Clinic to Placement Foster Coordinator

Austin Pets Alive•Austin, TX

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) is a nonprofit animal-welfare organization that rescues, treats, and adopts homeless dogs and cats, supports the No Kill movement, and shares its lifesaving model with other communities. Its Human Animal Support Services initiative promotes community-based support for people and pets. The Clinic to Placement Foster Coordinator advances APA!’s foster and placement programs, with a focus on medical foster recruitment and retention. The role develops and manages systems, programs, and volunteer support that help animals transition safely and efficiently from medical care into foster and adoptive homes. It supports APA!’s homes-first strategy and a sustainable, inclusive, volunteer-powered model for medical foster coordination. This is a hands-on, results-oriented position requiring organization, reliable follow-through, sound judgment, and collaboration with staff and volunteers. The coordinator helps recruit, onboard, train, guide, and recognize volunteers, while maintaining a welcoming and inclusive environment. The position is based across APA! locations in Austin, is hybrid, and may require travel to offsite locations. Schedule flexibility, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, is required. The role is supervised by the Foster & Adoption Support Program Manager or designee. It works closely with the Medical Clinic, Placement, Foster, and Behavior teams, the Marketing Department, and Intake. This full-time, exempt position averages 40 hours per week; weekly schedules may change. Work takes place primarily in an animal-shelter office environment, with some outdoor work and exposure to animals, animal waste, bites or scratches, contagious diseases, disinfectants and other chemicals, unpleasant odors, loud noises, and inclement weather. The job includes physical activity and animal handling, as well as prolonged periods of sitting and computer use. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as described in the posting. APA! offers a benefits package for full-time employees that includes subsidized employer-sponsored medical coverage; subsidized and voluntary life insurance; voluntary dental, vision, and short-term disability options; wellness and emergency sick plans; a 401(k) match of up to 2%; supplemental benefits; flexible spending accounts; additional life coverage; 10 paid holidays; paid time off; and professional development opportunities.

Requirements

1–3 years of experience in animal welfare, medical coordination, foster programs, or case management is preferred.
Commitment to APA!’s core values of Innovation, Respect, Drive, Resourcefulness, and Inclusion, and cultural values of Humble, Hungry, and Smart.
Commitment to APA!’s customer experience expectations and to delivering an exceptional, inclusive experience.
Strong commitment to volunteer engagement and support, and ability to work effectively with volunteers across roles.
Ability to work cross-functionally and serve as a liaison among volunteers, customers, and team members.
Effective written and verbal communication skills, including ability to interpret rules, procedures, and instructional materials.
Self-starter with strong time-management skills and ability to work independently and collaboratively.
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to maintain a calm, professional presence.
Strong attention to detail and high standards for quality.
Adaptability and ability to respond productively to change and perform related duties as needed.
Ability to work autonomously toward goals and deadlines in a fast-paced, high-volume, high-stress environment.
Ability to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed; shift and schedule flexibility is required.
Ability to lift 40–50 pounds on occasion; the posting also specifies lifting or carrying up to 30 pounds and pushing or pulling up to 50 pounds for moving supplies and event setup.
Ability to work around animals, including diseased, injured, or potentially aggressive animals, loud noises, chemicals, and inclement weather; comfortably interact with cats and dogs with varying health conditions, including animals with zoonotic diseases.
Ability to walk large dogs that pull or jump, remain on one’s feet for multiple hours, and move around shelter areas with uneven ground.
Ability to visually observe people and animals from up to 150 feet and hear normal speech nearby, shouting up to 150 feet away, and dog vocalizations.
Ability to sit for prolonged periods and work at a computer; walk, stand, talk, hear, stoop, bend, stretch, squat, kneel, grasp, grip, reach above and below shoulder level, and perform repetitive hand and neck movements.
Ability to pass the dog-handling training required for the position and focus in a loud, busy environment despite distractions.

Nice To Haves

Experience in animal welfare, medical coordination, foster programs, or case management (1–3 years preferred).

Responsibilities

Create and maintain standard operating procedures for medical clearance to foster, discharge documentation and disclaimers, team communication handoffs, and post-transfer follow-up.
Identify bottlenecks in clinic-to-placement and medical foster-to-adopter workflows and implement solutions.
Maintain an updated documentation library covering frequently asked questions and common medical needs.
Review animals with medical attributes or pre-adopt medical status and identify ways to move them through the system toward a final outcome more quickly.
Build and expand medical foster programs for post-surgical recovery, medical observation and treatment, infectious disease quarantine and treatment, and medical-behavior crossover cases.
Develop standardized discharge toolkits, including medication instructions, symptom tracking sheets, and escalation guidance, and ensure fosters understand expectations and support pathways.
Develop accessible medical education materials, including quick-reference guides, FAQs, videos, and online modules; maintain a centralized resource hub in conjunction with APATec.
Host medical foster recruitment sessions, hands-on training, and question-and-answer forums.
Recruit, onboard, and train volunteer medical support teams to assist with foster check-ins, symptom-log monitoring, supply coordination, escalation of urgent concerns, and medical foster recruitment and training.
Develop volunteer triage guidelines and role descriptions; track volunteer engagement and retention.
Create early placement leads for animals in medical care, recruit medical fosters, and work with Marketing to increase visibility of clinical foster needs.
Keep animals actively marketed during recovery when appropriate and support an efficient clinic-to-foster-to-adoption pipeline.
Track and report clinic length of stay; time and numbers of animals with medical attributes or pre-adopt medical status; time from hospital discharge readiness to foster placement; medical foster retention; adoption conversion; clinical placement returns; and medical escalation volume and type.
Identify trends in program data and recommend operational improvements.
Support discharge handoffs and foster consultations, troubleshoot medical foster concerns with clinic staff, and maintain an onsite presence as needed for clinic transitions.
Uphold APA!’s customer experience standards and provide an inclusive, welcoming experience for customers, volunteers, and colleagues.
Work alongside volunteers during shifts, share daily work collaboratively, support volunteer recruitment and onboarding, explain tasks, provide hands-on guidance and feedback, recognize contributions, and recommend volunteers for specialized roles when appropriate.
Maintain dependable performance, time management, sound judgment, communication, and collaboration; attend required training and meetings and perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

Subsidized employer-sponsored medical coverage, effective the first day of employment.
Subsidized and voluntary life insurance, effective the first day of employment.
Voluntary dental insurance.
Voluntary vision insurance.
Voluntary short-term disability options.
Voluntary wellness and emergency sick plans.
401(k) retirement plan with up to a 2% match.
Supplemental benefits.
Flexible spending accounts.
Additional life coverage.
10 paid holidays for full-time employees.
Accrual of 10 days of paid time off during the first year, with an additional 5 days of PTO accrual after 12 months of employment.
Professional development opportunities.