Lead Veterinary Surgeon - Small Animal

St Austell, Cornwall, England
Primary Care - Vet Surgeon – Small Animal /
Penmellyn Vets, St Austell [1802] /
On-site
Up to £70,000 FTE DOE
Up to £5000 relocation allowance - if you're looking to move to the area, please get in touch.

We are looking for a brilliant, enthusiastic and dedicated vet to lead, develop and invigorate one of our satellite surgeries. 

Penmellyn Vets is a six-site practice based in mid Cornwall. We truly believe that this is the best part of the country, with sunshine (sometimes), amazing coastline (always) and lovely people! We have a central hospital in St Columb Major, surrounded by satellite surgeries in St Austell, Newquay, Pool, Bodmin and Padstow. We have superb facilities and operate both a referral and a first opinion service. Our vet team is second to none, with certificate holders/ advanced practitioners in orthopaedic and soft tissue surgery, emergency and critical care, cardiology and medicine. We also think we have the best nursing team in the country.

Proud to Be Part of IVC Evidensia

At IVC Evidensia, we’re driven by the passion and commitment of our people - across clinical, operational, and support teams. With over 2,500 clinics and hospitals in 20 countries and around 41,000 employees, we work together to care for around 25,000 animals every day. United by a shared purpose - Healthy Animals, Happy Owners - we’re proud to champion long-term animal health and welfare through the dedication of every individual across our international network. 

Find Your Future With Penmellyn Vets

As a lead vet, we would expect you to be primarily or entirely based at one of our satellite surgeries, working 4 days per week, with a 1:4 share of weekends. You would be responsible for managing the team (which should be easy, as we think our team are superb!), looking after our clients, maintaining the ethos of the practice and using your own ideas and enthusiasm to develop, build and grow your surgery. In terms of your clinical work, we would expect you to be comfortable with consulting and routine surgery, dentistry and diagnostic work. This would be rewarded with an excellent salary package for the right candidate. You should have a good skillset and some experience, but we value personality and enthusiasm just as much (if not more) and so, if you think that this just might be the role for you, please get in touch!


You Matter to Us – Your Benefits at a Glance

Work-life Balance & Wellbeing
*6.6 weeks’ holiday including bank holidays – plus your birthday off
*Private medical insurance 
*Enhanced family-friendly leave and pay 
*24/7 confidential Employee Assistance Programme 

Development 
*£1,250 CPD allowance + 40 hours paid CPD 
*Certificate and advanced learning support & Access to Vetlexicon online resources  
*World leading IVC Evidensia Training Centres
*£1,250 annual Care Fund for every vet 
 
Professional Memberships 
*BVA membership 
*VDS cover 
*RCVS fees

Colleague Benefits 
*Cycle to Work and Green Car schemes (eligibility applies) 
*Retail discounts and cashback offers 
*Reduced-cost veterinary care for your own pets  

Apply today or get in touch for an informal, confidential chat. 

£0 - £70,000 a year
Salary up to £70,000 DOE FTE
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.