Animal Rights Shelter Manager & Caretaker roles - Couples Welcome

Seeking experienced animal lovers (couples welcome) at a vegan animal sanctuary and animal rights nonprofit (501c3).

We currently have several onsite positions; we can combine or split responsibilities depending on your skill set; COUPLES WELCOME.

The roles are for a Shelter Manager and a Shelter Caretaker, but these roles can be job shared between couples or other flexible arrangements. This role could be undertaken in addition to part-time remote work. Typically, these roles involve a 5-hour, 5-day work week, although additional or off-hours are sometimes required. These roles are ON-SITE only.

Core duties

We have five workstreams to cover: animal care, shelter operations, programs, reporting, and engagement. Ideal hires will have competencies in at least 2-3 areas.

1) Animal care and wellbeing

You provide daily hands-on care across species. You prioritize safety, hygiene, and routine because the shelter runs best when animals feel predictable calm.

You monitor health and behavior changes early. You document what you see so the vet and leadership can make fast, informed decisions.

2) Shelter operations and management

You keep the shelter functioning even when things get chaotic. You schedule coverage, manage feeding plans, and coordinate with support staff so no one burns out.

You maintain an organized onsite system: inventory, routines, handover notes, and clear expectations. You build repeatable processes that are easily shared and followed on your days off.

You prepare the team for the 2026 shelter move by documenting workflows and reducing single points of failure.

• Scheduling onsite coverage and daily routines
• Coordination with support staff for animal care tasks
• Inventory tracking for food, cleaning supplies, and basic medical needs
• Creating and maintaining simple operating procedures

3) Programs

You help deliver VAAR’s frontline prevention and placement work as we scale into 2026. You do not just “care for animals”; you run repeatable, community-facing systems that reduce suffering at the source and move animals into safe homes faster.

You support four priority programs: Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Release (TNVR) for feral cats, a community rabies vaccination project, an adoption and foster pipeline for shelter dogs and cats, and vegan advocacy aligned with animal rights. You treat street animals with calm competence, and you respect that fieldwork sometimes looks messy, loud, and unpredictable.

You obtain and maintain the vaccinations needed for this work, including a rabies vaccine. You stay confident around dogs, cats, and street animals; you follow safety protocols and you do not take avoidable risks.

• Feral cat Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Release (TNVR): Assist with trapping logistics, recovery support, post-op monitoring notes, and release planning; support community communication so the work stays sustainable.
• Community rabies vaccination: Support safe handling, crowd control, recordkeeping, and follow-up notes; help build trust with locals through respectful, direct communication.
• Adoptions and fosters: Create adoption-ready profiles, track inquiries, support meet-and-greets, and help keep adopters engaged post-placement with quick check-ins and photo updates.
• Vegan advocacy: Participate in values-aligned outreach that is practical and culturally aware; support conversations and content that reinforce the organization’s non-speciesist stance without drifting into vague messaging.

4) Engagement

You capture compelling, respectful content that helps animals get adopted and keeps supporters engaged. You take photos and videos that show personality, progress, and care standards. You engage with social media comments and messages.

You're comfortable talking with members of the community about the organisation and occasionally soliciting donations from local shops for animal fundraisers.

You work within the reality of rescue; you document real life, not staged perfection. You keep content consistent, timely, and adoption-focused.

You maintain a basic content library so VAAR can post even during emergencies.

• Taking engaging photos and videos of rescue animals
• Writing short animal updates for adoption and donor communications
• Organizing media files so they’re usable by the rest of the team
• Supporting social media posting as assigned (depending on role split)
• Engaging with the local community on an as-needed basis

5) Reporting and admin support

You keep leadership informed through short, reliable reporting. You track our impact, noting what animals we've helped that week, health changes, intake needs, supply gaps, incident notes, adoptions, and fosters. You open files and close files and match before/after photos and update files when adoptees send us updates.

You help ensure readiness for the 2026 mass vaccination program and onsite safety procedures.

