Client Services Manager – Lurie Clinic

Overview

The Client Services Manager for the PAWS Chicago Lurie Spay and Neuter Clinic manages the client experience of Chicago’s largest high-volume, high-quality spay/neuter clinic, serving more than 25,000 pets each year with spay/neuter, vaccinations and community medicine. Affordable and accessible spay/neuter is the most direct and impactful way to eliminate pet overpopulation and resulting euthanasia in shelters. As the Client Services Manager, you will be on the front lines of preventing pet homelessness and building a No Kill Chicago.

The Client Services Manager, Lurie Clinic is responsible for overseeing all front-of-house and client-facing operations within the Lurie Spay/Neuter Clinic, with a strong emphasis on client experience, communication quality, and compassionate care delivery in a high-volume, high-stress environment. PAWS Chicago is committed to using a social-work-informed approach to supporting our clients.

This role ensures that clients experience clear communication, empathetic support and problem-solving in helping them meet their animals’ needs, and efficient service from first contact through discharge. The Client Services Manager leads and supports front desk staff, establishes consistent standards for client interactions, and partners closely with the veterinary social work team to integrate compassionate, empathetic practices into daily clinic operations.

This position does not manage clinical staff or medical workflow but serves as the primary operational owner of client flow, appointment booking, front desk performance, reporting, and client complaint handling.

• Front Desk Operations & Client Flow:
  Oversee daily front-of-house operations including scheduling coordination, check-in, discharge, and client communication flow
• Front Desk staffing:
  Ensure front desk staffing coverage aligns with clinic volume, vaccine clinics, and high-volume surgery days
• Client flow:
  Maintain efficient, organized client flow while balancing speed, accuracy, and compassion
• Problem escalation:
  Identify bottlenecks or recurring client friction points and escalate operational concerns to the Practice Manager

• Client Experience & Complaint Handling:
  Set and enforce standards for professional, compassionate, and consistent client interactions
• Escalation:
  Serve as the primary escalation point for client complaints, concerns, and difficult interactions related to scheduling, wait times, communication, billing questions, or overall experience
• Resolution:
  Address client concerns calmly and professionally, ensuring concerns are heard, documented, and appropriately resolved or escalated
• Trend analysis:
  Track client complaint trends and work with leadership to improve systems, communication, or workflows as needed
• Escalation of post-service issues:
  Immediately escalate post-service complications to the clinical team and ensure expedient resolution

• Veterinary Social Work, Intern and Volunteer Integration:
  Partner closely with the veterinary social work team to integrate emotionally supportive practices into front desk operations
• Involvement criteria:
  Ensure front desk staff understand when and how to involve veterinary social work for clients experiencing grief, distress, financial hardship, or emotional overwhelm
• Training:
  Coordinate training for front desk staff on emotional intelligence, boundary setting, de-escalation techniques, and appropriate referral pathways
• Collaboration:
  
  Support real-time collaboration with social work during clinic hours to ensure clients receive timely support when needed
• Interns and volunteers:
  Train and develop interns and volunteers and integrate into Lurie Clinic client services operations

• People Leadership, Training & Accountability:
  Onboard, train, and supervise Client Services staff
• Staffing & recruitment:
  Responsible for scheduling and staffing of Client Services and support recruitment of Client Services team members
• Performance management:
  Provide day-to-day coaching, feedback, and performance management of front desk staff, interns and volunteers, as applicable
• Standards:
  Set clear expectations around professionalism, communication, attendance, and accountability
• Culture:
  Foster a supportive, team-oriented culture that prioritizes both client care and staff wellbeing
• Development:
  Identify training gaps and coordinate ongoing development opportunities

• Scheduling, Communication & Administrative Support:
  Manage accurate appointment scheduling and client communications in alignment with Clinic surgical capacity, mission priorities and medical priorities
• Bookings:
  Manage and monitor bookings and show rates, adjusting Client Services operations to optimize mission impact
• Coordination:
  Work closely and coordinate with Community Outreach to align appointments/bookings for mission-critical constituents
• Client instructions:
  Ensure front desk staff provide clear pre- and post-appointment instructions to clients and ensure Client Services has communications materials needed to effectively…