Director of Animal Behavioral Rehabilitation (New York)

Location: New York City
Posted on: July 1, 2025

Job Description:

Summary: *This exciting position offers a unique opportunity to serve victims of cruelty and neglect in New York City and is open for non- veterinary Behavior Specialists or Veterinary Behaviorists who meet the qualifications. The Animal Recovery Center (ARC) and Canine Annex for Recovery and Enrichment (CARE) provide medical and behavioral interventions to recover and rehabilitate animals brought to the ASPCA by the NYPD and the ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) and Community Engagement (CE) programs and, when appropriate, prepares them for adoption or return to owner. Our dedicated team of more than 45 sheltering, medical, and animal behavior professionals work closely with the ASPCA Animal Hospital, Forensics, Legal Advocacy and Investigations, Behavioral Sciences, Shelter Medicine Services, Community Engagement, Centralized Placement, Recovery and Rehabilitation Center, and Adoption Center teams to ensure coordinated response and operations, and holistic, balanced, high quality care for the animals we serve. The Senior Director oversees the behavioral care and pathway planning for the ARC and CARE animals, ensuring the medical and behavioral health and welfare of our animals in collaboration with the medical and sheltering leaders. The Senior Director ensures an integrated, holistic approach to animal care that prioritizes the overall quality of life of the ARC and CARE animals. In collaboration with the Behavior Sciences team (BST), the Strategy and Research team and organization leadership, this unique position will also identify, lead, and facilitate ARC and CARE research projects, which are strategically selected to advance the ASPCA’s mission related to animal behavior and cruelty prevention. The Senior Director will identify key knowledge gaps and determine how best to fill those gaps related to addressing and treating behavior problems that affect the welfare of animals and may prevent adoption. The Senior Director of Behavior serves as a key member of the ARC and CARE leadership team, and the AAH, ARC, and CARE Senior Leadership Team, and will be integral to critically incorporating and monitoring science-based behavioral treatments for a population of approximately 100 dogs and cats. In addition, the Senior Director will foster strong relationships with medical and behavior team leaders across the organization for the advancement of the overall health of animals through research, application, and education, and will inform shelter programs across the country through sharing of research findings and best practices developed in our facilities. This position leads a team of nine behavior experts. Four Behavior Specialists, one Behavior Associate, and two Behavior Coordinators, and directly manages the Manager of Feline Behavior and the Manager of Behavior, ARC and CARE. *The shift is Mon-Fri (9-5) Responsibilities: Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to: Ensure High Quality, Low Stress Patient and Population Care (50%) - Ensure ARC and CARE provide high quality individualized care, considering the medical and behavioral needs of our patients while maintaining overall population health using shelter best practices. - Perform and ensure low stress handling for medical intakes and direct high-quality care for all new NYPD and CE cases admitted to AAH/ARC/CARE and in collaboration with partner departments for animals admitted to veterinary partner hospitals, and the Adoption Center. - Ensure appropriate behavioral support for all Foster Program animals and animals in transition to the Adoption Center. - Develop and oversee the skilled and efficient behavioral diagnosis and treatment plans following ARC/CARE/AAH and Adoption Center parameters and guidelines. - Lead Senior Managers and Managers in providing hands-on coaching for behavior staff to grow skills and ensure consistent, effective treatment. - Oversee the use of psychotropic medications in conjunction with nonpharmaceutical interventions, according to organizational policy and standard treatment protocols, thereby improving the behavioral health of our animals. - Support and assist with humane euthanasia planning for animals deemed unsuitable for placement, working closely with the behavior and medical teams to ensure a compassionate, low-stress procedure. - Serve on a panel with medical, behavior, and operations leaders to review cases and make weekly pathway planning decisions, taking into consideration animals’ physical and behavioral well-being, using organizationally approved tools developed to assess quality of life and readiness for adoption. - With other managers, communicate animals’ status changes to the entire team, explaining the rationale behind decisions with compassion and transparency. - Maintain regular and close communication with veterinary and behavior colleagues in other ASPCA programs. Actively partner with Shelter Medicine Services and the Behavioral Sciences Team staff to align recommendations and application of best practices across our work, including day-to-day operations. - Ensure the maintenance of thorough, high quality behavioral records, documenting all exam findings, test results, and treatments in organizational databases. - Support the Vice President in managing any adverse client, staff, or patient events appropriately and professionally. - Develop, disseminate and keep current the ARC and CARE Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and ensure their implementation. Facility-specific SOPs are developed in conjunction with BST or SMS to ensure best medical, sheltering, and behavioral practices. - Ensure all teams in ARC and CARE are proficient in low stress handling, either through Fear Free or Low Stress Handling – Silver certified. - Mentor the rotating veterinary interns. - Regularly review animals’ statuses, giving direction to the Behavior Specialists as necessary to ensure timely care and movement of animals through the ASPCA. - Provide a high level of customer service to external and internal clients. Manage, Coach and Collaborate (40%) - With the Vice President, nurture a culture of learning at the ARC and CARE, including ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment. - Cultivate strong relationships with the AAH, ARC, and CARE Senior Leadership Team, Behavioral Sciences Team, and the Adoption Center’s behavior team leaders to ensure best practices in behavioral health and welfare for animals in our care and promote education and training in behavior. - Practice and espouse positive, people-centric management approaches that are in line with team and organizational core values. - Set expectations and goals and provide consistent, high-quality feedback to direct reports, including regular 1:1s and quarterly feedback sessions to build strong relationships, provide clear direction, and encourage opportunities for development. Complete annual performance evaluations. - Support the recruitment, selection, hiring and onboarding process for new hires. - Teach, train and mentor the direct care team, veterinarians, behavior team, licensed veterinary technicians, and externs and interns. - Teach the team the reasons behind policies and practices so that they can make good decisions in carrying out their work and can teach volunteers and visitors effectively. - Model a standard of continual commitment to improvement in all aspects of ARC and CARE’s medical and behavioral programs, and handling of animals. - Handle employee-relations issues with confidentiality and care, ensuring compliance with any applicable collective-bargaining agreements; use active listening to understand employee concerns, encouraging and supporting employees to problem solve and create viable solutions. - Provide subject matter expertise on organizational protocols, policies, or position statements on the use of psychotropic medications for animals in shelters. - Collaborate with AAH, BST, SMS, HLE, Community Medicine, BRC, Adoption Center Directors and Vice Presidents in identifying and developing opportunities for shared knowledge and understanding as well as mutual ownership and enhanced teamwork throughout the program teams at our 91st and 92nd street operations and national programs to continuously evolve our programs and improve the lives of animals. - Always maintain adequate staffing levels; assign and/or re-assign appropriate responsibilities, as well as direct workflow, to maximize productivity and maintain coverage in the event of planned absences, call outs, injuries, increased volume, or other unforeseen needs. Ensure continuous coverage to ensure staff and animal safety. - Deploy with BST, Community Engagement, Community Medicine, National Field Response or Rehabilitation Services at least once per year (locally and nationally). Lead Research Projects and Share Knowledge (5%) - Collaborate in contribution to the organization’s Behavior Strategy Plan to drive the direction of the ASPCA’s research in animal shelter behavior and forensic behavior. - Identify and propose research projects with ARC/CARE animals that would advance the fields of forensic science and animal welfare. - Contribute to develop clear goals, timelines, data collection and analysis processes for identified resear

Keywords: , Mount Vernon , Director of Animal Behavioral Rehabilitation (New York), Healthcare , New York City, New York