Clinical Director

Aspen Veterinary Surgery Llp; Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday + Bank Holidays

Private healthcare

Relocation package

Pension contribution

CPD allowances

Staff discounts

RCVS and VetFees covered

Employee assistance programme

Job summary

Aspen Veterinary Surgery Llp is seeking a Clinical Director to lead clinical excellence, culture and trust across the practice, working with the Centre Director to deliver strategy and drive improvements in patient care and service delivery.

The role combines clinical governance leadership with people development, and requires a veterinary leader who can balance compassionate care with sustainable business performance in a four- to five-day week across two locations.

Qualifications

• Registered with the RCVS as a Veterinary Surgeon.
• Significant experience in small animal practice.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing veterinary teams.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• Commercial awareness and understanding of practice performance.
• Passion for clinical excellence and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Championing outstanding clinical standards and patient care.
• Leading clinical governance, audit, quality improvement and reflective practice.
• Recruiting, developing and retaining talented clinicians.
• Coaching and mentoring colleagues throughout their careers.
• Building trusted relationships within the local community.
• Balancing clinical excellence with commercial sustainability.

Skills

RCVS registration

Small animal practice

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Commercial awareness

Clinical excellence

Job description

Exciting Opportunity for a Clinical Director

• 40 hours per week, flexible across 4 or 5 days
• Approximately 3 days at Aspen and 1 day at Ewell
• Salary £70,000–£80,000 depending on experience

We believe exceptional veterinary care starts with exceptional people. As a Clinical Director, you’ll play a key role in creating a practice where patients receive outstanding care, clients build lasting relationships and colleagues can build fulfilling careers.

Working in partnership with the Centre Director, you’ll lead the practice with significant local autonomy, balancing clinical excellence with sustainable business performance.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced veterinary leader who enjoys developing people, driving clinical standards and creating a positive culture where teams can thrive.

About the Role:

As Clinical Director, you’ll be the guardian of clinical excellence, culture and trust within your practice.

You’ll lead the clinical direction of the practice while working closely with the Centre Director to deliver the wider practice strategy. You’ll have the opportunity to influence how the practice develops, support your colleagues and help shape the future of clinical services.

Your role will include:

• Championing outstanding clinical standards and patient care.
• Leading clinical governance, audit, quality improvement and reflective practice.
• Supporting colleagues with complex clinical decision‑making.
• Promoting evidence‑based and contextualised veterinary medicine.
• Ensuring professional, ethical and regulatory standards are maintained.
• Driving innovation and continuous improvement across clinical services.
• Recruiting, developing and retaining talented clinicians.
• Coaching and mentoring colleagues throughout their careers.
• Supporting graduates and developing clinicians.
• Developing future clinical leaders.
• Building an engaged, inclusive and psychologically safe clinical team.
• Promoting excellent client communication and shared decision‑making.
• Building trusted relationships within the local community.
• Using client feedback and complaints to drive improvements.
• Working with the Centre Director to deliver the practice strategy.
• Balancing clinical excellence with commercial sustainability.
• Using data and insight to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Developing clinical services that improve patient care and practice performance.
• Contributing to the wider leadership of the Kin Vet Community.

What We're Looking For:

We’re looking for an experienced veterinary leader with strong clinical credibility, emotional intelligence and a genuine passion for helping others succeed.

You’ll be someone who leads with empathy, builds trust through consistency and communicates openly and transparently.

Ideally, you will have:

• RCVS registration as a Veterinary Surgeon.
• Significant experience within small animal practice.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing veterinary teams.
• Strong communication and relationship‑building skills.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of practice performance.
• A passion for clinical excellence and continuous improvement.

It would also be great if you have:

• Previous experience as a Clinical Director, Head Vet or in another senior veterinary leadership role.
• VetGDP Adviser experience.
• Experience leading clinical governance programmes.
• Experience using operational and financial data to drive improvement.

What Success Looks Like:

As Clinical Director, you’ll have the opportunity to make a measurable difference across four key areas:

• Clinical Excellence – strong clinical governance, audit completion, patient safety, significant event learning and compliance.
• People & Culture – team engagement, veterinary retention, vacancy levels, locum utilisation, VetGDP progression and succession planning.
• Clients & Community – client satisfaction, retention, growth, reviews, complaints and community reputation.
• Practice Sustainability – revenue growth, service utilisation, service development, pricing integrity and delivery of practice objectives.

Your Benefits

• 25 days’ holiday + Bank Holidays (rising to 30 days after 5 years)
• Enhanced maternity & adoption leave (up to 6 months at 90% pay depending on years of service)
• Enhanced paternity leave (up to 4 weeks’ full pay)
• 5 days family leave (compassionate/emergency leave)
• Private healthcare from April 2027
• 4% employer pension contribution
• Employee Assistance Programme (confidential wellbeing support)
• Free eye tests
• Relocation package
• CPD allowances: £2,500 per year
• Professional memberships (BVA or BVNA as appropriate, plus VetLexicon access)
• RCVS and VDS fees covered
• Staff discount on veterinary care within our practices
• Occupational Health Support

A comprehensive benefits package designed to support you, your family, and your career.

If you're an experienced Veterinary Surgeon looking to take the next step in your leadership career, with the opportunity to shape clinical standards, develop talented teams and make a real difference within your practice, we would love to hear from you.

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