Job Description
SPANA (The Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad) is the global charity for the working animals of the world. Since our foundation in 1923, we have worked where they work, to support the welfare of working animals, including horses, donkeys, mules, oxen, dogs and camels. Find out more at www.spana.org
Vision Our vision is a world where every working animal lives a healthy and valued life.
Mission Our mission is to transform the welfare of working animals in a world where animals, people and the environment are respected and thrive.
Job title: Veterinary Adviser
Reports to: Director of Global Animal Health and Welfare
Location: UK based, hybrid working with regular attendance (approximately 1-2 days per month, or more if preferred) in our London office
Terms: Full-time (34.5 hour per week), permanent
Salary: c £ 42,000 per annum subject to skills and experience
Benefits:
• 26 days annual leave, plus bank holidays; further leave accrues after two years of service to a maximum of 30 days.
• Generous company pension scheme with 10 per cent employer contribution if employee contributes a minimum of five per cent.
• Healthcare cash plan with Medicash, including access to virtual GP appointments.
• Enhanced employee assistance programme.
• Group income protection and life insurance scheme.
• Volunteer day programme.
Purpose of the role
The Veterinary Adviser will join SPANA’s team of advisers in the Global Animal Health and Welfare Directorate (AHW), which is closely aligned with the Global Programmes Department (GPD). The teams work closely together to co-deliver projects that sustainably benefit the health and welfare of working animals and the communities relying on them, promoting a One Health and One Welfare approach.
The AHW team hold responsibility for delivering technical expertise in animal health and welfare, and support partner projects to deliver animal health and welfare services in line with SPANA’s quality standards framework.
The Veterinary Adviser will provide technical advice, training and support across the organisation and for SPANA’s global network of partners. They will implement tools for monitoring of working animal health and welfare data and utilise this information to inform approaches and interventions.
Key responsibilities
Area 1: Deliver high quality veterinary support to SPANA and partner programmes
• Provide technical review of proposals and projects, including applications for support with animal health and welfare emergencies.
• Collaborate with the GPD team and partners to advise on the health and welfare aspects of project intervention and support the addressing of technical concerns, highlighting areas that demonstrate good working animal welfare.
• Engage with partners to support capacity building through mapping training needs and delivering training as required, both online and face-to-face.
• Monitor epidemiological trends of working animal health and welfare data.
• Advise on and support appropriate health responses and strategies.
• Visit SPANA partner projects to provide technical support and programme review.
Area 2: Support the development of tools and frameworks to improve working animal welfare
• Contribute to the ongoing development of SPANA’s veterinary quality standards framework, including supporting the production of guidelines, training materials, standard operating protocols and other materials, as needed.
• Conduct clinical audits of partner projects, using SPANA’s quality framework and associated materials.
• Assist with the progression of quality-of-life assessment tools for equids, camels, cattle and other working animal species within SPANA programmes.
• Support the introduction of quality-of-life tools, including development of associated training packages for partners, utilising the tool in project contexts overseas and working with MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning) teams to refine the reporting of data collected with the tool. Collaborate with partners and GPD to use the tool data to guide project interventions.
Area 3: Assist with veterinary-based projects
• Contribute to the identification, development and roll-out of community and professional training projects.
• Support MEAL and programmes teams in the monitoring and impact evaluation of projects.
• Use data to provide technical guidance to refine project interventions and maximise working animal health and welfare outcomes.
• Identify working animal health and welfare knowledge gaps and needs for evidence-based research.
Area 4: General responsibilities
• Provide veterinary support, delivery training and mentor international colleagues and partners.
• Review case studies, photos, website articles and any other relevant technical content to support fundraising, marketing and communications teams.
• Respond to enquiries pertaining to SPANA’s work and specifically to working animal matters/concerns.
• Evaluate the existing SPANA Veterinary Information Portal, ensuring that the content and platform is relevant to ongoing demand.
• Represent the organisation at national and international meetings, conferences and workshops.
In addition, undertake any other duty or responsibility that may reasonably be required for this role. International travel is required for this position, with an anticipated two to three overseas trips per year, within Africa, Asia and South America, or other regions as required by partnership programmes.
Person specification
Knowledge and education
• Qualified veterinarian registered with a national veterinary body.
• Significant clinical experience, including with livestock and equids.
Experience and skills
• Experience of working or volunteering in a veterinary capacity for a non-governmental organisation and/or in the charitable sector in majority world contexts.
• Experience in analysing and reporting veterinary health and welfare data.
• Demonstrable understanding of the role and importance of working animals to the economies of majority world countries.
• Ability to write clear, brief reports for a variety of audiences, including translation of clinical concepts for those with no clinical experience.
• Experience of developing and monitoring technical standards in veterinary medicine and animal welfare.
• Experience of using welfare assessment tools.
• Experience of communicating and collaborating with other organisations and stakeholders to deliver key pieces of work.
• Experience with providing professional training to vets, vet students and/or veterinary paraprofessionals.
• Familiarity and confidence with Microsoft 365.
Personal attributes
• A passion for improving animal welfare.
• A skilled communicator able to work with colleagues and partners in person and remotely.
• Keen interest and enthusiasm in working animal health and welfare and supporting communities.
• Ability to manage workloads effectively, while working in a primarily online environment.
• Proactive and solution focused.
• Interest in epidemiology, herd health and disease surveillance.
• Knowledge of, and motivation to apply, One Health concepts.
• A culturally sensitive communicator able to develop and share information for the fundraising, marketing and communications teams to use.
• A commitment to SPANA’s mission to transform the welfare of working animals.
Desirable criteria
• Fluent French.
• Basic understanding of budgeting and finance management.
• Knowledge of international programming and project management.
• Experience of developing preventative herd health care programmes.
• Postgraduate study in international animal health, animal welfare, One Health or international development.
Applicants must have the right to work in the UK currently and for the duration of the contract.
To apply: Send a CV and cover letter/email (totalling no more than two pages) to recruitment@spana.org. Please state where you saw the role advertised in the body of your email. If you have any questions about the role, please feel free to email us.
We recognise that candidates may choose to use AI in their application documents. We recommend that candidates ensure that their use of AI is considered and that their application documents accurately reflect their skills and experience. Applicants are advised that SPANA does not use AI in our application review process, and all applications are independently reviewed by a minimum of two members of the team. Some interview processes will involve skills assessments which we expect candidates to complete without the use of AI.
Deadline: 23:59 GMT on 4 January 2026
All applications will be acknowledged. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
Applications without a cover letter/email explaining how you meet the requirements for the role will not be considered.