Lead Veterinary Surgeon

Location: Kingsnorth & Tenterden, Kent

Hours: Full time – 40 hours per week, 4 x 10 or 5 x 8. No OOH. 1:5 Saturdays.

Practice: Cinque Ports Vets

Salary: £75,000 – £80,000 DOE

£5,000 welcome bonus for direct candidates.

£1,500 CPD + 5 days.

We will also support and fund certificates in most disciplines.

(agreements in place)

What if your next leadership role didn't mean stepping away from the clinical work you enjoy?

At Cinque Ports Vets, we're looking for an experienced Veterinary Surgeon to become our new Lead Veterinary Surgeon, with a particular focus on our Kingsnorth and Tenterden practices.

This is a role built around clinical variety, continuity and the opportunity to make a genuine difference. You'll be predominantly based at our RCVS-accredited veterinary hospital in Kingsnorth, alongside regular time at Tenterden. That means you can benefit from the clinical depth and facilities of a hospital environment while becoming a familiar face to the Tenterden team, clients and patients.

We're particularly keen to strengthen the veterinary team at Tenterden, where you'll have the opportunity to work alongside an experienced vet and help us build a sustainable, collaborative team. Rather than stepping into a practice where you're expected to carry the clinical load alone, you'll be part of a wider group with Kingsnorth providing additional clinical support and expertise.

Your week could include hospital work, consulting and surgery, giving you a satisfying mix of clinical work. If surgery is your passion, there's plenty here to get your teeth into, with laparoscopic equipment, endoscopy and bronchoscopy available across the group.

Alongside the clinical work, there's room to make the role your own. We're keen to support someone who wants to develop medicine, clinical training, mentoring or another area of clinical leadership across the group. Then there's the lifestyle piece: 40 hours, either four 10-hour days or five 8-hour days, 1 in 5 Saturdays, no out-of-hours and Fridays off.

It's a senior role, but it doesn't have to mean giving up the parts of being a vet that you actually enjoy! 

Why join us?
A genuine opportunity to help shape Tenterden's future, we're excited to now be actively investing in the veterinary team and want someone who can help us build a strong, sustainable clinical team alongside our existing vet.
Clinical variety without the chaos – a planned mix of hospital, consulting and surgery rather than being pulled from branch to branch to fill gaps.
Continuity matters – you'll have regular time at Tenterden, allowing you to become part of the team, build relationships with clients and follow your patients' care.
A hospital base with real clinical depth – Kingsnorth is an RCVS-accredited veterinary hospital with access to advanced diagnostics, surgical facilities and a wider clinical team.
Room to build your own niche – there's scope to take ownership of medicine, training, mentoring or another area that interests you.
Leadership without losing your clinical identity – influence and develop the clinical team while remaining firmly part of it.
A genuinely attractive working pattern – choose between 4 x 10-hour or 5 x 8-hour days, with Fridays off, 1 in 5 Saturdays and no OOH.
Strong clinical and nursing support – work alongside experienced colleagues and benefit from the wider Cinque Ports clinical network.
A commitment to both feline and canine-friendly care – Kingsnorth is a Gold Cat Friendly Clinic, while Tenterden is a Silver Cat Friendly Clinic. Kingsnorth also holds a Dogs Trust Dog Friendly Practice accreditation, recognising our commitment to making veterinary visits more comfortable for dogs and their owners.
A group that takes clinical standards seriously – both practices are RCVS accredited, with Kingsnorth holding hospital status.
The wider support, development opportunities and clinical network that come with being part of Linnaeus and Mars Veterinary Health.

The practice & team

Cinque Ports Vets is a well-established group serving pets and their owners across Kent and East Sussex. For this role, your focus will be Kingsnorth and Tenterden... two practices that offer different clinical environments but work closely together and benefit from the wider group's expertise and facilities.

Your main base will be Kingsnorth, home to our RCVS-accredited veterinary hospital. This is the clinical hub of the group, with a larger veterinary and nursing team and facilities supporting routine first-opinion work alongside more complex medical, surgical and diagnostic cases. A 24-hour emergency service is provided by Vets Now at the hospital, giving the daytime team access to dedicated overnight care without carrying an OOH rota themselves.

Tenterden offers something different: a close-knit practice with strong relationships with its local clients and the opportunity to become a familiar and trusted clinician within the community. We're actively looking to strengthen the veterinary team here, so this role is an important part of our plans for the practice. You'll have the opportunity to work alongside the existing vet rather than carrying the responsibility of the practice alone, with Kingsnorth providing additional clinical support when needed.

