Vice President – Behavioral Rehabilitation Center

Vice President – Behavioral Rehabilitation Center

Requirements

• Highly effective people- and team-management abilities; can artfully flex management style to best support diverse individuals
• Exceptional leadership skills: demonstrates the ability to inspire a team and represent that team and the organization with confidence and professionalism when interacting with fellow leads and supervisors, Board members, donors and animal welfare colleagues
• Skilled at supervising, guiding and developing team leaders and people managers
• Excellent communication skills (spoken, telephone and written); able to interact successfully with different personalities and groups; has a talent for honing team communication systems
• Can guide others in effectively navigating conflict resolution; demonstrates skill as a mediator
• Ability to effectively design and lead meetings; can facilitate participation with tact
• Consistently maintains a positive attitude; has an uplifting effect on others
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, potentially stressful environment, working efficiently and calmly; can motivate a team to do the same
• Must be flexible and easily adapt to frequent changes to plans/protocols
• Always treats people and animals with care and respect; must be a compassionate animal advocate *and* have a genuine interest in leading and interacting with people; a ‘people person’
• Embodies the ‘team player’ spirit; demonstrated ability to build and maintain a united management team and a collaborative team overall
• Superior problem-solving abilities; relishes a challenge and loves to troubleshoot to find solutions
• Strong organizational and info-tracking skills
• The ability to work closely with behaviorally and medically compromised animals and feel comfortable working in an environment where humane euthanasia is performed on a regular basis
• The willingness and ability to travel 5–10% of work time in a year
• Fluent in Internet usage and in the use of MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• BS, BA or equivalent professional experience required
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience leading a large team and overseeing a multifaceted program
• Experience managing a budget required; 5 years experience managing a substantial, complex budget preferred
• Experience working as a leader in an animal shelter and thorough animal welfare knowledge required
• Experience working in an animal shelter supporting operations and administrative responsibilities preferred
• Meeting facilitation skills and experience strongly preferred
• Project management experience preferred
• CAWA designation is a plus
• Experience working with victims of animal cruelty (e.g., dogs from fighting cases, animals from hoarding situations) is a plus

Responsibilities

• Regularly evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of all BRC protocols to achieve programmatic and organizational goals
• Ensure that all staff are well-trained on BRC Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); lead the review and revision of SOPs on a regular basis and provide team-wide training on updates
• Ensure that the team understands, supports, and adheres to organization-wide protocols and tools, such as the ASPCA’s Employee Handbook and the Behavioral Sciences Team’s behavior alignment tools
• Maintain structured processes for making sound, objective, and timely animal pathway planning and outcome decisions; provide guidance to facilitate complex decision-making and related communication
• Oversee the growth BRC volunteer, foster, and direct adoption programs
• Lead the development of a yearly strategic plan for the BRC, as well as related individual goals for CRC staff members, to support the ASPCA’s short- and long-term goals
• Manage a substantial budget, overseeing exposure tracking systems; provide monthly budget projections for the Finance team; submit yearly BRC operating/capital budget requests to the VP, Rehabilitation Services and the SVP of Policy, Response and Engagement
• Give tours/presentations and provide images and video assets to share BRC work internally and externally; work closely with Media & Communications and Philanthropy
• Maintain relationships with professional partners and community representatives in North Carolina
• Approve media content; represent the team and organization by doing media interviews as needed
• Work with internal experts to oversee BRC facility maintenance, modifications, and repairs
• Foster a healthy team culture aligned with ASPCA Core Values; cultivate an environment in which staff commit to facing challenges as a team, assuming good intent, and helping their team members when in need
• Ensure that staff understand and support the BRC’s role in achieving ASPCA goals; help staff feel connected to the larger, org-wide ASPCA team and to the animal welfare field at large
• Supervise and manage the BRC’s Senior Director of Operations, Senior Director of Veterinary Services, Senior Director of Behavior Rehabilitation, and Administrative Manager; conduct regular one-on-one meetings with direct reports, career counseling sessions, and periodic skip-level meetings; conduct yearly reviews of direct reports to celebrate progress and encourage growth
• Ensure that all BRC supervisors use sound management practices and ASPCA developmental tools; provide coaching for BRC people managers
• Work closely with the Senior Directors and people managers to clearly articulate performance and workplace behavior expectations for all staff; ensure that all are held accountable for meeting expectations and are supported in doing so through timely, productive feedback from supervisors
• Disseminate complex, confidential, and sensitive information, such as humane euthanasia decisions, staff changes, and policy modifications, to the team
• Ensure that BRC team leadership and people managers model mutual respect for all areas of expertise, especially when priorities and perspectives don’t align
• Lead regular team meetings teambuilding opportunities
• Provide comprehensive, ongoing support for staff members to build resilience and combat the stress often experienced by those working in animal welfare; model and support team members in maintaining good work/life balance
• Partner with the ASPCA’s Talent Acquisition on workforce planning and oversee the recruitment, hiring, and onboarding of new team members
• Oversee staff continuing education and professional development
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with leaders of other ASPCA direct animal care teams, teams who provide centralized expertise/services, and other teams who serve as frequent BRC partners; collaborate to find productive connections among ASPCA teams’ work and participate in org-wide strategic initiatives
• Work closely with the VP of the ASPCA’s Learning Lab and facilitate the critical work of this team by hosting groups of learners at the BRC facility; ensure that all internal and external visitors feel welcome and that the Learning Lab team has needed resources (staff support, space, information, etc.)
• Serve as a Learning Lab subject matter expert, making connections with other animal welfare organizations’ leaders and participating in learning sessions
• Guide the BRC team to support critical research projects, including the Behavioral Sciences Team’s research initiatives
• Take on other duties and projects as assigned by the VP, Rehabilitation Services or SVP, Policy, Response and Engagement

Preferred Qualifications

• 5 years experience managing a substantial, complex budget preferred
• Experience working in an animal shelter supporting operations and administrative responsibilities preferred
• Meeting facilitation skills and experience strongly preferred
• Project management experience preferred
• CAWA designation is a plus
• Experience working with victims of animal cruelty (e.g., dogs from fighting cases, animals from hoarding situations) is a plus