Animal Welfare Associate

Description

Love working with people and care about animals?  Come 'do good' with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter!  Use your skills and passion to make a difference.  You need a job worth getting out of bed for, we need problems solved and people’s lives changed.  How about we start with yours? 

The Animal Welfare Associate serves as the front line desk associate for Santa Fe Animal Shelter’s lifesaving mission to create a compassionate, safe community for pets and people.  This role works independently with the public to find options to keep pets in the home and determine when we can or bring the animal into the shelter when there are no better options for the pet.  Animal Welfare Associates must be compassionate and nonjudgmental, demonstrating empathy while working with owners and being able focus on finding solutions instead of placing blame.

PRIMARY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY / ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Animal Welfare Associate

- Customer Service

- Case Management

- Data Entry

- Cash Handling

- Animal Handling

Animal Welfare Associates work closely with Animal Services personnel and other shelter departments, volunteers, customers, board members, vendors, and law enforcement personnel in a fast paced collaborative environment.

Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS

Education, Skills and Work Experience

- High School Diploma/GED or 5 years Customer Service experience.

- Tech-Savvy with understanding of social media platforms.

- Effective written and spoken communication skills.

- Critical thinking and problem-solving expertise

- Nonprofit, mission-driven, or animal welfare experience preferred but not required.

- Bilingual (Spanish) a plus

- An understanding that SFAS is a managed admissions facility and the euthanasia and cremation of animals are regular functions of the Shelter.

Physical Demands

The physical demands noted are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with physical limitations to perform the essential functions:

- Consistently required to transition from seated to standing, moving, and kneeling or crouching.

- Constantly required to speak and hear.

- Manual dexterity: Constant use of hands for grasping, reaching, typing and other operative tasks.

- Required to lift and/or carry an animate or stationary object of up to 50 pounds.

- The work environment exposes the employee to a noise level that is moderate to loud. The employee must be able to handle exposure to working conditions such as poor ventilation, heat, cold, sudden temperature changes, wet quarters, noise,

medical and surgical odors as well as animal odors and dander.

- Potential for exposure to zoonotic diseases, dangerous and fractious animals, hazardous chemicals, anesthetics, and sharp objects.

- The employee should be comfortable interacting with animals of various size, breed, and temperament.

- A valid New Mexico Driver’s license is required.