Clinically, there's plenty to get excited about. Across the two practices you'll have access to digital radiography, dental radiography and in-house laboratory facilities, while Kingsnorth has endoscopy and bronchoscopy as well as laparoscopic surgery equipment. This gives a surgery-focused vet plenty of opportunity to use their skills and continue developing them.

Both practices are RCVS accredited, reflecting their commitment to professional standards and quality of care. Kingsnorth is an RCVS-accredited veterinary hospital, while Tenterden is an RCVS-accredited veterinary practice.

There's also a strong focus on making veterinary care a positive experience for both cats and dogs. Kingsnorth is a Gold Cat Friendly Clinic, while Tenterden is Silver Cat Friendly. Kingsnorth also holds Dogs Trust Dog Friendly Practice accreditation, recognising the team's focus on reducing stress and creating a more positive experience for canine patients.

Each practice has strong nursing leadership and support, with experienced RVNs working alongside the veterinary teams. Across Cinque Ports, there's plenty of clinical experience to learn from, but this isn't a culture where hierarchy gets in the way. We want someone who will get stuck in, share their knowledge, ask questions, support colleagues and bring their own ideas to the table.

Cinque Ports is being revamped. Could you help lead it?

The role is deliberately varied. Your working week is likely to be broadly split between hospital work, consulting and surgery, with regular time at both Kingsnorth and Tenterden. At Tenterden, consultations generally sit at the beginning and end of the day, with surgery and medical cases in the middle, giving you the opportunity to follow cases through rather than simply providing one-off cover.

There will be some sole-charge work, but it won't dominate the role. You'll have the support of the wider group and the opportunity to work alongside experienced vets and nurses. Most importantly, we're looking for someone who wants to help us build a stronger veterinary team at Tenterden and provide the existing team with the support and clinical partnership they need.

The leadership element is equally important. We're particularly interested in someone who wants to use their experience to develop people as well as patients. There is scope to take a lead in medicine, support clinical training, mentor colleagues or develop another area that plays to your strengths.

In other words, we're not looking for someone to simply keep the wheels turning. We want someone who will help us make the group even better.

What we're looking for
A Veterinary Surgeon with at least 5 years' UK small animal practice experience.
Ideally a certificate holder in surgery, or an experienced clinician with a strong surgical interest and substantial surgical caseload.
A confident first-opinion clinician who enjoys the variety of consulting, medicine and surgery.
Someone who is comfortable working independently and undertaking occasional sole-charge work.
A vet who enjoys being hands-on clinically and doesn't want a leadership role that takes them away from patients.
Someone who enjoys sharing knowledge, mentoring and developing other vets.
A clinician who is interested in taking ownership of an area such as medicine, training or clinical development.
Someone approachable, pragmatic and straightforward in the way they communicate.
Most importantly, someone who wants to help us build a strong, collaborative veterinary team. 

What we offer  

• 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays and Birthday Leave   
• RCVS and VDS fees paid   
• External CPD funded   
• Extensive free online Linnaeus CPD program   
• Career progression opportunities   
• Staff discount schemes   
• Life Assurance   
• Enhanced sickness pay   
• Enhanced equal family leave   
• E-car salary sacrifice scheme   
• Employer contribution pension scheme    
• Recruitment referral reward scheme   
• Wellness program including:    
• Employee assistance program   
• Eyecare voucher scheme   
• Free annual Flu jab   
• Cycle to work scheme   

Cinque Ports Vets is part of Linnaeus and Mars Veterinary Health, the largest family-owned veterinary company in the world. Being privately owned, we can truly be driven by our purpose, to create a better world, and think long-term as opposed to being focused solely on short-term profits.

At Linnaeus, A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS starts with a better world for our people. Our Associates are over 6000 strong and empowered to speak up, step up and deliver quality services. You’ll have access to a huge network of specialists, worldwide development opportunities and an easily accessible, comprehensive wellbeing package that prioritises your physical and mental health, allowing you to focus on what you do best – care for pets.  

We are committed to fostering a culture that is inclusive and diverse, we care about you and want you to be authentic, with everything you need to perform at your best. We are all individual but two important things bring us together: a commitment to excellence and our passion to achieve our purpose. 

If you would like to apply for the role or for an informal chat to discuss it further, please get in touch with Joanne in the recruitment team at joanne.gray@linnaeusgroup.co.uk  

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