Senior Director, Veterinary Services

Summary:

The Senior Director, Veterinary Services is a dual leadership role that combines primary responsibility for veterinary care, clinical case management, and cross-functional leadership at the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center (BRC) with meaningful responsibility for shelter medicine consultation, mentorship, and training through Shelter Medicine Services.

Who We Are

The ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center (BRC), located in Weaverville, NC, is dedicated to the rehabilitation and study of dogs with significant fear, anxiety, and under-socialization, including dogs from cruelty, puppy mill, hoarding, and other challenging circumstances. The BRC team works collaboratively to improve dogs’ quality of life and prepare them for adoption through intensive, structured behavioral interventions and integrated veterinary, behavioral, and operational care.

The Shelter Medicine Services (SMS) team improves the health and welfare of animals in shelters and communities by strategically applying expertise internally at the ASPCA and externally with key stakeholders. SMS supports the animal welfare field through consultation, training, educational resources, applied research, and strategic partnerships.

What You’ll Do

Approximately 70% of the role focuses on the BRC’s population of dogs undergoing behavior modification and rehabilitation, and approximately 30% focuses on applying shelter medicine expertise externally through consultation, training, and mentorship. The Senior Director, Veterinary Services’ primary focus is overseeing veterinary care for dogs at the BRC, ensuring that individual medical needs and population health considerations are integrated with behavioral rehabilitation goals. They oversee two Managers, Veterinary Services who support the daily medical care for dogs at the BRC. They partner closely with behavior and operations leaders to make thoughtful, transparent, and humane decisions that support dogs’ physical and behavioral well-being. The Senior Director also plays a key role in providing shelter medicine expertise to external animal welfare organizations through consultation and training of shelter and veterinary professionals.

To succeed in this role, the Senior Director must bring breadth and depth of shelter medicine clinical expertise in individual and population-level practice, strong interest and skill in animal behavior and low-stress handling, and the ability to collaborate across veterinary, behavior, operations, and shelter medicine teams. Success also requires excellent interpersonal, communication, leadership, mentoring, and critical thinking skills, along with enthusiasm for training shelter professionals and supporting practical implementation of high-quality animal care.

The Senior Director, Veterinary Services is in a matrixed reporting structure. This role reports directly to the Senior Vice President (SVP), Veterinary Medicine and also reports to the Vice President, BRC in a dotted line link. This position has two direct reports.

Where and When You’ll Work

This is an in-person position and reports to the Behavior Rehabilitation Center in Weaverville, NC

The role also requires the ability and willingness to travel up to 15% for shelter medicine consultation, training, deployments, and other ASPCA programmatic needs.

Working hours are generally Monday through Friday but vary due to events, travel, or programmatic needs. The Senior Director must have flexibility to sometimes work evenings, weekends, and holidays when needed. Schedules are subject to change as needed by the ASPCA.

What You’ll Get

Compensation

Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of factors, including but not limited to education, training, experience, location, business needs, internal equity, market demands or budgeted amount for the role. The target hiring range is for new hire offers only, and staff compensation may increase beyond the maximum hiring range based on performance over time. The maximum of the hiring range is reserved for candidates with the highest qualifications and relevant experience. The expected hiring salary range for this role is set forth below and may be modified in the future.

The target hiring range for this role is $150,000 - $158,000 annually for a Veterinarian who is not board-certified in Shelter Medicine Practice

The target hiring range for this role is $156,000 - $164,000 annually for a Veterinarian board-certified in Shelter Medicine Practice

Benefits

At the ASPCA, you don’t have to choose between your passion and making a living. Our comprehensive benefits package helps ensure you can live a rewarding life at work and at home. Our benefits include, but are not limited to:

Affordable health coverage, including medical, employer-paid dental and optional vision coverage

Flexible time off that includes vacation time, paid personal time, sick time, bereavement time, paid parental leave, and 10 company paid holidays that allows you even more flexibility to observe the days that mean the most to you

Competitive financial incentives and retirement savings, including a 401(k) plan with generous employer contributions — we match dollar-for-dollar up to 4% and provide an additional 4% contribution toward your future each year

Robust professional development opportunities, including classes, on-the-job training, coaching and mentorship with industry-leading peers, internal mobility, opportunities to support in the field and so much more

Responsibilities:

Responsibility buckets are listed in general order of importance. They include, but are not limited to:

BRC Leadership and Cross-Functional Partnership

Serve as a key member of the BRC leadership team, sharing accountability for the effectiveness and success of the BRC as a whole, and collaborating with behavior and operations leaders to support integrated care that considers dogs’ physical and behavioral well-being, quality of life, and readiness for adoption

Bring veterinary expertise to leadership decisions while considering behavioral, operational, resource, and broader organizational implications

Participate constructively in collective decision-making, working with colleagues to promote timely, consistent decisions, and support those decisions once made

Communicate directly, proactively, and transparently with leadership colleagues about information and developments affecting their teams or the broader BRC

Serve as a champion in times of change management and proactively assist in identifying ways to improve people, policies, and veterinary protocols

BRC Veterinary Program Leadership, Clinical Case Management, and Population Health

Oversee veterinary assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and clinical case management for dogs in the BRC’s care, integrating medical care with behavioral rehabilitation goals

Provide timely, high-quality, practical, compassionate, and cost-efficient veterinary care, including timely recognition of conditions requiring emergency or specialty care, in accordance with ASPCA protocols, shelter medicine principles, and best practices

Oversee the review of medical records for canine candidates for the BRC behavior modification program and liaise with transferring organizations’ veterinary teams to ensure dogs meet medical inclusion criteria before transport

Conduct daily rounds, collecting medical observations to inform treatment plans, the day’s priorities, and sharing observations and updates across teams in the appropriate meetings

Ensure individual patients and the population are assessed daily and that treatment, intervention, quarantine, isolation, and PPE recommendations are implemented in a timely manner

Oversee the use of psychotropic medications according to standard treatment protocols and consult with veterinary behaviorists as needed

Complete certificates of veterinary inspection, as appropriate, for transfer of animals betw