Neonatal Placement Specialist

Neonatal Placement Specialist

Temporary 3-Month Assignment (with potential for permanent placement)

APA! BACKGROUND: Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) is one of Austin’s most dynamic and beloved nonprofits. The organization leads the No Kill movement nationally and is considered a national thought leader in animal welfare. APA! locally rescues, treats, and adopts out 10,000 homeless dogs and cats each year, providing the safety net for Austin’s most at-risk shelter pets, which helps Austin to be a No Kill city, while also assisting other communities in saving homeless animals. The organization is distinguished by its large volunteer workforce and the scrappiness of its grassroots and its non-traditional, community-based animal rescue work. 

The organization continues to innovate best practices to save lives and spreads its impact by offering resources and mentorship related to its renowned lifesaving model through American Pets Alive!, APA!’s national division. In 2020, American Pets Alive! began the Human Animal Support Services (HASS) - an innovative initiative aimed at rethinking the traditional model of animal sheltering. It focuses on supporting both people and pets in the community to reduce the number of animals entering shelters and improve outcomes for both. The project encourages collaboration between animal welfare organizations and community-based services, with a goal of providing personalized, proactive support that positions animal welfare as a social service.

BRIEF POSITION SUMMARY/OVERVIEW: 

The Neonatal Placement Specialist plays a key role in advancing the goals of APA!’s Neonatal Program, with a focus on neonatal kittens. This position contributes directly to APA!’s mission to increase the live release rate across Texas by supporting a sustainable, inclusive, and high-impact model for foster coordination.

The Neonatal Placement Specialist is responsible for managing their daily responsibilities, maintaining clear priorities, and delivering consistent, high-quality work that aligns with APA!’s values and goals. This includes staying organized, using data or feedback to inform decisions, and following through on key tasks and responsibilities with minimal oversight. This is a hands-on, mission-driven role focused on results, reliability, and teamwork.

APA! is a volunteer-powered organization, so every staff member is expected to work alongside and support volunteers. The Neonatal Placement Specialist collaborates closely with volunteers to complete day-to-day tasks, helps create a positive and inclusive environment, and actively contributes to a culture of shared effort and mutual respect.

This position may involve shift flexibility, weekend hours, and responsiveness during times of high need. 

Every individual at APA! is responsible for working in collaboration with volunteers; making sure volunteers are recruited, trained and feel impactful through their efforts at APA!. A core part of this role is creating a welcoming and empowering experience for volunteers, including assisting with onboarding, training, and volunteer engagement as part of the day-to-day workflow.

This is a temporary 3-month assignment, with the opportunity to transition into a long-term, permanent role based on performance and business needs.

To ensure continuity in high-quality care year-round, this role includes seasonal flexibility to work at APA!'s operations or administration programs during the neonatal off-season, supporting operations, broader veterinary technician needs, or as assigned.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Actively contribute to a volunteer-powered culture by partnering with volunteers during every shift and helping create an inclusive, welcoming environment
• Work alongside volunteers to complete daily tasks, ensuring the work is shared and collaborative—not siloed
• Support the recruitment and onboarding process by welcoming new volunteers and helping them get oriented to the program
• Help retain volunteers by offering encouragement, guidance, and feedback during shared work
• Recommend strong volunteers for deeper involvement or specialized roles to your supervisor or volunteer manager
• Contribute to a positive culture by recognizing volunteer contributions through appreciation, gratitude, and shoutouts
• Help set volunteers up for success by clearly explaining tasks, providing hands-on guidance, and offering in-the-moment support
• Work with the Intake Team to prioritize outside-shelter kittens, puppies, and maternity cats and dogs for foster
• Vet potential fosters to determine overall program eligibility
• Guide fosters through the application, training, and foster matchmaking process
• Maintain up-to-date records of all neonatal foster parents using the Monday.com database, the ShelterLuv database, and program-specific spreadsheets
• Maintain familiarity with the program’s most experienced and medically advanced fosters, including those able to take on emergency placements
• Maintain up-to-date records of all neonatal program animals in need of fosters, as well as those already placed in foster, using both the ShelterLuv database and program-specific spreadsheets
• Market Neonatal Program animals to fosters, including writing urgent pleas, photographing onsite animals, and reaching out to fosters directly via email, text, or phone
• Match potential fosters to specific animals based on foster interests and skill level
• Repurpose fosters for different animals based on priority placement deadlines and care needs
• Hand off neonatal program animals to foster parents, including arranging pick up & drop off timing, fulfilling supply requests, and explaining medications
• Work closely with other Placement Specialists to determine division of labor & delegation of tasks
• Maintain an onsite presence to handle onsite foster customer service experiences and assist in tasks relating to foster placements
• Provide excellent customer service to fosters via phone, text, email, and in person
• Train fosters both virtually and in person on feeding puppies and kittens and administering medications
• Assist Neonatal Care team as needed with administering medication, Neonatal Program animals, completing intake exams, and data entry
• Disinfect crates and carriers per nursery protocols and share in nursery upkeep
• Comply with the APA! Core Values.
• Job duties may include some or all of the above, and other duties as assigned by manager

In addition to the existing responsibilities:

• Flexibly transition to other programs as assigned, during the neonatal kitten off-season, to perform duties typical of related shelter or administrative programs, as assigned.
• Adapt to changing work locations based on organizational needs, including providing support for the APA! Medical Clinic, retail, Town Lake Animal Center, and other program areas.

