SoTalent

Vice President, Cruelty Recovery Center

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Working Pattern: On-Site

Salary: $160,000 – $175,000 + Comprehensive Benefits

Are you an inspirational operational leader with a passion for animal welfare, team development and driving meaningful impact?

An exceptional opportunity has arisen for a Vice President, Cruelty Recovery Center to lead a nationally recognised animal welfare operation dedicated to caring for animals rescued from cruelty investigations, natural disasters and emergency situations.

This highly visible leadership role combines strategic planning, operational excellence and people leadership, overseeing a large multidisciplinary team responsible for delivering outstanding care and outcomes for vulnerable animals.

The Opportunity

As Vice President, you will lead a major sheltering and rehabilitation operation, ensuring the highest standards of animal care while building a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.

You'll work closely with veterinary, behavioural and operational leaders to deliver integrated care programmes, strengthen community engagement and ensure the organisation remains ready to respond to large-scale animal welfare emergencies.

This is an opportunity to shape the future of animal welfare while leading a highly committed and mission-driven team.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Provide strategic direction and leadership for shelter operations
• Develop and implement long-term operational plans and objectives
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across animal care, shelter operations and community engagement
• Ensure compliance with animal welfare regulations, policies and industry standards
• Lead operational planning for cruelty investigations, disaster response and emergency sheltering programmes

Operational Management

• Oversee day-to-day operations of a large-scale animal care facility
• Manage budgets, resources and operational performance
• Monitor key performance indicators and use data to drive decision-making
• Ensure effective coordination across sheltering, veterinary and behavioural teams
• Support emergency response operations and temporary field shelter deployments

People Leadership

• Lead, mentor and develop a large multidisciplinary workforce
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive and high-performing culture
• Drive employee engagement, wellbeing and professional development
• Support leadership succession planning and talent development
• Build strong cross-functional relationships across the organisation

Community & Stakeholder Engagement

• Strengthen relationships with community partners and stakeholders
• Increase adoption, foster and volunteer participation programmes
• Represent the organisation at industry events, conferences and public forums
• Promote innovation and best practice within the animal welfare sector

About You

We're looking for a compassionate and strategic leader who combines operational expertise with outstanding people leadership skills.

You'll ideally bring:

• Significant experience leading large teams and complex programmes
• Strong experience managing substantial operational budgets
• Proven success driving organisational change and operational improvement
• Excellent leadership, coaching and team development capabilities
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management experience
• Experience managing multiple priorities in fast-paced environments
• High levels of integrity, professionalism and emotional intelligence

Highly desirable experience includes:

• Animal shelter operations
• Animal welfare or non-profit leadership
• Disaster response or emergency operations
• Volunteer and community programme development
• Project and programme management
• CAWA certification

What's on Offer?

• Competitive salary of $160,000 – $175,000
• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage
• Generous paid time off and parental leave
• 401(k) with employer contributions
• Professional development and leadership training opportunities
• Meaningful work supporting a nationally recognised mission
• Opportunity to influence the future of animal welfare and emergency response operations

If you're a purpose-driven leader looking to make a lasting impact on animal welfare while leading a talented and passionate team, we'd love to hear from you.