Animal Care Technician Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Animal Care Technicians are the foundation of everything we do for the animals in the care of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter. They see the most animals more often than any other team. Leading a team this essential to the shelter requires both a strong appreciation of sheltering and an ability to motivate and lead individuals into one cohesive and effective team.

An animal shelter is the most challenging combination of school, hospital, and jail and our resident's rely on the Animal Care Team to be a friendly compassionate face they see every day that provide care, feeding, and social contact to make their life a little less scary while the other teams work to find the animals a way home.

As Northern New Mexico's largest open admission animal shelter we care for several thousand animals a year each of whom needs a little help to get through the shelter system, even if that help is as simples as a bowl of food, fresh water, and comfortable place to sleep. But with a few hundred animals living with us at any given time it can be a challenging job to make sure each animal is getting what they need to succeed and find their way home.

A successful candidate will be able to manage a loud, sometimes confusing work environment, be on their feet for most of the day making sure every animal has what they need and every team member can show up as their best self to serve the people and animals of our community that depend on us to save lives. Details are key in an animal shelter when one ward needs hospital level PPE use to control disease spread and another ward has animals that may pose a danger to the staff providing care for them. Ability to communicate clearly in the written and spoken word is a must, with so many other teams depending on the information gathered and entered by the Animal Care Technicians to make good decisions.

Spanish bilingual skills are a big plus, if not the ideal candidate would need to show flexibility in working with a diverse team with widely varying levels of comfort with English.

Requirements:

  Job Requirements: 

• Regular attendance as scheduled, on time and ready to work.
• Schedule flexibility.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and duties, and effective time management. 
• Professional communication skills including ability to effectively communicate with internal and external customers/staff/patrons/volunteers.
• Ability to work independently and to carry out assignments to completion within parameters of instructions given and prescribed routines.
• Ability to use chemicals including but not limited to bleach, quaternary ammonium cleaning solutions (chemical used to kill bacteria, viruses and mold), stabilized hydrogen peroxide.
• Safe handling of animals including but not limited to cats/dogs/small mammals/rodents/rabbits/poultry/reptiles.
• Language Requirement: This position requires proficiency in both English and Spanish. Applicants must be able to read, write, and speak both languages fluently to effectively communicate with staff, clients, and community members.
• Purpose: Bilingual skills are essential to support our diverse workforce and community, ensuring that information, services, and communications are accessible in both languages. 

Physical Requirements: 

• Ability to safely and successfully perform the essential job functions.
• Must be able to lift and carry up to 50 lbs. 
• Must be able to talk, listen and speak clearly with co- workers/volunteers/customers.
• Walking, bending and twisting for as much as 8 to 10 hours per day.
• Must be able to be on your feet up to 4 hours at a time 8 to 10 hours per day.
• Must be able to tolerate odor, noise, allergens and cleaning chemicals.