Rehabilitation Training and Behaviour Advisor

Blue Cross UK; Newport; On-site; GBP 16,000 - 18,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday allowance

Wellbeing support

GP access

Health plan

EAP

Pension scheme

CPD support

Life cover

Pet insurance discount

Family policies

Volunteer days

Job summary

Blue Cross UK in Newport is seeking a Rehabilitation Trainer & Behaviour Advisor to join our behaviour team based at the Newport rehoming, advice & behaviour unit. This role focuses on reward-based training, implementing rehabilitation programmes, and advising centre teams who work with pets in our care.

You will assess pets for suitability for rehoming, collaborate on each pet's journey, and support owners, carers, and staff across sites.

Qualifications

• Experience in pet behaviour and training
• Ability to develop practical training programmes for owners/caregivers
• Excellent communication and collaboration with teams
• Full UK driving licence required
• Understanding and applying Blue Cross values

Responsibilities

• Assess pets for suitability for rehoming and plan their journey
• Implement and monitor rehabilitation programmes with guidance from Animal Behaviourist
• Advise and coach centre teams and pet owners on behaviour issues
• Collaborate with multi-site teams to support pets in care, fosters, and post-adoption
• Provide on-site training and behaviour support as needed

Skills

Pet behaviour

Training techniques

Communication skills

Driving licence

Education

ABTC ATI qualification (or working towards)

Job description

Department: Rehoming & Fostering Services

Location: Newport

Application Deadline: 24 November 2026

Department: Rehoming & Fostering Services

Location: Newport

Compensation: £15,603 - £18,144 / year

Contract: Permanent, 22.5 hours per week

Salary: £15,603 - £18,144 per annum (£26,006 – 30,240 FTE)

Location: Newport, NP18 2LH

Closing date: Tuesday 24th November 2026

Interview date: 1st interview - 4th December, 2nd interview - 11th December

Description

We’re recruiting a Rehabilitation Trainer & Behaviour Advisor to join our behaviour team based at our Newport rehoming, advice & behaviour unit! This is a really exciting opportunity to join Blue Cross’ growing behaviour service.

More about the role

We are looking for a talented behaviour advisor who has a thorough understanding of reward-based training techniques, to work with pets in our care (be it on site, in foster, or post adoption). Working under the guidance of an Animal Behaviourist, you will be implementing and facilitating rehabilitation programmes practically, as well as advising and coaching centre teams who work with the pets in our care. A key aspect of the role involves assessing pets for suitability for rehoming, and then collaborating with the team to determine each pet's rehoming journey. This forms a large part of the role.

No two days will be the same – you could be working with an owner with a problem they are having with their pet, team training, assessing pets for adoption, supporting a pet on site or collaborating with your peers across Blue Cross. If you are looking for a dynamic role which helps people and pets and is at the forefront of animal welfare, then this is the role for you.

This role is part time role working 22.5 hours across three days, both weekdays and weekends, with some negotiation on which days you will work. While remote working is not available, there will be occasions when you'll need to travel to other sites or take on duties outside these hours to meet the needs of the pets and people.

About you

You will be a confident, adaptable and compassionate animal handler and trainer who enjoys working with a diverse range of people and pets. With excellent communication skills and an understanding of animal behaviour, you will be skilled at teaching and demonstrating training techniques and advising our teams and pet owners on behaviour issues. In addition, you will thrive working collaboratively with others and have a desire to improve the experience of the pets in our care.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• Pet behaviour and training techniques, and evidence of success in understanding pet behaviour /training problems
• Carrying out behaviour and training programmes for dogs, across a variety of breeds and
• temperaments
• Developing training programmes and delivering to owners / caregivers that are practical and realistic for a pet owners
• Full UK driving licence
• The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values

It would also be great if you had:

• Animal Behaviour and Training Council (ABTC) standard of Animal Training Instructor (ATI) qualification or working towards
• Experience of working with multi species animals
• Experience of promoting better understanding of pet behaviour through the media, or performing other public speaking

Using AI in your application

We’re happy for you to use AI tools to help you prepare your application, for example to organise your thoughts, improve clarity or check spelling and grammar. However, your application must be an honest reflection of your own skills, experience and achievements, and AI should not be used to write your application for you or create examples that aren’t your own.

Please read our guidance on using AI when applying to Blue Cross before submitting your application.

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.