Centre Manager

Contract: Full time, fixed term until 16th February 2027

Salary: £28,481 to £33,118 per annum

Location: Exeter, EX2 8ED

Closing date: Sunday 30th November 2025

Interview dates:

• 1st stage interview – Wednesday 10th December 2025
• 2nd stage discovery session – Tuesday 16th December 2025

Are you an experienced operational manager, who relishes a challenge, with a passion for pets and people?

We're recruiting a
Centre Manager
with strong leadership, organisational and communication skills to lead our
Devon rehoming advice and behaviour unit
in all pets, people, financial and compliance matters

This is a great time to join the Devon Centre, with the chance for a dynamic leader who can quickly adapt and bring their own experience to the role. This is a fixed term contract role until 16th February 2027.

More about the role

At our rehoming, advice & behaviour unit in Devon, our foster-based care and Home Direct Scheme ensures animals find loving homes without the stress of kennels. This means that we do not usually have pets staying onsite overnight and our roles may not include daily pet care, but no two days are ever the same.

As Centre Manager, you'll be responsible for all aspects of the Centre – pets, people, compliance and finances. Working closely with your Assistant Managers, you'll inspire and empower your team, embed a culture of continuous improvement and ensure the highest welfare standards.

This role is about leading people and delivering the strategy for the Devon centre. We have a skilled, passionate team, we need someone who can build great relationships and continue to meet the objectives of the centre.

For many, the centre will be the "public face" of Blue Cross so you will need to ensure that customer service is at the heart of every interaction. At Blue Cross we are ambitious, and the work carried out by our centres is key in achieving our strategy and ensuring that ultimately, we help more pets.

The standard hours for this role are 37.5 hours per week on a locally agreed rota to include weekends and bank holidays. The standard hours are 8:30 – 5 Monday – Friday, working 1 in 3 weekends (Sat and Sun), with flexibility where there is a business need.

About you

You will be an inspirational leader with a proven track record of motivating, developing and supporting people in a fast-paced environment. You'll bring strong operational and people management skills – able to set direction, take action and empower others to deliver improvements.

Alongside your leadership strengths, you'll also possess indepth knowledge of animal welfare and operational excellence from a similar environment. Confident and decisive, you'll balance the needs of pets, people, and resources to achieve outstanding results.

Resilient, empathetic and emotionally intelligent, you'll thrive on challenge and approach every situation with a positive, problem-solving mindset.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• Significant experience of successfully motivating, leading, and developing high performance teams, including setting clearly defined objectives, and managing performance in an animal welfare setting.
• Strong knowledge of animal welfare/care, ensuring operational excellence in a similar animal welfare environment.
• Experience of positively embracing and adapting to change by identifying, leading, and managing change in line with organisational objectives.
• Financially aware and numerate.
• Proven experience of working constructively and collaboratively with colleagues from different teams.
• Interpersonal and consultative skills, including the ability to communicate, present, negotiate, influence, and build credibility with colleagues and external parties.
• Experience of working in a commercial environment where the need to control costs and deliver high levels of service are important.
• Significant experience of working in an emotionally charged environment, showing empathy, and demonstrating resilience under pressure and dealing with distressed people and animals.
• The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values
• Current full driving licence.

How to apply

Click the apply button below and complete the online application process before the closing date on
Sunday 30th November.

The process will include:

• First stage interview and site tour – Wednesday 10th December 2025
• Online Discovery Session – Tuesday 16th December 2025
  . This will include scenario-based exercises and group discussions, giving you the chance to demonstrate your leadership style and approach to change while meeting colleagues.

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:

• Pro rata 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