:-
- To perform tasks on specific studies as allocated
- To maintain all records in accordance with ALCOA+ principles.
- To conduct work in accordance with Study Plans (Protocols), SOPs, Formulation Process Documents, and the principles of Good Laboratory Practice and Good Clinical Practice.
- Communicating and working effectively as part of a team
- Liaising with internal and external customers
- Working to agreed deadlines
- Working on improvement initiatives for specific lab areas and processes
- Handling both radioactive and non radioactive test items in a safe manner in accordance with COSHH Risk Assessments
- To support the maintenance of equipment and the facility by performing routine tasks as allocated
Applicants should have:-
- A good attention to detail
- IT skills are essential, experience with excel, smartsheet or other databases is desirable
- Good communication skills are essential
- Experience in a customer service environment is desirable
- A driving licence or working towards this is desirable as there may be a requirement to move between sites.
Salary for this post is £23,842.35 per annum.
Closing date: 07 April 2026
About Safety Assessment
Charles River is committed to helping our partners expedite their preclinical drug development with exceptional safety assessment services, state-of-the-art facilities and expert regulatory guidance. From individual specialty toxicology and IND enabling studies to tailored packages and total laboratory support, our deeply experienced team can design and execute programs that anticipate challenges and avoid roadblocks for a smooth, efficient journey to market. Each year approximately 300 investigational new drug (IND) programs are conducted in our Safety Assessment facilities.
About Charles River
Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients’ clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.
With over 17,000 employees within 90 facilities in 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client’s unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world. And in 2019, revenue increased to $2.62 billion.
At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly supported the development of ~85% of the drugs approved by the FDA in 2019.