Guide Dogs - Where Purpose and Paws Come Together
Come and join us as a motivated and thoughtful Dog Welfare Specialist and be part of something life‑changing - helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.
As a Dog Welfare Specialist at Guide Dogs, you’ll provide in-person support to guide dog owners and volunteers. The role promotes efficiency, effectiveness, and ethical practices, monitoring dog welfare in the community and working with local veterinary practices to ensure our dogs receive timely and appropriate treatment. The Dog Welfare Specialist will be an expert in dog welfare, veterinary case management, and canine health assessments. Our Dog Welfare Specialist will play a huge part in ensuring everything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.
For this role you’ll be working 35 hours per week, worked 9am to 5pm however there may be some working outside of core hours due to the nature of the role, Monday to Friday. This role will be primarily home based with frequent travel across geographic locations including Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and surrounding areas.
Key Responsibilities:
- As part of a regional team, assist in the operational delivery of all dog welfare services ensuring best practice.
- Collaborate with the Dog Triage and veterinary services teams to provide in person advice and practical support as appropriate to volunteers and clients within the designated geographical area.
- Adhering to prioritisation criteria carryout in-person welfare assessments, as directed by the Dog Welfare Operations Manager.
- Ensure relevant dog health records are maintained and up to date.
You’ll have an expert approach to dog welfare, veterinary case management, and canine health assessment. You’ll enjoy working in a collaborative, regional, and community-focused environment, with a dedicated focus on delivering high-quality welfare services, supporting evidence-based veterinary decisions, and improving outcomes for dogs, whilst being committed to providing the highest standards of dog welfare and care. You’ll act with integrity and honesty in everything you do.
Skills and Competencies:
- Vocational qualification specific to canine health and welfare to NVQ level 3 or equivalent.One of the following2 ‘A’ levels (one of which must be a biological or social science subject) (QCF level 3 / SQCF levels 6-7) equivalent qualifications, or experience.
- Able to meet the travel requirements of the role which involves transporting dogs. In the absence of a full valid UK Driving License, you will be expected to demonstrate how you will fulfil this aspect of the role via alternative means.
- Proven experience working with dogs within a professional environment and communicating with veterinary professionals.
- Proven understanding of canine health conditions and their management.
- Independent and able to make decisions/direct others based on own knowledge and experience.
We wouldn’t be able to change the lives of people with sight loss without our people. That’s why it’s important for us to provide a variety of benefits that reward our colleagues in a way that suits them and recognises the hard work and contribution that they make.
For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.
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Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Behind Every Guide Dog Is Someone Like You - We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates and values diversity. Bring your whole self to work regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it.
Further details on the full role are attached below. When you are ready to apply, submit an online application form via this page. Please note - If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier. We cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.
As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description. You will also be asked to complete a few job-specific questions, so please be prepared to write your answers to these questions.
If you choose to use AI tools to assist in completing your application, please use them appropriately. We value authenticity. If you want to stand out, using a generic AI-generated response isn’t going to separate you from the crowd. This is your time to shine and showcase your unique skills, personality, and thought processes! You can find our full statement on the use of AI to complete applications on our careers website.
If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, or require any accessibility support to apply, our friendly recruitment team is ready and waiting to help. Call them on 0118 3540345 or drop an email to [email protected].
Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.
At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.
