Animal Care Specialist - SPCA Wake (Full-Time)

Animal Care Specialist
If you have a passion for working with animals and enjoy seeing goals met through daily scheduled activities, the Animal Care Specialist may be the most rewarding career journey of your life.

Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $21.00 per hour with scheduled salary increases at anniversary of hire date

Who We Are – Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Wake County (SPCA Wake)
Founded in 1967 in Raleigh, NC, SPCA Wake is a progressive and innovative private, non-profit animal welfare and sheltering organization. Our organizational core values are the foundation of a positive work culture that values employees just as much as our mission. We are committed to creating a better future for pets and people and we work hard to achieve our goals and offer a rewarding workplace. SPCA Wake provides competitive pay and excellent benefits (see below). Working at SPCA Wake is about more than just a paycheck, it’s about making a difference every day in the lives of pets and people.

With locations in Raleigh and Garner, SPCA Wake rescues, heals and adopts more than 4,000 pets annually and provides assistance to more than 30,000 families and individuals each year. We never place a time limit on how long cats, dogs and other pets stay at our shelter. Our vision is to create a humane community for pets and people. If you are looking to make an impact and to save lives, SPCA Wake is the perfect place for you.

Our Core Values:
1- Hell, Yeah!
2- Be Kind
3- Do What You Say
4- Forward Focused
5- Loose & Wiggly
6- Drop the Mic

Position Overview
As an Animal Care Specialist you (and your teammates) are responsible for the daily care and enrichment for shelter animals who are just entering our care or are waiting to be adopted. You will work with a dynamic assortment of volunteers and customers. The Animal Care Specialist improves the quality of life for homeless pets at SPCA Wake with training, feeding, exercise and socialization. The job is so much more than cleaning kennels, although there is a fair amount of that, to be honest. We practice fear-free animal handling at all times. Training is provided. While this is a front-line position, we don’t consider it an “entry level” position, as it takes some time to build the skills needed to excel for the betterment of the animals. One more thing -- you must be comfortable kneeling, crouching, reaching overhead and lifting, carrying, and pulling up to 50 lbs.

You might be a born Animal Care Specialist if:
• You’re equally comfortable talking to pets or people – you can communicate with either!
• You consider yourself to be a bit of a time management freak – you love nothing more than thinking about the most effective way to get your work done.
• You’re the first to notice when one of your, or your family’s, pets isn’t acting right and do something about it.
• You’ve never considered yourself only a “dog person” or a “cat person”; you’d snuggle up to any critter that would let you.

Required:

• Must love animals and care about people

• Previous professional animal handling experience

• Must be able to work a flexible schedule, including Saturdays and Sundays, some holidays

• Valid driver’s license (some animal transport van driving required)

• A high school diploma or equivalent

• Must be comfortable kneeling, crouching, reaching overhead and lifting, carrying, and pulling up to 50 lbs.

• Previous customer service experience

• Previous animal handling experience

Benefits:

• Medical and Dental: Employer pays 90% of employee coverage (full-time)
• Insurance includes wellness, dental, vision, life, mental health care, prescriptions, emergency & urgent care, chiropractic care, and physical therapy
• Telemedicine options, 24/7 access to virtual health & wellness care and virtual behavioral health care

PAID TIME OFF –

• All part-time and full-time staff receive paid time off.
• Paid Holidays - 9 paid holidays per year (full-time)
• Vacation Time - 10 paid vacation days per year (full-time) with scheduled increases at milestone anniversaries of hire date
• Sick Time - 6.5 paid sick days per year (full-time)

FINANCIAL –

• Healthcare: Flexible Spending Account
• 401k Plan
• Coastal Federal Credit Union Membership
• 20% discount on pet adoptions and in SPCA Wake retail store

OTHER –

• Bereavement time off 
• Federal & State Leave of Absence options

Only the most qualified candidates will be contacted for interviews. No phone calls or emails, please — we’ll have our people call your people!