Foster Coordinator

Blue Cross For Pets; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 20,000 - 22,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

38 days holiday (incl. bank holidays)

Wellbeing support programmes

GP access via MetLife

Health cash plan

Pension scheme

CPD and personal development support

Life assurance

Pet insurance discount

Employee discounts

Volunteer days

Job summary

Blue Cross is seeking a part-time Foster Coordinator to join the Rehoming & Fostering Services team in Greater Manchester. You will recruit and support a network of volunteer foster carers, coordinating with the Adoptions Coordinator to monitor capacity and fosterers' needs.

You will build partnerships with local communities, promote fostering, and ensure caring environments for animals while maintaining strong communication with volunteers. The role is 30 hours per week on a 3-week rota.

Qualifications

• Supervise volunteers and manage a network of remote foster carers.
• Experience in an animal welfare environment.
• Experience running recruitment campaigns for volunteers.
• Experience engaging local communities and promoting volunteering opportunities.
• Strong interviewing and recruitment capabilities.
• Deliver high-quality service with minimal supervision.

Responsibilities

• Recruit and support a diverse team of volunteer foster carers.
• Coordinate with the Adoptions Coordinator on capacity and needs.
• Promote fostering to local communities and partners.
• Maintain a robust foster network and ensure timely placements.
• Manage interactions with fosterers to provide a safe environment for animals awaiting homes.
• Work on a 3-week rota across 30 hours per week.

Skills

Volunteer supervision

Animal welfare experience

Volunteer recruitment

Community partnerships

Interviewing skills

Client-focused service

Coordination & planning

Driving licence

Job description

Foster Coordinator

Application Deadline: 10 September 2026

Department: Rehoming & Fostering Services

Employment Type: Permanent - Part Time

Location: Manchester

Reporting To: Assistant Manager Off-site Services

Compensation: £19,980 - £22,114 / year

Description

Contract: Permanent, 30 hours per week

Salary: £19,980 - £22,114 pro rata (£24,976 - £27,643 FTE)

Location: Radcliffe, M26 1NQ

Closing date: 10/09/2026

Interview date: 18/09/2026

We're recruiting a pet Foster Coordinator for our Rehoming & Fostering team at our Greater Manchester rehoming, advice and behaviour unit!

Our Foster Coordinators recruit and support a network of wonderful local volunteers who provide loving temporary homes for animals in our care, while our teams work to find each one a forever home.

More about the role

Our pet fostering service plays a crucial role in our rehoming process, aligning with our strategy to expand services and assist more pets. As a Foster Coordinator, your key responsibilities involve recruiting and guiding a diverse team of volunteer fosterers. Collaborating closely with the Adoptions Coordinator, you will stay informed about the current capacity and skills of fosterers, as well as available homes.

Additionally, your role extends to establishing connections with local communities and partners, actively promoting the advantages of fostering to gather more targeted support. While maintaining a robust rehoming service is a priority, we equally value the fostering experience. Your focus will be on ensuring excellent interactions with our fosterers, offering support as they provide a safe and nurturing environment for pets awaiting their permanent homes and during times of crisis care.

This is a part time role, working 30 hours per week over a 3 week rota;

Week 1: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Week 2: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Week 3: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

If you excel in an environment where you can see the difference you make every day, then this is the role for you. Interested? Then apply and let’s work together to see if this is the role for you.

About you

You will be an excellent communicator, approachable with strong interpersonal skills and be able to communicate with people on all levels. You will have managed a team of remote volunteers previously and understand the special nature of this relationship, being able to offer guidance and advice on all areas of the volunteering relationship.

With the ability to work collaboratively and effectively with people at all levels, you will have a passion for ensuring that volunteers have the right opportunities to thrive in their roles.

Building a solid and reliable bank of fosterers is absolutely key to this role so you will have experience in marketing volunteer opportunities, delivering local recruitment campaigns and supporting the fosterers to ensure we maintain good numbers of this valuable resource and that we retain people. To do this you will be self-motivated, a forward thinker with a collaborative and creative approach to your work, which will ensure to bring your best pragmatic ideas for the care of the pets and management of our fosterers to ensure the best outcome is achieved.

You will know what it is like to work in an emotionally charged environment and have excellent 'bounce back ability' and resilience. In addition, you will be emotionally intelligent, showing empathy and knowing how to support clients and colleagues.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• Demonstrable experience of supervision or management of volunteers.
• Experience of having worked in an animal welfare environment.
• Good experience of running and marketing recruitment campaigns for volunteer roles.
• Experience of working with local communities and promoting volunteer opportunities
• Good interviewing and recruitment skills
• Experience of working to a high level with minimal supervision.
• Able to prioritise and manage a busy work schedule dealing with complex issues whilst ensuring timely delivery or resolution of issues.
• Good experience of actively managing a bank of clients, volunteers or stakeholders.
• Previous experience in working in a client focused environment where delivering a high level of customer satisfaction is the norm.
• Championing change initiatives, influencing and leading colleagues to embrace the changes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and numerical skills.
• Strong organisational, administration and analytical skills, including use of computerised systems.
• Current full driving licence

It would be great (but not essential) if you also had:

• Working knowledge of the behaviour of animals and the challenges they face in a rescue environment, as well as relevant legislation.
• Proven experience of working constructively and collaboratively with colleagues from different teams.
• Interpersonal and consultative skills, including the ability to communicate, present, negotiate, influence, and build credibility with colleagues and external parties.
• Understanding of safeguarding issues.

Want to know more detail? Great! We have attached the job description which hopefully gives you everything you need.

Blue Cross benefits

Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.

In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.

Our generous benefits package includes:

• Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
• Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
• Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
• Health cash plan
• Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
• Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
• Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
• Life assurance
• 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Recognition scheme
• Annual volunteer days
• Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers

To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the why work for us page on our website.