A Northwest leader in protecting animals since 1967, the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) shelters homeless animals, rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife, and empowers people to demonstrate compassion and respect for animals in their daily lives.
Position Title: Animal Care Manager
Starting Wage: $28.00/hour
Purpose Summary:
To efficiently manage the daily care of dogs, puppies, cats and kittens at PAWS Lynnwood Companion Animal Shelter, maintaining high quality of care, supporting pathway planning for each animal’s journey, from intake to outcome, with an emphasis on minimizing length of stay and meeting each pet’s individual needs. Ensuring and providing safe animal handling training and support to direct care staff and volunteers, with a focus on safety and biosecurity measures, and providing high quality customer service, supporting PAWS mission.
VALUES
All employees and volunteers exemplify the values of PAWS and exhibit mindful demonstration of:
Commitment – A champion for animals no matter the difficulty.
Compassion – Acting to ease pain and distress.
Kindness – Demonstrating caring toward all living beings.
Respect – Welcoming to people of all backgrounds and identities.
Trust – Believing in the ability and positive intention of others.
Essential Responsibilities:
In accordance with organizational policies, duties include but are not limited to:
Personnel and Leadership
- Directly supervise the scheduling, daily activities and performance of direct animal care staff, including fill-in animal care staff. Maintain open lines of communication, collaboration and support of PAWS mission.
- Ensure animal care leads and direct care staff schedules accommodate best animal care coverage, focusing efforts on program advancement to add time dogs are exercised, receive kennel breaks and working towards solution-based efforts to improve time dogs are out of kennels, experiencing enrichment and receiving behavior and/or training work, while awaiting their new adoptive home, with the goal of a reduced length of stay at PAWS.
- Facilitate animal care staff meetings that promote effective communication and collaboration and.
- Attend bi-weekly care meetings and positively contribute towards progressive operating procedures in collaboration with the Sr. Director, Shelter Operations Manager, and various staff.
Training
- Oversee, develop, coordinate and implement direct animal care staff training program in collaboration with the Shelter Management team.
- Supervise, train and mentor volunteers, interns, seasonal, temporary or fill-in staff in collaboration with the broader shelter care team and Volunteer Program Manager, delegating and ensuring satisfactory completion of tasks for smooth shelter operations.
- Ensure animals are being handled in a manner that maximizes human and animal safety and adherence of protocols to minimize risk of contraction of zoonotic disease.
- Provide training opportunities and lead animal care staff to incorporate enrichment into their daily care routines.
Direct Animal Care and Facility Cleanliness
- Maintain efficient flow of animals through the facility. Oversee and move animals through the shelter in a timely manner and ensure that animal care needs are fulfilled safely and accurately. Performs day-to-day care of animals, guiding, directing and helping the ACL’s with optimum and efficient operations of daily care shifts to serve and support animal care and routine facility needs.
- Coordinate daily animal care at the shelter and provide daily care, cleaning, and enrichment needs to animals, overseeing daily care shifts consisting of staff, volunteers, interns and/or seasonals, and participating and collaborating in daily patient rounds. Ensure feeding schedules are adhered to, and other animal husbandry needs are met.
- Administer euthanasia when needed and support the animal care staff with pathway planning decisions and support post-euthanasia ensuring transparency and support with staff and volunteers. Coordinate the euthanasia of domestic animals, with the Shelter Operations Manager support, and provide staff that have received EBI training and certification, the proper follow-up training on euthanasia as situations present themselves.
- Closely monitor animals in our care and alert the veterinary team when an animal needs medical care administered and ensures patient is included in daily rounds and needs are recorded on vet log correctly and timely.
- Perform examinations and basic assessments on incoming shelter animals. Administer care and treatment according to PAWS policies and procedures and the PAWS shelter SOP’s and guidelines. Maintain animal care records and date entry of records in PetPoint.
- Work with animal care staff to maintain and ensure high quality of care standards; work with the shelter management team to develop and refine protocols and ensure shelter treatment plans are followed as prescribed including, but not limited to, nutritional aspects (diets and formulas fed), nursing and weaning schedules, housing, pre-adoption preparation, etc.
- Ensure kennels/housing, facilities, and areas around enclosures are cleaned and maintained daily, and protocols to minimize risk of disease transmission are adhered to.
- Revise protocols and procedures, remaining in line with and referring to and meeting the most recent edition of The Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters, 2nd Edition, for support in addition to other shelter resources and in collaboration with the Shelter Operations Manager and other shelter staff.
- Review prior year’s intakes and management of animals in the shelter with the Shelter Operations Manager and direct care staff troubleshooting problem areas and collaboratively revise direct animal care protocols in collaboration with the shelter staff.
- Responsible for the day-to-day quality of care of all animals housed at the PAWS Companion Animal Shelter (CAS), and care and handling of staff only or more challenging animals as needed.
- Oversee the direct care staff; ensuring ordering and inventory of supplies for animal care including safety equipment, chemicals, cleansers, food, cat litter and equipment are ordered in a timely manner.
