Veterinary Surgeon

About the Role

Vets Now Southampton is seeking a Veterinary Surgeon for weekend shifts in a dynamic emergency and critical care setting. Whether you're developing ECC expertise alongside another role or building a full emergency career, this position offers structured flexibility and peer support. You'll join a dedicated team where mentorship is woven into daily practice, and your clinical development is taken seriously.

Two rota options let you shape the schedule to fit your lifestyle. Option 1 provides backshift coverage (18:00-00:00 Saturday and/or Sunday), where you'll typically pair with a second vet on complex cases, accelerating your learning. Option 2 offers daytime flexibility (12:00-18:00 Saturday, 08:00-18:00 Sunday), with the option to work every or every-other shift to suit your needs. Bank holidays rotate fairly across both patterns.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide emergency and critical care to small animals presenting out of hours
• Work collaboratively with colleagues on complex or multi-trauma cases during backshift roles
• Contribute to the varied caseload that sharpens veterinary assessment and procedural skills
• Support mentorship culture by sharing knowledge and seeking guidance as appropriate
• Maintain clinical standards and Vets Now protocols across emergency presentations

Requirements

• RCVS registration as a veterinary surgeon
• Demonstrable clinical experience in small animal medicine or emergency care
• Ability to work effectively within a team and support peers in a fast-paced environment
• Willingness to develop emergency and critical care skills through exposure to varied presentations

Benefits

• Salary: up to £45 per hour, depending on experience
• 7 weeks pro rata annual leave
• Your birthday paid as a day off
• £1,500 CPD allowance plus 35 paid hours pro rata each year
• ECC certificate support: financial assistance and paid study leave
• RCVS fees, VECCS membership, and VDS indemnity cover
• Private medical insurance
• Employee wellbeing programme membership
• Enhanced sick pay and enhanced maternity policy (6 months full pay)
• Family-friendly policies: paternity and adoption pay schemes
• Paid volunteering days
• UK Standard Pension: 5% employee, 3% employer contribution
• Up to 50% discounted staff pet care
• Death in service benefit: two times annual salary
• Vets Now For You reward gateway offering discounts and cashback with retailers
• Optional AdvantEdge programme: 1 week hands-on training plus 20 hours flexible e-learning for new starters

About the Practice

Vets Now is a dedicated out-of-hours and emergency veterinary provider across the UK. The Southampton clinic is staffed by a highly skilled emergency team committed to providing urgent care when patients and their families need it most. The practice operates 24/7 emergency coverage and specialises in ECC cases, from routine urgent presentations to complex critical care.

Vets Now is part of the Vets Now Group and operates under a culture that prioritises staff wellbeing, clinical development, and team collaboration. The organisation invests significantly in training via its Edge programmes (Cutting Edge for new graduates with clinical foundation, and AdvantEdge for transitioning vets) and values flexibility in working patterns to support diverse career and lifestyle needs.