Practice Director

Role: Practice Director – Forest Veterinary Centre
Location: Hybrid on-site, with presence across our multi-site practice group in Essex
Working hours: 40 per week
Salary: From £65,000 DOE
Reporting to: Head of Area - London

Lead growth, empower people and shape the future of an exceptional veterinary practice group!

We are looking for an experienced Practice Director to lead Forest Veterinary Centre through its next phase of growth and development. For over 40 years, Forest Veterinary Centre has been caring for pets and supporting their owners across Essex and East London. With a recently upgraded RCVS-accredited veterinary hospital and four branches, the practice combines high-quality clinical care with a genuinely caring, community-focused approach.

This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially astute, people-focused leader who thrives in a multi-site environment. Working closely with our practice teams, Head of Area and central support teams, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across the group, driving commercial performance while supporting clinical excellence, colleague engagement and an exceptional client experience.

You'll spend time across our sites in Epping, Harlow, Woodford and the Isle of Dogs, building relationships, coaching leaders and supporting teams through growth and change.

What You'll Be Responsible For

• Developing and delivering ambitious growth plans across our practice group.

• Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, client experience and service delivery with a strong focus on growth.

• Leading overall operational and commercial performance with P&L ownership for the group.

• Partnering with our clinical teams to balance commercial success with clinical excellence.

• Coaching and developing high-performing teams, creating a positive and inclusive culture.

• Leading organisational change and supporting people-related matters with confidence, empathy and fairness.

About You

We're looking for an experienced senior operator who enjoys leading through people and creating momentum in complex, multi-site businesses.

To be successful in this role, you will bring:

• Proven operational leadership experience with P&L accountability and a strong track record of delivering sustainable growth.

• Excellent people leadership skills, with the ability to listen, build trust and develop others.

• Strong commercial acumen, using data and insight to inform decisions.

• Experience working within regulated environments and established frameworks.

• A passion for continuous improvement, quality, and creating environments where people can thrive.

• Previous experience working within the veterinary sector would be an advantage, but is not essential. We welcome applications from candidates with strong operational leadership experience gained in other regulated multi-site, customer-focused environments.

Our benefits

Our roles come with a variety of benefits, including:

• An extra day off for your birthday on top of your annual leave

• Staff discount schemes 

• Life Assurance 

• Enhanced sickness pay and Enhanced equal family leave 

• E-car salary sacrifice scheme  

• Wellness program including:  Employee assistance program, Eyecare voucher scheme and Free annual Flu jab 

• Cycle to work scheme 

• Recruitment referral reward scheme

Why Join Linnaeus?

Linnaeus is part of 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 6,000 strong and empowered to speak up, step up and deliver quality services. 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 individuals, but two important things bring us together: a commitment to excellence and our passion to achieve our purpose.

This role offers the opportunity to shape the future of a respected veterinary practice group, building engaged teams, delivering commercial success and helping ensure outstanding care for patients and clients alike.

If you're an ambitious operational leader who combines commercial expertise with genuine care for people, we'd love to hear from you!

All applications with the relevant skills and qualifications will be carefully considered. If you need any support in completing your application or simply want to find out more about Linnaeus or the role, please contact our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].

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Salary Value: £65,000 per year;