Animal Health Officers (4 posts) - Animal and Plant Health Agency

The Company:

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is an Executive Agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with the capability and commitment to deliver a wide range of animal and public health and welfare policies for the UK.

Job description:

As a field-based Animal Health Officer (AHO) your duties will include, but not limited to the following:

• blood sampling of livestock species including cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry (after suitable training)
• collecting blood samples from bTB breakdown cattle herds, including suckler, beef and dairy herds
• conducting documentation inspections on animal identification, animal movement, breeding, medicine and other written or electronic records for audit and disease control and surveillance purposes
• collecting samples for National Surveillance Schemes including feed samples from farms, feed mills and feed merchants
• collecting samples and information for disease surveys
• managing compliance inspections for premises handling animal by-products e.g., rendering plants, composting sites, hunt kennels and knackers' yards
• playing an active part in contingency planning so the agency is able to respond to outbreaks of exotic notifiable disease and other emergencies
• undertaking allocated rostered out-of-hours on-call duties to deal with incidents and to support disease outbreak reports
• participating as directed, to contribute to the control and the eradication of the disease including taking part in rosters for detached duty to other parts of Great Britain during outbreaks of notifiable disease
• working with a diverse team, both locally and across Great Britain, including other technical colleagues, veterinary surgeons and scientists during notifiable disease outbreaks.

The Candidate:

We are looking for candidates with the following essential experience and skills:

• an agricultural background, an agricultural qualification or have knowledge of the agricultural industry
• high standards of written and spoken English and can communicate effectively about animal health topics with all stakeholders including customers, service users and colleagues
• knowledge of basic Health and Safety and an understanding of safe working on farms and with livestock and poultry
• able to work alone or as part of team, to take responsibility and remain positive and focused in the face of challenge
• experience with excellent record keeping, auditing processes and maintaining quality.

The Package:

Support and Training

• All successful candidates will be provided with an extensive programme of training and support as part of their induction into working with APHA. Some training will involve travel and overnight stays.
• APHA appreciates the varying level of experiences and skills successful candidates will hold on joining the agency. Training material is designed to ensure all new entrants, to APHA, build suitable confidence and competencies to deliver the work.
• New AHO staff will be part of regional, country and GB wide teams who will be provided with widespread support on all facets of APHA work.
• 28.7% employer contribution to the Civil Service pension scheme.

Further details can be found on the Civil Service jobs website.