Animal Services Assistant - Variable Hour Benefit Eligible

City of Aurora; United States; On-site; USD 26,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits

Paid time off

11 paid holidays

On-site fitness center

Job summary

The City of Aurora is seeking an Animal Services Assistant to provide humane care and enrichment for sheltered animals and to assist patrons. You will handle intake, vaccination steps, and kennel maintenance with a focus on safety and compassionate service.

You will also support adoption processes, maintain animal records, and communicate with the public while upholding the city’s CORE values and standards. A Colorado driver's license is required.

Qualifications

• Education: High School Diploma or GED
• Experience: One year of animal related experience or customer service experience
• Preferred Qualifications: One year of experience working in an animal shelter
• Euthanasia Certification within one year
• Knowledge: General knowledge of companion animal welfare, breeds and species
• Skills: Animal handling skills; Providing friendly customer service; Excellent interpersonal communication skills; Strong attention to detail
• Abilities: Establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees and citizens; Handle sensitive situations with tact and diplomacy; Ability to complete work without close supervision; Provide humane care and treatment for a variety of animals; Perform euthanasia
• License: Valid Colorado Driver’s License

Responsibilities

• Provides humane care, treatment and safe handling of animals in the shelter including feeding, cleaning, grooming and enrichment
• Intakes animals brought in by the public to include photographing, vaccinating, weighing, data entry and kenneling
• Performs an initial physical exam to look for injuries or illness and reports to veterinary services
• Traces microchips and tags for owner contact information on stray animals
• Assists with kenneling and movement of animals and updates animal records
• Educate prospective adopters in adoption of suitable pet: reviews and completes adoption paperwork and conducts dog-dog meet and greets
• Processes animals for release to their owners including verifying ownership, that the animal is cleared to be released to owner and providing owner with all medical paperwork
• Responds to citizen emails and phone calls; maintains logs

Skills

Animal handling

Customer service

Interpersonal communication

Attention to detail

Diplomacy

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Job description

Job Location

15750 E 32nd Ave Aurora, Colorado 80011-1518 City of Aurora, Colorado

It is an exciting time to work for the City of Aurora, we're growing and looking for dedicated and collaborative individuals to join our team of talented and valued employees. Excellent organizations have a set of principles, or core values, that are used to implement their mission and vision. Those values represent the touchstone for the organization, guiding the decisions of the individuals and the organization. At the City of Aurora, we demonstrate our excellence by modeling the CORE 4 Values of: Integrity, Respect, Professionalism, and Customer Service, and we welcome all who share these values to apply.

Why Work for Aurora?

• Make a difference in the lives of real people every day
• Diverse community
• Competitive total compensation package
• Well-Funded General Employees Retirement Plan
• Light rail station minutes away
• On-site fitness center and overall employee well-being programs
• Internal educational programs to assist with career advancement
• Access to innovation workspaces

PRIMARY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Salary to be commensurate with experience The hiring rate for this position $19.08 - $23.85 per hour. This is classified as VHBE (Variable Hour Benefit Eligible), where the selected candidate can work up to 40 hours per week. The selected candidate will be eligible to elect Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits, accrue paid time off, and receive 11 paid holidays. The deadline to submit applications is October 15th, 2026. Please note, The City of Aurora will conduct ongoing screenings of applications on a first come, first-serve basis; as soon as we determine to have a qualified pool of applicants, this position may close quickly and without notice.

OVERVIEW OF POSITION / DEPARTMENT

The City of Aurora is seeking a skilled Animal Services Assistant to provide humane care and treatment for sheltered animals. This position will be cleaning and maintaining kennel facilities while helping patrons.

PRIMARY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Provides humane care, treatment and safe handling of animals in the shelter including feeding, cleaning, grooming and enrichment Degrease all interior and exterior kennel walls Sweep and mop all floors daily Empty all trash cans each day Wash and sanitize all food containers, water buckets and litter boxes Deep clean and sanitize every kennel once it is empty including bedding Wash, dry, fold and put away all laundry daily Dust and cleans all pipes and vents in kennel area Intake animals left in the night drop kennels and sanitizes kennel once empty Intakes animals brought in by the public to include photographing, vaccinating, weighing, data entry and kenneling Performs an initial physical exam to look for injuries or illness and reports to veterinary services, if found Traces microchips and tags for owner contact information on stray animalsAssists with kenneling and movement of animals and updates animal records to reflect movement or change in status Educate prospective adopters in adoption of suitable pet: reviews and completes adoption paperwork and conducts dog-dog meet and greets Processes animals for release to their owners including verifying ownership, that the animal is cleared to be released to owner and providing owner with all medical paperwork Contacting an Animal Protection Officer if a summons has been initiated for the owner of the animal Perform kennel inventory to ensure all animals are accounted for daily Responds to heavy phone call volume and calls back citizens who left messages and documents each phone call in a log Responds to citizen emails Provides citizens information on services offered by Aurora Animal Services Processes all paperwork and data entry for Community Cat Caretakers, Fancier’s Permit applicants, private trappers, guard dog permits Performs euthanasia and related tasks Ability to safely use all shelter equipment efficiently Transports animals and cleans and maintains the transport vehicle Ability to administer microchips and all vaccinations to animals available for adoption Medicate sick and injured animals as needed Spot clean kennels throughout the day Provide differing enrichment items to the dogs and cats each day and cleans up after or walks dogs Assists in janitorial and light maintenance duties Maintains grounds including picking up trash Organize donated items and place in the appropriate area for each use Operate and close out the cash drawer daily Bathe dogs as needed Performs other related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS & WORKING CONDITIONS

