Admissions and Ambulance Team Leader

At The Lost Dogs’ Home, our vision is to give animals the best chance of a happy and healthy life. We care for lost dogs, cats and other companion animals, reunite pets with their families, find new homes for others and always seek the best possible outcome for every animal that comes into our care.

Join a purpose-led organisation where your leadership will directly support animal welfare, service excellence and stronger outcomes for councils, customers and the community.

We’re seeking a hands-on Ambulance and Admissions Team Leader to provide day-to-day leadership of our teams across North Melbourne and Cranbourne. Reporting into the Local Government Supervisor, you’ll oversee animal intake and transport operations, coordinating collection services across partner council municipalities to ensure responsive, safe and high-quality animal care and customer service.

Supporting a geographically dispersed team in a 24/7 service environment, you’ll take ownership of workforce planning and performance – including rostering, timesheets, leave administration, on-call support, coaching and performance management – while building a strong culture of animal welfare, safety, accountability and service delivery.

• Lead the Ambulance and Admissions operations across both sites, creating consistent workflows, effective handovers, clear communication and continuity of care.
• Coordinate with Customer Service Team Leaders to ensure shared and escalated cases receive timely, accurate communication and follow-up.
• Ensure every animal is promptly triaged and directed to an appropriate veterinary, behavioural, housing or care pathway.
• Maintain oversight of priorities, risks, ageing cases, follow-up actions and final outcomes, with complete and current animal files, case notes, admission details, identification records and council instructions.
• Conduct regular quality checks, address process or data issues and monitor service measures including triage quality, attendance, response times, roster effectiveness, record accuracy, case resolution and council feedback.
• Liaise with councils on collections, admissions, case status, complaints, documentation and operational matters, escalating complex, sensitive or high-risk cases appropriately.
• Manage day-to-day Ambulance fleet logistics, including vehicle allocation, readiness, equipment, cleaning, servicing, breakdowns and coordination with Facilities.
• Coordinate rosters, leave coverage, after-hours requirements, peak demand and unplanned absences, allocating work according to operational priorities, travel needs, animal welfare and team capability.
• Ensure employees are trained and competent to safely handle, restrain and transport animals; set clear expectations; provide regular feedback and on-the-job coaching; and complete annual performance reviews.
• Support employees through difficult customer interactions and sensitive animal-welfare situations while maintaining professional boundaries and safety.
• Participate in a rotating weekend roster—approximately one weekend in four—and an after-hours on-call roster, acting as an escalation point for incidents, complex cases and council matters.

You’re a capable, flexible, and people-focused leader who can motivate and develop teams across multiple sites and operating hours. You bring strong operational coordination and organisational skills, and you can confidently balance competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Your experience has given you sound knowledge of animal welfare, animal handling, transport and admission processes in a shelter, pound, veterinary or animal management setting. You also understand Victorian animal management legislation, local government pound requirements and relevant welfare standards and practices.

You build effective relationships with councils, customers, employees and external stakeholders, communicate with clarity and remain calm and professional when resolving conflict, managing complaints or making decisions in complex, sensitive or time-critical situations. Experience coordinating logistics, fleet activities and service-delivery workflows will help you succeed.

The role requires the physical capacity to lift 20 kilograms or more, a valid driver licence and a safe driving record. You’ll also be comfortable travelling between our sites and, occasionally, to other shelters or pounds.

If you’re ready to lead with purpose and support the provision of a high-quality service for the animals in our local communities, we’d love to hear from you.