OTHER FUNCTIONS:

• Must demonstrate dependability, accountability, time management, use of reasoning, and good judgment skills
• Attend and participate in all required training sessions and meetings
• Maintain open and consistent communication with Program Manager or designee, supervisor, and other colleagues
• Partner with Volunteer Managers to learn about the volunteer programs and support volunteers interested in your department on an ongoing basis
• Able to react to change productively and perform other related duties as assigned
• Able to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed
• Able to work in a high-volume, fast-paced, high-stress environment
• Comfortable working autonomously when given goals and deadlines

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, & EXPECTATIONS:

• Committed to embodying APA!’s Core Values: Innovation, Respect, Drive, Resourcefulness, and Inclusion and cultural values: Humble, Hungry, Smart
• Commitment to APA!'s customer experience expectations
• Passion for working well with staff, volunteers, and customers—helping all individuals feel successful, appreciated, and connected to APA!’s mission
• Strong commitment to volunteer engagement and support; dedicated to working well with volunteers across all roles
• Comfortable working cross-functionally and serving as a liaison between volunteers, customers, and team members
• Effective written and verbal communication skills; able to interpret rules, procedures, and instructional materials
• Self-starter with strong time management; able to work independently and collaboratively
• Excellent interpersonal skills; maintains a calm and professional presence in all situations
• Strong attention to detail and high standards for quality
• Adaptable to change and able to perform related duties as needed
• Dedicated to delivering an exceptional and inclusive customer experience

PHYSICAL JOB REQUIREMENTS 

• Must be able to work around animals (including diseased, injured, and/or potentially aggressive animals), loud noises, chlorine or other chemicals, and inclement weather
• Must be able to comfortably interact with cats/dogs of various health levels, including cats who may carry zoonotic diseases such as ringworm, scabies, intestinal parasites, etc.
• Able to be on your feet for multiple hours of the day                    
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Will sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, stoop, bend, stretch, squat, kneel, grasp, grip, put fingers together firmly and reach above and below shoulder level, lift and/or carry up to 40 pounds and push and pull up to 50 pounds for situations of moving supplies and setting up for events; repetitively use hands to operate computers; flex the neck upward and downward; twist the neck and the waist.  
• If reasonable accommodations are requested, reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship to the organization.

WORK ENVIRONMENT 

• Animal shelter office environment, with exposure to environmental conditions that include working with and near animals
• Uses own transportation to travel and transport
• Work is normally performed inside; some outside work is required
• Exposure to unpleasant odors and noises.
• Exposure to bites, scratches and animal waste
• Possible exposure to contagious diseases
• Rapid pace with exposure to potential hazards including animal waste, disinfectants, and high levels of noise
• Potential for animal bites and scratches and diseases that can be transmitted from animals to people
• Occasional after-hours, weekend and holiday work may be required to support program needs
• This role requires the ability to work at multiple locations, including the APA! Neonatal Nursery and APA! operations, as needed.

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TIME COMMITMENT: 

• This is a part-time, nonexempt position with up to 29 hours per week, based on business need
• Shift and schedule flexibility is required, as weekly schedule is subject to change
• Able to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed

PAY:

This position starts at $17.00/hr. Eligible employees will be able to receive up to $2/hr stipend within approximately 6 months through successful completion of internal APATec certifications (applicable to shelter operations, customer service, and medical roles). *Certifications and stipends are discretionary and subject to change based on business need.

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: This position reports directly to Senior Program Manager, or another individual designated by APA!.

LOCATION(S): 

• APA! Neonatal Nursery - 3102 Windsor Rd, Suite D Austin, TX 78703
• APA! Main - Town Lake Animal Center 1156 West Cesar Chavez Austin, TX 78703
• Hwy 290 Medical Clinic - 4942 W Hwy 290 Austin, TX 78735
• May travel to offsite locations as needed

BENEFITS:  

All employees are eligible for access to an Employee Assistance Program, Discounted Perks Programs, fully subsidized Pet Insurance and time off incentives.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND ACCOMMODATIONS STATEMENT

Austin Pets Alive! is an equal employment opportunity employer and we value having staff who come from communities that are most impacted by the issues we engage on. We especially encourage people of color, LGBTQ people, women, transgender and gender non-conforming people, and people with disabilities to apply. 

Austin Pets Alive! does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Austin Pets Alive! is committed to creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion, respect and integrity, community focus, and innovation.

APA! is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the employment application process. To request an accommodation, please contact Talent Acquisition at [email protected]  at least one week in advance of your interview.