An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience that demonstrates required knowledge, skills, and abilities may be considered. Education: High School Diploma or GED Experience: One year of animal related experience or customer service experience Preferred Qualifications: One year of experience working in an animal shelter Euthanasia Certification within one year Knowledge: General knowledge of companion animal welfare, breeds and species Skills: Animal handling skills Providing friendly customer service Excellent interpersonal communication skills Strong attention to detail Abilities: Establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees and citizens Handle sensitive situations with tact and diplomacy Ability to complete work without close supervision Provide humane care and treatment for a variety of animals Perform euthanasia Creatively solve problems, negotiate and handle stressful situations in a positive manner Operate a city vehicle Licenses and Certifications Required: Valid Colorado Driver’s License

WORKING CONDITIONS Essential Personnel: When a local announcement of emergency or disaster is declared by the City, all City of Aurora employees may be required to work as essential personnel. Physical Demands: Medium work that involves moving no more than 50 pounds with or without assistance at a time Subject to animal bites and scratches May require frequent pushing, pulling, bending and stooping Clear vision to read and interpret notes and other written documents Speech communication and hearing to maintain communication with employees and citizens Hand/eye coordination for operation of computer keyboard Foot/eye coordination for operation of a motor vehicle Speech communication and hearing to maintain communication with employees and citizens Work Environment: Works primarily indoors in a shelter setting with exposure to dust, water, noise, animal dander, odors and fumes, but may occasionally work outside assisting at outreach events Equipment Used: Uses standard office equipment including personal computer and common office software such as email, internet, Word, Excel and shelter Chameleon database This position may require the incumbent to use personal equipment (e.g. vehicle, cell phone, tools, etc.) in the course of their employment. This position may require the use of hand tools and equipment common to kennel operations The city of Aurora will implement furlough days (unpaid days off) for most employees in 2026. The scheduled furlough dates are January 16, April 10, July 2, and December 24.

Excellent organizations have a set of principles, or core values, that are used to implement their mission and vision. Those values represent the touchstone for the organization, guiding the decisions of the individuals and the organization. At the City of Aurora, we demonstrate our excellence by modeling the CORE 4 Values of: Integrity Respect Professionalism Customer Service And we welcome all who share these values to apply.

Why Work for Aurora?

• Rewarding public sector work impacting a large and diverse community
• Growing city and employee population
• Competitive total compensation package
• Rich benefits package with low employee costs
• Generous paid leave program 100% funded
• Employee and Family Care Leave Program
• Retirement pension plan and 457b plans available
• Subsidized recreation center pass, on-site fitness centers and wellness programs
• Continued education and career advancement opportunities
• Learn more about city of Aurora benefits

Notice Regarding Automated Processing and Fraud Prevention

As part of our recruiting and application security processes, we may use automated tools and technologies to help detect fraudulent activity, protect applicant accounts, and support the administration of employment applications. These tools may collect and process information associated with your application activity, including: Number of job requisitions applied to External application session duration Geolocation country code IP address Device/browser fingerprinting information (including JA4 fingerprint data) This information may be used by Workday’s Fraudulent Job Application Prevention capabilities to generate an application risk or fraud assessment score. These tools are designed to support application security, fraud prevention, and recruiting operations and may be considered during the processing or review of applications. Meaningful human review remains part of our hiring and recruiting process. For additional information regarding our processing of applicant information, please review our Privacy Notice or contact [e-mail].

Despite the changes in Colorado law, the City of Aurora maintains a drug-free workplace. A positive test of marijuana is grounds for disqualification and ineligibility for employment with the city for one year or termination once hired.

Drug Testing, Thorough Criminal Background Check, and Employment References: As a condition of employment, all applicants selected for employment with the City of Aurora must undergo a thorough criminal background check. Applicants selected for safety-sensitive positions are required to complete and pass a drug screening as a condition of employment. Safety sensitive positions include Civil Service positions within Police and Fire Departments and positions where their job responsibilities have direct and substantial responsibility that would impact the health and safety of others. Employment references will be conducted on finalists for City of Aurora vacancies.

The city of Aurora uses E-Verify to determine if employees are legally eligible to work in the United States.

The city of Aurora is an equal opportunity employer. No applicant for employment or employee shall be discriminated against because of age, race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, disability or military status.

The city shall develop and maintain a plan for diversity. Through its staff, the city shall periodically analyze its employment related practices and its plan for diversity to ensure compliance with this policy.