Shelter Medical Operations Manager

Job Purpose:

Reporting to the Chief Veterinary Officer, the Shelter Medical Operations Manager serves as the primary medical contact for shelter operations. This role ensures seamless integration of medical care across the shelter, providing leadership, compliance oversight, and hands-on support.

Success in this role requires strong medical expertise, operational leadership, and the ability to manage complex cases while fostering collaboration across departments.

Our Three Pillars

Lifesaving Programs: Our dedication to ensuring every pet finds a loving home drives us to continually enhance shelter processes and expand adoption efforts, ensuring no animal is left behind.

Animal Care and Well-being: We uphold a commitment to the highest standards of care for every animal, providing essential medical attention and enriching activities. Your support makes a lasting difference in the well-being of the pets in our care.

Community Engagement and Support: We continuously strengthen programs such as our pet pantry and build meaningful partnerships to keep pets and families together, working to reduce the need for shelter intervention.

Essential Functions:

Medical Leadership & Consultation

• Serve as the first-line medical consult for shelter cases.
• Provide guidance on diagnostics, and treatment plans as dictated in established protocols for shelter pets in the facility and in foster care.
• Act as liaison with the CVO for escalated cases and strategic medical decisions.

Operational Oversight

• Directly supervises Shelter Medical Technicians and ensures high standards of care.
• Coordinate medical operations between the clinic and shelter to optimize efficiency and outcomes.
• Supports and guides individualized pathway planning efforts to support positive outcomes for all animals.
• Alongside the CVO, establishes and maintains best practices for Shelter Medical operations.

Compliance & Governance

• Handle veterinary board communications and ensure compliance with state regulations.
• Oversee medication management, including ordering, inventory, and controlled substances.

Hands-On Support

• Act as a Shelter Medical Technician when needed to support team operations.
• Assists intake leads with medical cases
• Assist with complex medical cases and provide mentorship to veterinary staff.

Program Development & Training

• Develop and implement medical protocols for shelter operations.
• Train and mentor veterinary technicians, assistants and support staff on best practices in shelter medicine.
• Coordinate students with collaborating partners (Pima Community College, University of Arizona, and JTED) and ensure compliance with HSSA policies
• Hire, train, supervise, and mentor direct reports to foster a professional, skilled, and compassionate workforce.
• Develop training programs to support best practices.
• Promote an environment that prioritizes inclusivity, trauma-informed approaches, and staff resilience.

Community Engagement & Partnerships

• Build partnerships with rescue organizations, community groups, and service providers to enhance pathway planning and resource accessibility.
• Represent shelter initiatives at community events, conferences, and stakeholder meetings.

Budget Responsibilities

• Partner with CVO on shelter budget.
• Support team members to monitor expenses and revenue and adhere to approved budgets.
• Track and report programmatic data, including KPIs.

Other

• Represent HSSA in a professional and positive manner.
• Perform other duties as assigned

Working Conditions:

Work is performed in a shelter or community environment. Must be able to handle animals of various sizes and temperaments. Exposure to zoonotic diseases, loud noises, and outdoor weather conditions is common.

Work is performed in a clinic and shelter environment. Regular exposure to animals, odors, and noises. Requires standing, walking, bending, and lifting up to 50 lbs.

Full-time exempt role requiring consistent availability during core business hours. Flexibility for urgent medical needs or emergencies.

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts or working conditions or qualifications associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change, for example, emergencies, changes in personnel, workload, rush jobs, or technological breakdowns in departments.