Animal Care Assistant

Grade UE04:  £26,093 to 28,778 per annum pro rata

CMVM / Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

Part-Time: 28 hours per week

Open-ended (permanent)

The Opportunity:

Are you passionate about animal care and ready to make a real difference? This is a fantastic opportunity to become part of a leading veterinary and teaching hospital, where your work directly supports the health and wellbeing of a wide range of animals.

We’re proud of our dynamic and compassionate team of vets, nurses, and assistants—all united by a shared commitment to delivering exceptional patient care. Now, we’re looking for someone equally dedicated to join ourAnimal Care Team.

This is a hands-on, fast-paced position that plays a vital role in the care of our hospitalised patients. You’ll be involved in a variety of essential tasks, including:

• Cleaning and maintaining kennels, wards and clinical areas to the highest hygiene standards
• Supporting hospital’s infection control protocols
• Feeding and grooming inpatients
• Walking dogs and providing enrichment
• Assisting vets and nurses with procedures involving dogs, cats, and exotic species
• Managing laundry and general patient care duties

Shift Pattern

You’ll work a rolling pattern of 4 daytime shifts on (7:30am - 8:30pm) , followed by 8 days off, offering a consistent rhythm and a healthy work-life balance. You’ll be part of a supportive pod system, sharing annual leave cover equally with your two pod-mates.

Holiday Commitment

As part of the rota, you’ll also cover a fair share of public holidays, including over the Christmas period, if your shifts fall on those dates.

Training & Support

We offer a comprehensive 6–8 week training programme to help you settle into the role. You’ll normally shadow our friendly and experienced team during standard daytime hours (Monday–Friday, 8:30am–5:00pm) to build your confidence and skills. Any hours worked beyond your contracted time during training will be paid as overtime.

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• Experience working with animals in a veterinary setting is essential.  
• Ability to work alone as well as part of a team is essential.  
• Excellent communication skills are essential to this role.   
• Full, clean driving licence is essential. 

HfSA Staff benefits include: 

• Staff discount for pet treatment. 
• Amazing onsite perks: 
  • Staff discount for on-site gym and exercises classes https://www.ed.ac.uk/sport-exercise/gym-memberships 
  • Free car parking with electric car charging points https://www.ed.ac.uk/transport/driving/ev-charging 
  • Two on site canteens. 
  • Cycle to work scheme, on-site bike lockers and showers available. https://www.ed.ac.uk/transport/cycling/getting-a-bike/cycle-to-work 
• Additional shift cover opportunities are available, accruing paid overtime for additional hours worked. 
• Holiday entitlement of 36 days + 4 days public holiday per annum for full time staff (pro rata).

Click to view a copy of the full job description (opens new browser tab) 

Informal enquiries regarding this position can be emailed to [email protected]

Application Information 

Please ensure you include the following documents in your application:

• CV
• Cover letter

As a valued member of our team you can expect:  

• A competitive salary 
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. 
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page(opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits 

Championing equality, diversity and inclusion

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality. 

Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages(opens new browser tab)

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. International applicants will therefore be unable to apply for and secure a Skilled Worker visa. They will only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.
 

Key dates to note

The closing date for applications is 7th October 2025.
 

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.