• Daily or weekly summary reporting (impact, animal health notes)
• Basic recordkeeping and file organization
• Email triage related to shelter operations
• Support planning for the 2026 vaccination program

Requirements

1. Experience: You have professional animal care experience in a rescue, shelter, sanctuary, or similar environment. You already understand the emotional load and the pace.
2. Resilience: You have lived and worked outside high-comfort environments; you can function calmly when conditions are stressful, unpredictable, or under-resourced. Ideally, experience working internationally in the Global South.
3. Judgment & Independence: You bring confidence and maturity. You can work independently onsite while coordinating with remote leadership and supporting staff. You bring solid judgment in high-stakes animal care situations.
4. Safety, health, and mobility: You will live onsite at the shelter in a private bedroom. You can handle quiet evenings and a home-based lifestyle most nights because animals require an onsite caretaker. You are physically fit, as animal care-taking is a physically demanding role. You can learn to drive a motorbike confidently, as this will be necessary for transporting you and sometimes animals. You must obtain a rabies vaccine because Vietnam is a high-rabies-risk country; no exceptions.
5. Cleanliness: You are tidy and consistent. You genuinely like cleaning and you take pride in a healthy environment, not because it looks good, but because it prevents disease outbreaks. You're not afraid of cleaning up animal poop - realistically, that's a big part of this job!
6. Temperament & Lifestyle Fit: You can handle long, quiet evenings at home. You prefer a steady routine over nightlife because the shelter needs stability. You're low-drama and a direct communicator. You can cope with “controlled chaos” and change. You stay solution-focused instead of spiraling.
7. Philosophy/Diet: We're a vegan, non-speciesist organisation; we strongly believe that eating beef is just as abhorrent as eating dog or cat, and we oppose it vocally. While we have a preference for vegan staff, it's not a firm requirement. However no animal products are allowed onsite. If you're not fully vegan, you'll still be able to happily live vegan on-site and advocate for a vegan lifestyle and philosophy.

Desirable Skills

1. Clinical and technical skills: You have veterinary nursing experience or medical handling experience. You can support wound care, medication routines, and observation notes in a disciplined way. You’ve supported vaccination clinics, sterilization programs, or community animal health projects before, which will help as VAAR scales vaccination work. Strong animal behavior handling skills.
2. Management depth: You have led staff schedules, created routines, trained new team members, or implemented systems that made a shelter run more smoothly. You can document processes clearly and improve workflows without over-complicating them.
3. Content and communications strength: You can shoot high-quality photos and video on a phone, understand basic lighting and composition, and you can write short, compelling updates. You have impeccable grammar and understand the difference between "we're," "were," and "where." You can handle social media comments professionally and stay on-message. Strong photo/video skills; basic editing. Copywriting skills. Social media experience (posting, engagement, moderation).
4. Eagerness to learn: You may not tick all the boxes, but you have an open mind, a passion for animals, and an eagerness to learn the ins-and-outs of animal rescue operations in Vietnam. You can contribute to brainstorming sessions but not be offended if your ideas don't stick.

Even if you don't hit all the requirements, if you feel like you'd be a great match, please still apply. Unfortunately, due to the high level of applications our posts receive, we'll only be responding to those we may interview. We're looking for someone to start ASAP - ideally before the end of January.

This is a tough, but rewarding job, and it's ideal for someone looking for hands-on, paid experience in the animal nonprofit sector.

Benefits:

5 day work week, 5 hour work days. Flexible working arrangements.

21 days paid holiday per year, motorbike, phone and petrol credit, plus visas and accommodations provided along with salary ($500 USD/month).

We’re excited to meet our new team member! Please apply with

CV and cover letter to info@vnanimalaid.org.

5 day work week, 5 hour work days. Flexible working arrangements.

21 days paid holiday per year.

Motorbike, phone and petrol credit, plus visas and accommodations provided along with salary.

Fluent in English