Equine Veterinary Surgeon

About the Role

This is a varied equine role combining ambulatory work across Central Scotland with hospital-based casework at a purpose-built facility just minutes from the M90. You'll work with a mix of routine and complex cases, with real scope to develop your interests in orthopaedics and dentistry. The role includes a manageable 1:5 weekend and 1:5 weeknight on-call rota, giving you genuine work-life balance alongside clinical depth.

You'll be part of a genuinely tight-knit team where the practice owners are out on the road with you or in the hospital. Case continuity matters here: you'll follow cases from field to hospital and back, building the kind of client relationships that make equine practice genuinely satisfying. Your days are structured around a 4-day week, 8am to 6pm, leaving real space for professional development and personal life.

Key Responsibilities

• Carry out routine and emergency ambulatory visits including lameness investigations, poor performance work, dentistry, vaccinations, wound care, colic and field surgery
• Work up complex lameness and orthopaedic cases using the practice's on-site digital diagnostic equipment and surgical facilities
• Deliver proactive dental care as part of the wider preventative care offering
• Collaborate closely with nursing and support staff on in-patient management and post-operative care
• Contribute to the out-of-hours rota, supported by an experienced and collaborative team
• Develop your professional interests within one of four practice pillars (Patient, Client, Team, or Business) alongside your clinical work

Requirements

• Experienced equine veterinary surgeon, confident working independently in an ambulatory setting
• Particular interest in orthopaedics and dentistry, with appetite to develop this further
• Clear, compassionate communicator who builds client trust quickly
• Positive, solution-focused approach to problem-solving and teamwork
• Shared values of caring, integrity, teamwork and genuine commitment to learning and development

Benefits

• Competitive salary reflecting your expertise and experience; RCVS Advanced Practitioner status and certificates recognised in remuneration
• Full-time contract: 4 days per week, 8am to 6pm
• Out-of-hours rota: 1 in 5 weekends and 1 in 5 week nights
• Additional holiday: one extra day of annual leave for every year worked, up to a maximum of 6 additional days
• CPD budget plus fully funded certificate for those pursuing further professional study
• Enhanced maternity pay
• Income Protection Plan covering 60% of gross income (tax-free) after 14 days off work
• RCVS, VDS and BEVA membership fees covered by the practice

About the Practice

Loch Leven Equine Practice is Scotland's only independently owned equine practice with its own diagnostic, surgical and hospitalisation facilities under one roof. Established 20 years ago, the practice remains part of its local community and is trusted by owners and referring vets across Fife, Kinross-shire, Perthshire, the central belt and beyond. Independence means clinical decisions are driven by what is right for patients and owners, not shareholders.

The team includes Hugh Somerville, one of just 15 vets in the UK recognised as an RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Equine Orthopaedic Surgery and the only one in the country to hold Advanced Practitioner status simultaneously in both Orthopaedic Surgery and Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. This depth of in-house expertise delivers complex cases, genuine mentorship and the kind of clinical conversations that sharpen your own skills daily.