Manager, Animal Adoptions - Animal Welfare Shelter

Humane Colorado•Denver, CO

4h•Onsite

About The Position

At Humane Colorado, we believe every animal and every person deserves care, dignity, and the opportunity to thrive together. In 2025, 13,920 animals found new homes or were reunited with their families through our adoption programs, each outcome made possible by thoughtful, compassionate work. We are seeking a Manager of Animal Adoptions to lead operations at the Leslie A. Malone Center. This role guides a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, ensuring every adoption experience is welcoming, supportive, and grounded in empathy. The Manager brings both heart and leadership, supporting people through meaningful moments, strengthening adoption practices, and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and care. This is an opportunity to lead with purpose and help shape the future of humane, community-centered adoptions. The purpose of this position is to directly lead, develop, oversee and evaluate the League’s Leslie A. Malone Center adoption programs to ensure an exceptional patron experience and effective process. The role also oversees and enhances the League’s pet supply retail activities, and creates and innovates best practices, working with the team to develop the future state of the adoptions and retail departments at the Malone Center.

Requirements

Ability to utilize effective problem solving/decision making skills
Able to demonstrate exceptional discretion, judgment, impartiality and confidentiality when dealing with personnel issues, financial issues and proprietary information.
Able to demonstrate high degree of independence, initiative and organization.
Able to maintain a professional appearance and exercise sound judgment during all interactions with the public, staff and volunteers.
Able to set goals, prioritize, delegate work and provide feedback to others to complete multiple tasks on or before deadline.
Proficient in Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
Strong organizational skills with high attention to detail
Willing to learn new tasks and able to become proficient in a short period.
High school diploma or equivalent.
At least 5 years of related work experience including leading the work of others and progressively complex project or program leadership responsibilities.
At least 3 years’ experience providing customer service.

Nice To Haves

Professional experience in an animal welfare organization/animal shelter
Experience creating and managing budgets
Experience leading and managing volunteers
General knowledge of animal sheltering software, Chameleon preferred

Responsibilities

Lead and direct the adoption functions, including pet supply retail store, to ensure the highest level of people care is delivered to League’s patrons, staff, volunteers, partners, donors, and vendors.
Ensure patron experiences are always compassionate.
Communicate with a diverse population in a consistently informative, confident, respectful and professional manner.
Assist with escalated patron issues when required.
Perform euthanasia and related tasks.
Perform shelter opening and closing duties as needed.
Work with and handle animal of varying species, size and temperament daily in a caring, safe and respectful manner.
Adhere to all League safety, training, and handling and transportation protocols in order to ensure that the Shelter environment is safe for animals, the public, volunteers and other employees.
Wear required personal protective clothing, identification and safety garments/equipment as defined by League policies and procedures.
Collaborate with League team members to balance competing priorities, create organizational alignment, support strategic planning, execute upon organizational initiatives, and ensure alignment with core values, vision and mission.
Participate in inter-departmental meetings and discussions to support and develop League initiatives.
Design, develop and implement department standards, work processes, systems and procedures for accomplishing work.
Develop SOPs and ensure they are updated, followed, and communicated with staff and volunteers.
Monitor and evaluate program and process effectiveness, including statistical analysis and report creation, and implement improvements.
Develop and fulfill realistic and ambitious departmental objectives and plans.
Ensure the highest level of people care is delivered to League patrons, staff, volunteers, partners, donors, and vendors.
Inform and monitor the departmental budgets.
Manage utilization of department resources to maximize the value, control expenses and minimize waste.
Manage daily operations by providing leadership and development to the staff.
Foster achievement of a common vision within and across teams.
Provide clear direction and priorities.
Ensure that roles and responsibilities are understood and carried out.
Motivate and mobilize staff to act.
Remove obstacles, coordinate work efforts when necessary and empower staff members within department.
Manage and ensure the proper utilization and integration of department volunteers.
Represent the organization internally and externally with integrity, serving as an ambassador of the League’s mission and brand.
Manage external partnerships and vendors to provide services as needed.
Oversee daily financial transactions.
Manages and develops an effective staff: providing effective communication, leadership, guidance and resources.
Determines staff qualifications and competency: recruits, interviews, selects, hires, trains, orients, mentors, evaluates, coaches, counsels, disciplines, and rewards.
Establishes and monitors staff safety and regulatory compliance.