Director Of Nursing

What You’ll Do

Set and Hold the Nursing Standard

Refine and expand our nursing standards and protocols with the CMO and clinical quality leadership, keeping them current, evidence-based, and aligned to AAHA standards.

Own our nursing quality audits and skills benchmarks, and equip Practice Managers to know what "good" looks like.

Close the loop on gaps through action plans with Practice Managers, targeted trainer support, and escalation to regional operations and medical leadership.

Lead nursing convergence for new openings and integrating practices as part of our broader clinical integration work.

Build and Lead the Clinical Nurse Trainer Program

Own the program end to end, including scope, selection and promotion criteria, training, and metrics.

Create its operating structure: training shift scheduling, shift agendas, and accountability reporting.

Deploy trainers where they have the most impact: new hire onboarding (when their home location cannot support), practice openings, integrations, and practices below standard.

Own the Nursing Career Ladder and Talent Pipeline

First priority: update and own a single Small Door nursing ladder with titles and levels from assistant to nursing leadership, state-by-state scope of practice for assistants, and a skills-verified promotion process.

Own the level definitions and clinical skills screen used in recruiting, and build relationships with schools and externship programs, in partnership with Talent and People.

Grow credentialing pathways for assistants and in-house advanced skills training where regulations allow, and use fair, transparent promotion to drive retention.

Time Allocation and Work Model

Hybrid, with roughly 75% of time in the field across all practices.

Up to 50% travel to all practices

What You Bring

Credentialed veterinary nurse or technician (LVT, CVT, or RVT) in good standing.

7+ years of veterinary nursing experience, including 3+ years leading nursing across multiple practices or at a regional, program, or director level.

Operations experience creating, executing, and scaling programs, and leading through influence.

Experience designing career ladders, competency frameworks, or skills-based promotion processes.

A track record in nursing training, recruitment, and retention.

Strong command of clinical nursing standards across general practice, including surgery and anesthesia.

Preferred

Experience standardizing nursing care across practices or markets, including through openings or integrations.

Experience designing competency-based anesthesia training; VTS certification is a plus.

Who You Are

A nursing leader with clinical credibility and executive presence, who leads through influence.

An operator and systems builder who turns strategy into scalable programs.

A people and talent developer who raises the standard without diminishing morale.

A business-minded leader with the financial literacy to connect nursing decisions to labor costs, productivity, and practice performance.

What Success Looks Like

A single Small Door Vet nursing career ladder is adopted across all practices.

The Clinical Nurse Trainer program is live and deployed in every market.

One set of nursing standards is in place, with quality audits running consistently and gaps resolved.

New and integrating practices reach our nursing standard quickly.

Strong nurse retention and internal promotion.

More LVT hires and more assistants becoming credentialed.