Animal Care Lead

PROGRESSIVE ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY•Lynnwood, WA

4d•$24 - $24•Onsite

About The Position

The Animal Care Lead oversees daily shelter operations related to animal welfare, ensuring high standards of care and well-being. This role provides coaching and training to staff and volunteers in key areas including feeding, medication administration, observation, and behavioral evaluation to support the animals' comfort, health, and enrichment. The Animal Care Lead also coordinates daily care routines and essential shelter tasks, leads volunteer meetings, and assigns responsibilities to ensure efficient and effective operations.

Requirements

High school graduate or equivalent preferred.
Minimum 6 months’ experience working with cats and dogs in a professional environment.
Minimum 3 months’ experience working with animals in a humane society, animal shelter or veterinary clinic.
Certification in FearFree™ sheltering methods, or able to achieve this training upon hire.
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.
Always communicate clearly and respectfully with staff, volunteers and members of the public.
Work cooperatively with people and communicate clearly about PAWS’ mission, the care and treatment of animals, and the safety of the public and other employees.
Must be able to always represent PAWS professionally.
Possess excellent interpersonal, organizational, written, and verbal communication skills and work effectively and respectfully with diverse groups of people and maintain high quality customer relations.
Ability to be organized and flexible, and balance concurrent projects while adjusting to rapid, changing needs.
Proficient with Microsoft Word, Outlook, and possess basic computer skills.
Fear-free handling and humane restraint
Capacity to work daily with companion animals and have a basic understanding of the needs and behavior of domestic cats and dogs.
Candidates must be able to lift a minimum of forty (40) pounds.
Work is performed both in and out of the shelter or Cat City adoption center 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.

Nice To Haves

More than a year of experience working with cats and dogs in a professional environment is strongly preferred.
Experience with PetPoint is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Oversee the delegation of cleaning tasks amongst staff and volunteers.
Responsible for making sure all animal housing areas are cleaned and prepared for opening.
Responsible for the coordination of daily care tasks amongst Animal Care Assistants and volunteers including but not limited to dog walking, cat kennel husbandry, post-surgery placements, incoming transfer placements, evening feeding, and more as required to provide care.
Process incoming animals that are stray, transferred from other shelters, or surrendered by owners. This includes, but is not limited to, performing physical and behavioral assessments, entering information into the database, and setting up animals in appropriate kennels or cages.
Confidently lead activities of and delegates tasks to volunteers and Animal Care Assistants during daily operations.
Oversees, guides and provides feedback to volunteers in day-to-day performance of their duties.
Responsible for training and overseeing the animal care volunteers on a daily basis, including hosting pre-shift meetings and tracking attendance and supervising the work of the volunteers.
Collaborating with the Volunteer Program Manager to assess the shelter volunteer operations, as well as efficiency and effectiveness of training, scheduling, and advancement of shelter volunteers.
Identifying scheduling challenges, volunteers who need additional support, and ways to improve and increase volunteer numbers and retention.
Completes daily animal care tasks in areas while coaching and training volunteers, including but not limited to feeding, dog walking, and kennel attending.
Make recommendations regarding the euthanasia of animals in care for behavioral and safety concerns, as well as for other quality of life concerns.
Administer vaccinations, medications and treatment for injuries or illness as prescribed by a veterinarian and provides general health care for animals.
Provide assistance to shelter managers with the evaluation of medical and behavioral needs of animals in the shelter by maintaining accurate records and status changes as required.
Under the direction of shelter managers, euthanizes or assists in euthanizing animals according to written policies and procedures using sodium pentobarbital.
Assisting the Adoptions team with meet and greets with potential adopters
Prepare accommodations and care for post-operative animals and prepares animal’s caging per pre-surgery Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
Oversee the hands-on training of new and existing volunteers in safe animal handling and proper care methods designed to reduce the stress of the companion animals in PAWS’ care.
Identifies and addresses issues with volunteer training or performance and works with the Programs Manager on issues of performance failure and lack of compliance with PAWS SOP’s and philosophy.
Performs dog-to-dog introductions for adoptions and behavior evaluations.
Attend weekly meetings with the Animal Care Team to provide status updates on animals and shelter needs.
Communicate closely and effectively with the Shelter Manager to keep up to date on shelter needs.
Driving may be required for emergency situations or for animal transport.
May be assigned other related duties as needed by the shelter managers.