Vice President, Behavioral Rehabilitation Center

Summary:

You are a skilled, strong leader with a passion for cultivating a healthy, collaborative team culture. You love the idea of bringing animal welfare experts together to help the most at-risk animals in need. If so, the Vice President role at the ASPCA's Behavioral Rehabilitation Center may be the perfect fit for you.

The Behavioral Rehabilitation Center (BRC), just north of Asheville, NC, is a one-of-a-kind facility dedicated to recovery of fearful, undersocialized dogs, most with cruelty case backgrounds. At the BRC, a dedicated team of sheltering, veterinary and animal behavior experts work use an intensive rehabilitation program to improve dogs' quality of life and help prepare them for life in adoptive homes. In addition to this hands-on work, the BRC team partners closely with the ASPCA's Learning Lab to host learning experiences that promote behavioral healthcare in shelters through education and partnership.

The Vice President of the BRC manages four direct reports, leads a team of 31 total full-time staff, and oversees all operations, including daily care and enrichment, behavioral and medical assessment and treatment, pathway planning, foster and volunteer programs, and animal placement. This role requires a talent for fostering strong team cohesion to achieve mutual goals. To that end, the VP works to ensure excellent communication and cooperation among operations, behavior and medical staff, as well as with several other partnering ASPCA teams.

This position is located at the Behavioral Rehabilitation Center in Weaverville, NC. Candidates located elsewhere who will relocate within 3 months after hire will be considered. Relocation assistance will be provided.

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

Team Leadership & People Management

• 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 and 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

Cross-Team Collaboration and Other Responsibilities

• 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

Exemplifies the ASPCA's Core Values:

• Has Commitment and dedication to improving the lives of animals

• Demonstrates Ownership and feels responsible for outcomes

• Believes in Team – that we are stronger together

• Seeks to Elevate others and reimagine what is possible

• Focuses on Impact, specifically making change for animals

Qualifications:

• 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