The Arizona Animal Welfare League & SPCA (AAWL & SPCA) – the largest and oldest no-kill shelter in Arizona – is seeking a Foster Specialist with strong organizational, interpersonal and communications skills to assist the public with specific foster needs. We also are looking for someone with animal handling experience and a passion for helping the most vulnerable shelter animals. The Foster Specialist is expected to work collaboratively with staff from other departments and assist members of the public needing to surrender animals, including found neonates, or fostering animals.

We are seeking an individual who is empathetic, courteous, accommodating and professional, and who is able to communicate and work effectively with volunteers, staff, and the general public. The ideal applicant must know how to prioritize in a fast-paced, occasionally stressful environment and have animal care knowledge and have experience or the willingness and ability to learn evaluating animals according to organizational standards, blood draws, microchipping, deworming, vaccinating and referring animals to AAWL’s medical dept as needed. Foster Specialists must be able to lift up to 50lbs occasionally, be computer literate and cannot be allergic to dogs or cats and must provide safe, humane and compassionate care to all breeds/sizes of dogs and cats.

This is a full-time (40 hours/week) non-exempt position in Phoenix. Hours range from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. depending on scheduling needs. Some weekends are required.

Responsibilities

  • Work with partner organizations and other foster groups to evaluate and select neonates.
  • Respectfully and compassionately schedule and work with families surrendering animals.
  • Assess animals’ condition using provided guidelines, identifying animals that may need additional medical and behavioral care; accurately documenting periodic assessments.
  • Draw blood for tests, administer vaccines, flea & tick preventatives, dewormers, implant chips. Performs clinical laboratory procedures such as fecal flotation exams and fungal cultures.
  • Quickly and accurately data enter information to PetPoint; scheduling future services.
  • Perform animal care duties for animals staying in the foster building, keeping all animals safe, clean, fed and watered.
  • Communicate with foster families in a timely and professional manner, via email, phone or in person.
  • Assists other departments, staff, volunteers and members of the public as needed in a positive and compassionate manner.
  • Duties above are intended as a general guildeline of the various tasks that may be performed and are subject to change according to departmental needs.

Qualifications

  • 1 year of customer service work and experience handling animals other than your own.
  • 6 months of vet assistant or vet technician experience preferred.
  • Must exercise safe and humane animal handling at all times
  • Must be a people person and have strong interpersonal skills and enthusiasm for building professional relationships with the public, volunteers, and staff.
  • Knowledge of basic computer software like MS Word, Excel, Outlook.
  • Must be able to speak, read and write English; Bilingual Spanish speaker/translator helpful, but not required.
  • Ability to lift 50 pounds on occasion.
  • Ability to adapt to change and accept new duties within a fast-growing organization.
  • Ability to work with diverse individuals within the organization and broader community.

Requirements

Requires periodic sitting at a computer station with prolonged standing and walking. Use of personal computer, phone and general office equipment. Must be comfortable handling dogs and cats daily on a continuous basis. Will be exposed to disinfectant solutions and subject to bites and scratches while handling animals of questionable temperament. Requires normal range of hearing and eyesight to communicate with animals, the public, volunteers, and staff. Also requires flexibility to readily adapt to a fast-paced changing environment and the ability to work weekends and holidays.

To Apply for This Position

Please submit a resume, cover letter and three professional references (including their email, phone, and relationship to you) to Brandi Reinauer at: breinauer@aawl.org . In your subject line, please reference “Foster Specialist” in your email. No phone calls or walk-ins, please.

Employment Details

AAWL offers compensation that is commensurate with experience and competitive with animal welfare salaries. This position starts at $16.00/hr DOE and increases up to $18.51 post training. Benefits include employer-paid medical insurance, paid vacation/sick time off, and twelve paid holidays. This is a full-time, non-exempt.