Dog Placement Specialist

CommonSpirit Health•Austin, TX

12d•$17 - $19•Onsite

About The Position

The Dog Placement Specialist helps clients find dogs suited to their homes and advocates for dogs who may be overlooked in a shelter environment. Using knowledge of individual dogs, behavior training, and animal rescue, the Specialist develops and supports initiatives to connect dogs with appropriate adopters and fosters and reduce length of stay, particularly for adult large-breed dogs. The position contributes to APA!’s goal of increasing live release rates across Texas through sustainable, inclusive adoption coordination. This is a full-time, nonexempt, hands-on role that reports to the Dog Placement Manager. The Specialist manages daily responsibilities with reliability and minimal oversight, collaborates across departments, and works alongside volunteers. The role includes welcoming, onboarding, guiding, and recognizing volunteers, as well as providing customer service and adoption guidance in person and through phone, text, and email. Work is normally performed onsite and may involve schedule flexibility, evenings, weekends, holidays, and travel to offsite locations. The position starts at $17.00 per hour. Eligible employees may receive a discretionary stipend of up to $2 per hour through successful completion of internal APATec certifications. Full-time employees are offered benefits including subsidized medical coverage, life insurance options, dental and vision options, short-term disability options, wellness and emergency sick plans, a 401(k) match, supplemental benefits, flexible spending accounts, paid holidays, paid time off, and professional development opportunities.

Requirements

Experience working with dogs and ability to safely handle large dogs.
Customer service experience.
Leadership experience or comparable experience.
Proficiency with email, word processing, and spreadsheets.
Availability to work weekends and holidays; evenings and holidays may also be required as needed.
Ability to work effectively with volunteers and staff in all roles and across teams.
Effective written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to interpret rules, procedures, and instructional materials.
Ability to manage time, work independently and collaboratively, and demonstrate dependability, accountability, reasoning, and sound judgment.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to maintain a calm, professional presence.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality.
Adaptability to new procedures and changing work needs.
Commitment to APA!’s core values, customer experience expectations, volunteer support, and inclusive service.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-volume, high-stress environment and remain focused amid distractions.
Ability to meet the physical demands of the position, including walking dogs that pull and jump, standing and working outdoors for extended periods, routinely lifting 40–50 pounds, and completing required dog-handling training.
Ability to work around animals, including potentially aggressive, diseased, or injured animals; animal waste, disinfectants, loud noises, and potential animal bites, scratches, and zoonotic disease exposure.

Nice To Haves

Experience in dog behavior training.
Bilingual English/Spanish skills.

Responsibilities

Partner with volunteers during shifts, foster an inclusive and welcoming environment, and help volunteers understand and complete tasks.
Support volunteer recruitment, onboarding, training, engagement, retention, recognition, and referrals for specialized roles.
Greet clients and provide attentive customer service throughout the shift in person and through text and phone communications.
Guide clients in selecting dogs suited to their homes and explain behavioral, training, and lower-level medical needs in accessible language.
Keep current on the behavioral and health information, training plans, and introduction plans for onsite dogs, as well as information on dogs in foster care.
Maintain accurate documents, compatibility scores, internal notes, and online dog profiles as new information becomes available.
Complete required adopter and foster paperwork accurately and educate adopters and fosters to support successful placements.
Develop personalized kennel cards and communicate with advocates and dog-walking volunteers about marketing notes for dogs.
Develop, implement, and maintain matchmaking initiatives to increase placements of adult large-breed dogs into adoptive and foster homes.
Conduct safe and productive dog introductions with clients and participate in hands-on training sessions with onsite dogs.
Learn and follow APA’s dog behavior training methods under the guidance of Behavior Team members, and demonstrate training and behavior-management methods to clients.
Respond professionally and promptly to client email inquiries about onsite dogs and matchmaking services.
Communicate across the matchmaking department and other departments to support efficient client service.
Participate in proactive outreach to potential adopters and fosters and assist with daily tracking of appointments and initiatives.
Manage priorities, maintain communication with supervisors and colleagues, 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 options, effective the first day of employment.
Voluntary dental and vision options, effective the first day of employment.
Voluntary short-term disability options, effective the first day of employment.
Voluntary wellness and emergency sick plans.
Up to 2% match on the 401(k) retirement plan.
Supplemental benefits and flexible spending accounts.
Additional life coverage.
10 paid holidays for full-time employees.
10 days of paid time off accrued during the first year, plus an additional 5 days of PTO accrual after 12 months of employment.
Professional development opportunities.
Eligible employees may receive a discretionary stipend of up to $2 per hour after completing internal APATec certifications.