Aquarist

Aquarist

Blue Planet Aquarium

Closing date for applications is: 15th Feb 2026

Position: Aquarist

Location: Blue Planet Aquarium, Ellesmere Port

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours of work: Full Time, 40 hours, 5/7 days

Salary: £25,396.80 per annum

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Aquarist with a passion for animals and animal conservation to join our zoological team at Blue Planet Aquarium. Here at the Blue Planet Aquarium, we welcome your creative input into our displays. You have a unique opportunity to add your personal touch and ideas to our ever-evolving exhibits.

Join the team at Blue Planet Aquarium where we offer visitors the chance to experience a huge collection of fish and herpetofauna, including one of Europe’s largest collection of sharks in a huge 3.8 million litre tank with one of the longest underwater viewing tunnels in the world!

Why work for us

Here at Aspro, we make sure our employees are well taken care of, we recognise that their hard work and dedication are the driving force behind our success, our work environment is built on mutual respect and professionalism. We have a team of highly knowledgeable individuals with the experience and technical expertise to ensure we are the best at what we do!

We’re looking for individuals who want to join the Aspro team and live our values of:

• Customer Service
• Honesty
• Respect
• Focus on Results
• Teamwork
• Personal development

What’s in it for you?

• Free entry into Blue Planet Aquarium for your friends and family
• Free entry to all Aspro UK attractions
• Staff discount in our food outlets
• Staff discount in our retail outlet
• Staff training & development via our All Aboard Scheme.
• Career progression opportunities
• On successful completion of probationary period, you will be entitled to a free shark dive experience at Blue Planet Aquarium or Deep Sea World.
• Working in a fun, diverse and inclusive environment
• Working for a recognised ‘Mindful Employer’ who is committed to improving employee’s wellbeing.

Duties/Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Aquarist will be varied, challenging but extremely rewarding. Reporting to the Senior Aquarist/ Curator, you will be responsible for ensuring highest standard of animal care and husbandry.

You will be responsible for maintaining and developing displays, including freshwater and marine exhibits, amphibians and reptiles, invertebrates, pelicans and our 3.8 million shark exhibits. You will ensure the highest standards of animal husbandry and continuously maintain and develop exhibits with enthusiasm, opening 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 along with the cleanliness and presentation of all our displays. You will ensure suitable diets and feed plans are in place for our creatures, as well as continuing to develop our excellent animal welfare across the aquarium.

Full job description is available at the interview stage.

Person Specification

Please note the following 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 Science or equivalent
• Animal Husbandry and Welfare Knowledge
• Good working knowledge of life support systems
• Zoo license and Standards of Modern Zoo Practise Knowledge
• Full UK Driving License
• Health and Safety knowledge
• Hands on approach to work
• Demonstrates Aspro values of quality of service, honesty, respect, focus on results, teamwork and personal development.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Positive ‘can do’ attitude

Desirable

• Experience in design, installation & maintenance of a variety of pump systems.
• Animal handling experience
• Experience with Amphibians, reptiles and birds.
• Experience in public speaking
• Carpentry experience

We are also here to sell fun, and this 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!

Equal Opportunities

Aspro UK are an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, and veteran or disability status.

Apply for this job:

How to Apply

If interested, please email your CV & covering letter to recruitment@asprouk.com 

This vacancy will close once a suitable candidate has been found, so don’t delay, apply today!