Assistant Manager

Contract: Permanent, full time (37.5 hours per week)

Salary: £25,787 - £27,047 per annum

Location: Exeter, EX2 8ED

Closing date: Sunday 19th October 2025

Interview date: Monday 27th October 2025

We're recruiting an Assistant Manager – Offsite Services to lead and streamline our home-based pet operations in Devon

In this role, you'll ensure that every pet finds the perfect match with their new family as quickly as possible, while maintaining top-quality care for both our pets and clients throughout the entire adoption journey. Join us in making a difference, one pet at a time

More about the role

Our Devon centre has a wonderful group of dedicated people with varying skills that meld into one team with one mission: to help as many pets as possible. We help pets through our two main services, Home Direct and our fostering network of over 80 volunteer foster carers.

In this role, you'll play a key part in ensuring exceptional care for both pets and clients while making well-connected, efficient decisions that prioritise pet welfare. As the leader of our home-based pet operations, you'll oversee the smooth running of daily activities, acting as the subject matter expert in practical animal handling and assessment. Your goal will be to prepare pets for adoption as quickly and effectively as possible. You'll work closely with your team to ensure timely pet assessments, behaviour management, and training, while providing full support to foster carers.

You'll also be responsible for achieving pet-related targets, ensuring your team of Pet Welfare Assistants and Foster Coordinator's maintains the highest standards of animal care and adheres to national processes in case management. Since we don't have cattery or kennel facilities, innovation and teamwork are essential to address the most urgent cases effectively.

Motivating and managing your team is central to this role, enabling the centre to provide top-quality home-based pet care while helping your team develop professionally.

This is a full-time position, working 37.5 hours per week and you will be required to work 1 in 3 weekends.

About you

You'll be a great people manager, bringing finely honed skills from your experience in an animal-related environment, along with expert knowledge of pet welfare and care.

As a dynamic and innovative leader, you know how to inspire and motivate your team, driving continuous improvement. You'll lead a team of Pet Welfare Assistants, empowering them through effective management and coaching.

With excellent communication skills, you adapt your approach for different audiences, ensuring your message resonates. While juggling multiple tasks, you remain calm and organised, making confident decisions in high-pressure situations.

Your strong analytical skills enable you to monitor and evaluate effectively, implementing meaningful improvements. Rather than resting on your laurels, you'll have a genuine desire to enhance onsite facilities and services, actively engaging your team in the process.

Having worked in emotionally charged environments, you understand the importance of resilience and have excellent "bounce-back ability." Your emotional intelligence and empathy will shine as you support your team and the public, creating a compassionate and effective workplace.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• Significant experience in managing a team.
• Significant experience in delivering high level Customer service in a fast-paced environment.
• Significant subject matter expertise and application of pet welfare and handling of domestic animals
• High standard of verbal and written communication.
• Current full driving licence
• The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values

It would be great (but not essential) if you also had:

• Performance management and improvement experience.
• Experience working with volunteers.
• Understanding of safeguarding issues.

How to apply

Click the apply button below and complete the online application process before the closing date on
Sunday 19 October 2025.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.

Blue Cross benefits

Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.

In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.

Our generous benefits package includes:

• Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
• Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
• Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
• Health cash plan
• Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
• Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
• Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
• Life assurance
• 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Recognition scheme
• Annual volunteer days
• Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers

To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' page on our website.