Animal Care Mentor Bedfordshire

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join the National Animal Welfare Trust’s team at our Bedfordshire Centre as an Animal Care Mentor.

You will be working for a charity that never stops caring for its animals and people. We believe every pet deserves a chance to thrive in a loving home. Across our five rescue and rehoming centres across the south of England, we care for homeless and unwanted cats, dogs, rabbits, and guinea pigs - helping them find the families they’ve been waiting for.

Location: NAWT Bedfordshire, Glebe Farm, Salford Road, Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire, MK17 8HZ

Hours: 40 hours per week, working weekends on a rota basis

Salary: £12.60 per hour

Closing Date: 10th March 2026

About the role

You will have a vital role and will be responsible in providing high-quality daily care, handling, and enrichment for animals within our rehoming centre, supporting their physical and emotional wellbeing and contributing to their successful rehoming. Combining hands-on animal care responsibilities with mentorship, you will work closely with a dedicated team providing guidance, training and support to the animal care team and volunteers, fostering a culture of compassion, safety and developmental growth.

Key Responsibilities

Animal Care & Welfare

• Feed, groom, and exercise animals according to individual care plans
• Clean enclosures, bedding, and feeding areas to a high hygienic standard
• Administer basic medical treatments under supervision (e.g. flea/worm treatments, medication)
• Monitor animal health and behaviour, reporting concerns promptly to senior staff

Enrichment & Socialisation

• Provide mental and physical stimulation through play, training, and enrichment
• Help animals adjust to shelter life and prepare them for adoption such as lead walking, crate training and basic obedience

Mentorship

• Involved in the induction and training procedures for new animal care staff and volunteers
• Deliver the required training and behaviour modification programmes to all applicable animals, adhering to NAWT’s approved positive reinforcement training methods.
• Point of contact for situations as they arise, in the absence of the Centre Manager or Supervisor.

Adoption & Rehoming Support

• Assist with introductions between potential adopters and animals
• Provide accurate and compassionate information to visitors and adopters
• Help maintain accurate records of animal care, behaviour and medical needs

Centre Operations

• Follow health & safety protocols at all times
• Maintain a clean and safe working environment for staff, volunteers, and visitors
• Support fundraising, events, or outreach initiatives as needed

Person Specification

Essential

• Genuine passion for animal welfare, rescue and rehoming work
• Experience of working or caring for animals in an employment/voluntary environment
• Experience in mentoring, training and coaching others
• Proven experience of taking on additional responsibility and using initiative
• Excellent communication skills and a team-player mindset with ability to work on your own initiative
• Manual working tasks
• Willingness to work weekends and public bank holidays on a rota basis

Desirable

• Qualification in animal care or welfare (e.g., Level 2/3 Animal Care)
• Some experience of administration tasks and good organisational skills, especially the ability to prioritise workloads
• Familiarity with animal behaviour and basic training techniques

Working Conditions

• Outdoor and indoor work in all weather conditions
• Hands-on animal handling, including cleaning and feeding and lead walking a wide variety of dog breeds
• Uniform is provided

Empathy and emotional resilience when dealing with sometimes challenging circumstances, such as animals in distress and potential euthanasia cases

So, if you are the kind of person who enjoys a busy and varied role, with an empathy for the aims of NAWT, and would relish the opportunity to gain lots of experience within animal welfare – this may be the job for you!

As part of our commitment to making NAWT a great place to work, we offer access to the following employee benefits:

• 33 days annual leave inclusive of bank holidays, rising to 38 days after 5 years of service (pro-rated for part time employees).
• Group Life Assurance Scheme
• Contributory Pension Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme and access to Wellbeing Resources.

We are an inclusive organisation and are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential. We welcome all applications from the communities we work in. Selection for roles will be based on individual merit.

If you feel you have the right skills to be a successful Animal Care Mentor at our Bedfordshire centre, please send your CV with your cover letter, outlining how your experience and interest connect to our position, to Lauren McFarlane, Centre Supervisor: l.mcfarlane@nawt.org.uk at NAWT Bedfordshire.

The full description of the Duties and Responsibilities is below.

Please note we are accepting applications on a rolling basis and may close the recruitment process for this role prior to the deadline, so early applications are encouraged. Unfortunately, we are only able to make contact with those applicants who will be invited to interview.