Careers
Build a career around compassion, community, and meaningful work. Tacoma Humane brings together people with many different skills to improve life for animals and the people who care for them.
Making a Difference
Our shelter was founded by a group of revolutionaries who dared to question the status quo in order to improve the treatment of animals. Now, we are one of the largest animal welfare agencies in Washington, with a passionate team that has continued advancing the care and well-being of pets. When you join our team, you’ll be a part of an animal-loving community that strives to find every pet a loving home, reunites lost pets with their families, provides life-saving medical care, and leads services that help keep pets with their people.
You can help make a difference for both pets and people in our community!
View our current job postings here.
Benefits
- Paid vacation
- Sick time policies
- 100 hours of paid holiday time during the calendar year
- Medical, dental, vision – 89% employer-paid premiums toward you and each eligible dependent
- Employee discount on animal adoptions & retail store purchases
- Paid bereavement leave, including coverage for loss of a personal pet
- $50,000 paid life insurance
- Paid long-term and short-term disability insurance coverage
- Optional Health & Dependent Care Flex Spending accounts
- Employee Assistance Program
- SEP IRA or Pension Trust (for union represented employees) retirement contribution plans
- Student loan forgiveness through the Department of Education’s Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program
What It’s Like to Work Here
Shelter work can be joyful, physical, emotional, fast-moving, and deeply meaningful, sometimes within the same hour.
Team members may experience:
- Direct interaction with animals and the public
- Noise, odors, animal waste, and physically active environments
- Emotionally difficult cases
- Changing priorities
- Weekend, evening, or holiday schedules
- Opportunities to learn across departments
- A mission-centered team committed to animals and community
Candidates should receive an honest picture of each role so they can decide whether it is a healthy fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need animal-welfare experience?
Not for every role. Some positions require specific veterinary, behavior, animal-handling, management, or technical experience. Others value transferable skills from customer service, nonprofits, healthcare, operations, education, logistics, or other fields.