07/24/2025
GOLDEN 🥇 OPPORTUNITY – New leadership for San Jose Animal Care & Services
San Jose Animal Care Services has been at the center of growing community concern in recent years—facing rising in-shelter death rates, a troubling audit that uncovered significant deficiencies in operations and animal care standards, and persistent problems that remain unresolved.
For far too long, the public has called for accountability, transparency, and real improvement. Now, there’s hope.
With the retirement of San Jose Animal Care & Services Director Jay Terrado, there is a golden opportunity for an experienced leader to take the helm at the troubled shelter. The City of San Jose is recruiting for this position only until August 1, 2025.
The City of San Jose has opened a key leadership position to oversee one of the largest municipal animal shelters in Northern California. This is a pivotal opportunity to bring qualified, compassionate leadership to a system that desperately needs reform.
If you or someone you know is deeply committed to animal welfare, has strong leadership experience, and believes in building community trust, please consider applying—or share widely. The animals of San Jose, and the residents who care deeply about their wellbeing, are counting on it.
Let’s make this the turning point.
Here are the highlights of this job opening:
- Oversees management, administration, operation and maintenance of SJACS activities, facilities, equipment, budget, policies, and procedures. This division has been struggling with large numbers of animals on site, and a number of deficiencies came up in a 2024 independent audit. The new leader can and should take control of the shelter and bring back needed programs such as low cost spay neuter for the public and five-day-a-week TNR services.
- Direct supervision over four major units within SJACS, including hiring, training, performance evaluations, and other personnel actions to ensure productivity and quality standards are maintained. The department has struggled with numerous management challenges and a lack of standard operating procedures or training manuals. An effective new leader should be willing and able to make big changes.
- The director represents Animal Care & Services with local, state and national organizations at professional events to develop partnerships with local community organizations and to create public support for departmental programs. The shelter’s relationship with local rescues has been damaged by its turning away from rescue partnerships in recent years. Additionally, the public has been disappointed time and again with the direction of the shelter. The person who fills this position has the opportunity to rebuild relationships with rescues and other community organizations, as well as with the public.
- Identifies and pursues sources of revenue for Animal Care & Services. There are many opportunities for grants and other funding sources to help bring needed services back to the shelter. Additionally, as identified in the audit, there is room for improvement in licensing, which is another area this leader could assist in.
Minimum qualifications for this position are:
- A bachelor’s degree in public administration, public policy, business administration, or a related field.
- Six years of increasingly responsible experience in senior level administrative and/or analytical work in a public or private agency
Highly desirable: Experience managing an animal care and shelter program with an annual intake of 5,000 or more animals, including experience in both animal sheltering and field services.
Are you qualified for this position? Do you know someone who is? Visit this link to learn more and to apply. Let’s turn things around at San Jose Animal Care & Services!
https://koffassociates.com/dep-dir-animal-care-svcs/
