Customer Support Specialist

Customer Support Specialist

APA! BACKGROUND: Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) is one of Austins most dynamic and best-loved nonprofits. The organization is the leader in the no kill movement nationally and is considered a national thought leader in animal welfare. APA! locally rescues treats and adopts out 10000 homeless dogs and cats each year providing the safety net for Austins most at-risk shelter pets which helps Austin to be a no-kill city while also assisting other communities in saving homeless animals. The organization is distinguished by the scrappiness of its grassroots non-traditional community-based animal rescue work.

The organization continues to innovate best practices to save lives and teaches its renowned lifesaving model through American Pets Alive! APA!s national division. In 2020 AmPA! began the Human Animal Support Services (HASS) project a collaborative movement of more than 10000 animal welfare professionals working in nearly 1900 organizations. HASS is the first-of-its-kind collective of shelters and animal welfare professionals coming together to build community-focused animal services that better meet the needs of people and pets by keeping human-animal families together and keeping pets unnecessarily out of shelters.

BRIEF POSITION SUMMARY/OVERVIEW: This role is a unique opportunity to make a difference by supporting our community as the first point of contact and through ongoing hands-on program support. The position is evenly split between customer service and cross-team operations ensuring a welcoming solution-oriented experience for APA! visitors fosters and adopters while helping our Placement Nursery and Foster teams with essential daily tasks. If youre energized by variety and passionate about helping people and pets this role offers the best of both worlds.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Customer Service (50%)

• Greet visitors and provide a welcoming solution-focused first impression
• Answer and triage phone calls voicemails and emails ensuring timely and professional follow-up
• Use systems like WaitWhile and Vonage to manage check-ins
• Maintain the cleanliness organization and functionality of the front lobby.
• Provide basic information on APA!s adoption foster and volunteer programs escalating complex needs to the right team
• Track and report communication data (e.g. volume resolution times.)
• Create templates to streamline the work increase response time etc

Program Support (50%)

• Placement: Assist with matchmaking logistics adoption follow-up and contract organization. Act as a greeter process remote adoptions and support in scheduling appointments responding to applications and other duties as assigned.
• Virtual adoption: Process adoptions every day virtually.
• Foster: Help with foster pickups/drop-offs supply coordination and scheduling support.
• Nursery: Assist with placement duties data entry and communication-related to bottle babies and neonatal fosters.
• Nursery to Cat Program: Support graduation from neonatal to cat program.
• Volunteer: Utilize volunteers to support with daily duties.
• Provide flexible hands-on support to high-priority projects or events across teams as needed

Job duties may include some or all of the above and other duties as assigned by manager

OTHER FUNCTIONS:

• Attend and participate in all required training sessions and meetings
• Maintain open and consistent communication with Program Manager or designee supervisor and other colleagues
• Able to work in a high volume fast-paced high-stress environment
• Able to react to change productively and perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS SKILLS & EXPECTATIONS:

• At least 1 year of experience in a customer-facing role.
• Strong communication skillsclear friendly and solution-oriented
• Ability to multitask and stay calm in a high-volume dynamic environment
• Comfortable working independently and collaboratively across teams
• Proficient in Gmail Google Workspace and internet-based platforms; Shelterluv and WaitWhile experience a plus
• Bilingual in Spanish is strongly preferred
• Must be comfortable around animals and passionate about helping people and pets
• Must embody APA!s core values of innovation respect drive resourcefulness and inclusion
• Commitment to APA!s customer experience expectations
• Willing and committed to working well with volunteers and staff in all roles

PHYSICAL JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Prolonged periods of sitting standing and computer use
• Ability to lift up to 20 lbs and push/pull up to 50 lbs
• Must be able to work in a loud busy environment with frequent interruptions
• Visual observation of people and animals from up to 150 feet away
• If reasonable accommodations are requested reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job absent undue hardship to the organization.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• Indoor reception and office environment with regular exposure to animals
• Occasional outdoor tasks or offsite support during events
• Exposure to animal waste disinfectants noise and zoonotic diseases
• Potential for animal-related injury (scratches bites etc.)
• Occasional after-hours or weekend work may be required to support program needs

TIME COMMITMENT:

• This is a full-time nonexempt position with an average of 40 hours per week.
• Shift and schedule flexibility is required as weekly schedule is subject to change
• Able to work evenings weekends and holidays as needed

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: This position reports directly to Senior Foster & Adoption Support Program Manager or another individual designated by APA!.

LOCATION(S):

• APA! Main - Town Lake Animal Center 1156 West Cesar Chavez Austin TX 78703
• May travel to offsite locations as needed

BENEFITS:

Austin Pets Alive! is proud to offer a competitive benefits package for full-time employees including subsidized employer-sponsored medical coverage subsidized and voluntary life insurance voluntary dental vision and short-term disability options all effective the first day of employment. We also offer voluntary wellness and emergency sick plans up to 2% match on 401(K) retirement plan supplemental benefits flexible spending accounts and additional life coverage. Full-time employees receive 10 paid holidays and accrue 10 days paid time off during the first year of employment with an additional 5 days of PTO accrual upon completion of 12 months of employment. Employees will also receive professional development opportunities through APA!s ongoing mission to advance our animal welfare professionals in our life saving work.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND ACCOMMODATIONS STATEMENT

Austin Pets Alive! is an equal employment opportunity employer and we value having staff who come from communities that are most impacted by the issues we engage on. We especially encourage people of color LGBTQ people women transgender and gender non-conforming people and people with disabilities to apply.

Austin Pets Alive! does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race color religion sex national origin age disability veteran status marital status sexual orientation gender identity or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Austin Pets Alive! is committed to creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion respect and integrity community focus and innovation.

APA! is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the employment application process. To request an accommodation please contact Talent Acquisition at at least one week in advance of your interview.