Welcome bonus: £5,000 | Salary up to £80,000 | Full clinical leadership responsibility
We are seeking an experienced and confident Head Veterinary Surgeon to take clinical leadership of a well-established, standalone small animal practice. This is a key senior role for a vet who wants to shape clinical standards, mentor colleagues, and influence the future direction of a thriving practice while remaining hands-on clinically.
Your Role as Head Veterinary Surgeon:
You will lead the clinical direction of the practice, working closely with the practice owner. You’ll be responsible for guiding, supporting, and developing a team of 3 Vets, helping to ensure consistently high clinical standards and a collaborative, progressive culture.
This is a genuine leadership position with autonomy over clinical decision-making and case management, while remaining embedded in a supportive, owner-led structure. You’ll play a central role in shaping the continued growth and reputation of the Rayleigh practice.
The Team Around You:
You’ll join a strong, established team including:
Work–Life Balance & Hours:
Salary & Benefits:
The Practice:
This is a modern, purpose-built practice with advanced equipment and a broad, varied caseload. Clinical freedom is actively encouraged, supported by regular clinical meetings, in-house CPD, and collaboration with a visiting orthopaedic certificate holder.
The culture is genuinely team-focused, with strong communication systems including weekly updates and regular clinical discussions to maintain high standards of care.
Location – Rayleigh:
Rayleigh is a well-connected Essex market town, offering excellent transport links:
This is a location that genuinely supports a strong work–life balance, combining city access with coastal and rural living.
Location SS6 7JN
We take our inspiration from pets in embracing people from all walks of life, and we value, respect and celebrate difference. We encourage our people to be their best selves so that we can create a better world for Pets, our Planet, and People. Our ambition is to reflect the diversity of the communities we operate in, and we are intentional in addressing and removing barriers to create opportunities for the exceptional talent and potential in our communities. Even if your skills and experience don’t perfectly align, if you think you can make a unique contribution through your values and behaviours, we want to hear from you!
Since 1991, when we were a wholesaler with a team of just 15, we’ve been focused on getting better every day. By putting pets before profit, working as a team and taking pride in everything we do, we’ve grown into a 451 store network with more than 8,913 colleagues working in our Stores, Grooming Salons, Distribution Centres and Support Office.
We are the UK’s leading pet specialist, providing pet owners with all their product needs, as well as our Vets for Pets practices and Grooming salons. We support our colleagues to work with pride and passion, to bring honesty and integrity to work every day, and to do it all with a sense of fun and fearlessness. We never shy away from having the important conversations and doing what we say we’ll do.
Our values and behaviours are practiced daily across the business and are what really makes us an enjoyable, exciting place to work. We're always striving to develop and reward our colleagues with an extensive in-house series of training programmes, wellbeing initiatives and a comprehensive benefits package. In 2018 we were delighted to be voted top 5 in the Great Place to Work UK’s Large category.
Our colleagues are central to the success of the business and are fully trained in pet care and dedicated to animal welfare. Pets are central to everything that we do and 93% of colleagues have their own pets too!
If you like the sound of life at Pets at Home, you can find out more on our dedicated careers site: https://www.petsathomejobs.com/