Other Responsibilities Include:
Personnel and Leadership
- Work in conjunction with the People Experience Department and the Shelter Operations Manager to ensure proper recruitment, hiring, management and termination of direct report personnel, ensure professional growth, and assist direct report staff with personnel issues as needed.
- Be familiar and work collaboratively with the Shelter Operations Manager to ensure animal diets and direct care supplies are supplied and purchased within the approved annual budget.
- Lead and model excellent customer service from PAWS and ensuring direct care staff provide excellent customer service.
- In collaboration with shelter staff, solicit and process over-the-counter donations from the public and accept donations of goods or products from the public, completing in-kind paperwork. Actively respond to public enquiries and concerns about PAWS programs and services. Ensure that accurate information is given to PAWS visitors.
Training
- Support and collaborate with the Volunteer Program Manager to ensure training of volunteers handling dogs and cats is aligned with CAS shelter practices and volunteer program needs.
- Sync the volunteer and intern training program and the animal care programs together for efficiency and effectiveness in collaboration with the CAS Volunteer Program Manager.
- Collaborate with the Volunteer Program Manager to implement and coordinate the direct care intern training program working together on training materials and implementing training with care staff.
- Remain current and assist direct care staff’s awareness and use of new shelter care methods through literature review, attending conferences, meetings and workshops as directed and dependent on budget, and networking with the shelter community.
- Coordinate with all CAS Managers to provide appropriate training to staff and volunteers in handling following written SOPs and progressive positive reinforcement training methods.
Direct Animal Care and Facility Cleanliness
- Works collaboratively to support the Transfer and Partnership Coordinator to ensure animals are housed in the correct location at the shelter upon arrival.
- Works collaboratively with the Foster Care Manager on in-house kitten and puppy housing and to ensure quality of care is high and medical needs are prioritized, along with helping to maintain current and updated foster direct care SOP’s and manuals.
- In collaboration with the Shelter Operations Manager and Customer Service and Adoptions Manager evaluate and determine when individual animals are ready to become available for adoption.
- Work collaboratively in creating and revising animal care documents, SOPs and manuals as needed.
- Collaborate with the Customer Service and Adoptions Manager and adoptions team to make recommendations for successful placement of dogs and cats.
- Responsible for ensuring the proper cleaning, organization and safety of all animal care areas including the dog kennels, cat housing areas, receiving, isolation wards, dog visitation yards.
- Coordinates with shelter veterinarian and clinic staff on medical care and medical issues. Oversees the administration of vaccinations, medications and treatments of all companion animals as prescribed by the veterinarian or as provided in written policies and procedures. Coordinates with the medical staff to schedule spays/neuters and other surgeries as needed.
- Works with the shelter staff to ensure post-surgery recovery cages are clean and available.
- Provides animal care staff with transparency and information regarding the pathway planning of animals, and the decision making around euthanasia.
Miscellaneous
- Assists Sr. Director, Shelter Manager, and other members of the CAS management team in the creation of written policy and procedure manuals for all facets of shelter operations and animal care.
- Driving your own vehicle or a PAWS vehicle as needed for emergency vet visits, or other duties.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
Controls over Work
The Animal Care Manager is a member of the CAS Management Team and reports directly to the Shelter Manager and is expected to perform the established duties and essential functions without direct supervision.
Written performance evaluations will be given after the first 90-days work and annually thereafter.
Physical Requirements:
Ability to lift a minimum of forty (40) pounds. Work is performed both in and out of the shelter, which requires lifting, bending, stooping, pushing and other moderately strenuous activities. Must be able to sit or stand for long periods of time, including working at a computer.
Benefits:
Generous benefits available including health/vision/dental/long-term disability/life insurance for employees and their families, enrollment in 403(b) plan with employer contribution and match, paid time off (PTO) starting with accrual of up to 15 days annually, sick leave accrued on all hours worked, 10 paid holidays per year, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), pet supply discounts, and discounts for veterinary services at select veterinary clinics. PAWS is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness qualified employer.
Equal Employment Opportunity:
PAWS is an equal opportunity employer. PAWS employment decisions are made based on merit and business needs. PAWS is committed to recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting qualified people of all backgrounds, regardless of actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor. We celebrate the diversity of individual unique identity, perspectives, and experiences and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
We encourage ALL to apply.
All PAWS positions receive written performance evaluations after the first 90 days and annually thereafter.
Application process:
Upload your Cover Letter stating your qualifications and why you are interested in this position, your Resume, and complete the online Application.
(PAWS | Progressive Animal Welfare Society Job Posting | PAWS)
Only Complete Application Packets will receive consideration.
Applications received through April 9, 2025, will receive priority consideration.
Position Open Until Filled but may be closed at any time a qualified candidate is selected.
Note: Under the provisions of the Immigration and Reform Act of 1986, the successful candidate will be required to provide both evidence of identity and eligibility for employment.
All Offers of Employment are Conditional, based on successful completion of reference and background checks.
