Equine Veterinary Surgeon

Portland House Veterinary Group is on the lookout for a passionate and driven Ambulatory Equine Veterinary Surgeon to join our well-established practice in Retford. This role offers hands-on veterinary care for a diverse range of horses and ponies, covering both routine and emergency healthcare. What's on the cards for you? • Enjoy a competitive salary of up to £63,000 (pro rata) • Get a thrilling welcome bonus of up to £5000 (pro rata) to kickstart your adventure • Say goodbye to relocation worries with our relocation support of up to £5000. • Embrace clinical freedom and enjoy a wide and varied caseload of first opinion ambulatory work, mostly catering to leisure and amateur competitors, with a high percentage of insured animals. • We've got your back Benefit from comprehensive certificate support, a work vehicle, and a work-life balance that flexes with your needs and desires. Portland House Veterinary Group has been proudly serving clients in and around Retford for over 50 years. Our main practice, located in central Retford, boasts a team of 12 vets and 9 RVNs/SVNs with a wealth of experience ranging from new graduates to seasoned professionals. Our Equine department, situated in a separate building, consists of 2 full-time and 2 part-time vets. We're not just a team; we're a close-knit family that supports each other, values client care, personal growth, and achieving that ever-elusive work-life balance. We take pride in our excellent client base, which primarily consists of leisure horses with some competition involvement. A significant proportion of our clients have insurance, making our work rewarding and fulfilling. Our goal is to deliver gold standard veterinary care in an ambulatory environment, constantly striving for excellence. As part of our team, you'll have access to state-of-the-art equipment and modern battery-powered kit, including DR radiography, endoscope, gastroscope, motorized dentistry, and ultrasound scanners. We encourage you to pursue your areas of clinical interest and expertise. Your key responsibilities will include vaccinations, dentistry, lameness workups (including ridden assessments, nerve blocks, radiography, and scanning), breeding, sedation, ultrasonography, 5-stage vettings, castrations, treatment plans/visits, and working up cases. Work/life balance At Portland, we understand that work-life balance is crucial to your well-being and success. That's why we offer flexible rota patterns and working hours that truly adapt to your lifestyle and career stage. A full-time role entails working 40 hours per week over 4.5 days, with weekday shifts from 08:30 to 17:00 and a set half-day. While there is an out-of-hours rota (currently 1:6), we are open to supporting part-time applications and different shift patterns. Please note that the out-of-hours rota is non-negotiable. Across our group and four practices, we have a fantastic team of 40 dedicated individuals, including 16 vets (including 2 certificate holders), 15 registered/student veterinary nurses and animal care assistants, with experience ranging from new graduates to 35 years. We pride ourselves on maintaining a friendly and welcoming environment, where support is always at hand. Our team regularly comes together for social events and enjoys multiple annual gatherings for all practices within the group. What our team has to say about life at Portland: "Working at Portland House Equine has been a highlight of my career as an equine vet. It was a massive change for me to come to a practice where the culture is not "we don't do it like that here", but "that's interesting - we haven't done it like that before, but let's look at it and see if we can make it work". It's a young team, and the small equine department really benefits from being part of a larger practice family, with cross-pollination of ideas and equipment, and the larger social benefits that a big mixed team brings. Highly recommended." – Lindsay, Head of Portland's Equine Department. We recognise that our people are fundamental to the success of our business. Investing in our people, premises and processes is at the heart of what we do. In addition to a competitive base salary, you will benefit from: Work-life balance 6.6 weeks annual leave including bank holidays Increasing holiday allowance based on length of service Your birthday as a paid day off Wellbeing Private medical insurance Enhanced family-friendly policies, including maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental and surrogacy pay Cycle to Work scheme Initiatives focused on employee wellbeing Non-accidental injury support £1500 CPD allowance with 40 hours paid pro-rata Certificate support Learning and development opportunities via the IVC Evidensia Academy Access to Vetlexicon – our online encyclopaedia provider All our Vets & Nurses can apply for research funding All our Vets get £1000 per annum to spend via Care Fund Infection Prevention and Control Programme And more