Ranch Hand

Second Chance Ranch Assistant

Your Mission: Care With Purpose to Give Animals a Second Chance

Do you thrive in hands-on environments, love working with animals, and believe every rescue deserves expert care and patience? As a Second Chance Ranch Assistant at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL), you’ll play a critical role in supporting the care, rehabilitation, and placement of ranch animals while helping maintain a safe, welcoming, and mission-driven ranch environment.

This role is ideal for someone who is hardworking, adaptable, and passionate about animal welfare. You’ll balance daily animal care and facility responsibilities out at the ranch with collaboration across departments, volunteer support, and community engagement; all while helping ranch animals on their journey toward adoption or placement.

What You’ll Do

You’ll provide daily care for all ranch animals, including feeding, cleaning, enrichment, behavioral rehabilitation, and training. You’ll support veterinarians during exams, treatments, procedures, and vaccinations, ensuring animals receive attentive and compassionate medical care.

You’ll assist with adoptions, foster placements, transfers, and animal transport in collaboration with other ARL departments, including transporting ranch animals as needed. You’ll also operate and maintain ranch equipment such as tractors, trucks with horse trailers, and other heavy machinery to support daily operations. Accurate recordkeeping is a key part of this role. You’ll enter and maintain animal data, ensuring information is complete and up to date. You’ll also help train and support volunteers at the ranch, fostering a positive and educational volunteer experience that aligns with departmental goals.

As a representative of the ARL, you’ll cultivate positive relationships through professional, courteous, and educational interactions with the public, volunteers, and staff. You’ll actively promote ARL’s mission, services, programs, and events while maintaining a safe work environment by following OSHA guidelines and modeling best safety practices. Additional duties may be assigned as needed to support ranch operations.

What You Bring

You have a high school diploma or GED and at least one year of professional animal care experience. Experience with equine care is preferred, as is two years of customer service experience. You bring strong communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills and are confident handling challenging situations with professionalism and care.

You’re comfortable working in a fast-paced, sometimes stressful environment and can adapt while staying focused and dependable. A valid driver’s license with a satisfactory driving record is required, along with working knowledge of ranch equipment, including trucks, trailers, tractors, and related machinery. You’re comfortable using basic computer systems, Microsoft Office, and performing basic math with accuracy.

Most importantly, you’re passionate about helping animals heal, grow, and find their next opportunity and you’re ready to be part of a team dedicated to giving them that second chance.

Working Conditions

This position requires the ability to lift up to 50 pounds and to stand or sit for extended periods of time. Work is performed both indoors and outdoors and may include exposure to high heat or cold, animal odors, waste, moderate noise levels, and the risk of bites, scratches, or potentially contagious diseases. Professionalism, adaptability, and a strong commitment to safety are essential.

Why Work at the ARL?

At the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, you’re joining a compassionate, mission-driven organization dedicated to improving the lives of animals and strengthening the human-animal bond. As a Second Chance Ranch Assistant, you’ll directly support animals who need time, care, and expertise — and you’ll make a meaningful impact every day.

Employment with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa is at-will, meaning either the employee or ARL may terminate the employment relationship at any time.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state regulations, the Animal Rescue League of Iowa provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages applicants to discuss accommodation needs during the hiring process.

Saturdays - 8 hour shift only.