Medical Director

As an experienced veterinarian and the Medical Director of our ASPCA Community Veterinary Clinic, you’ll shape clinical standards and lead a mission-driven medical team expanding access to high-quality care for pets and families who need it most.

This role combines meaningful impact, hands-on practice, and sustainable work-life balance — with no sales pressure, revenue targets, on-call shifts, overnights, or after-hours emergencies.

You’ll focus on medical leadership, preventive care, mentorship, and high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgery while leading with purpose in the community.

What You’ll Do

The Medical Director serves as the site’s senior medical leader, advancing high quality, high volume care, developing veterinary talent, and ensuring consistent implementation of Community Medicine (CM) standards. You will directly supervise veterinarians in the clinic, partner with Medical Managers and regional leaders, and help deliver excellent patient and client experiences that maximize our community impact.

This role blends leadership with hands-on clinical work, including preventive care, treatment of minor illnesses and injuries, and high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgery. You’ll help ensure daily practices, policies, and protocols support safe, compassionate, consistent care.

This position operates within a matrix reporting structure. The Medical Director reports to both the on-site Veterinary Practice Director and the Community Medicine Regional Medical Director. They also work closely with the Regional Director of Nursing and the Regional Director of Operations.

Where and When You’ll Work

This is an on-site position primarily based at the Carson ASPCA Community Veterinary Clinic located at 16300 S. Figueroa Street Gardena, CA 90248. Occasional flexibility in reporting to other ASPCA locations throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area may be required based on operational need.

Enjoy flexible scheduling options, including a choice of four 8-hour days, five 8-hour days, or four 10-hour days per week - paid breaks included!

Shifts are designed to support work-life balance with Monday through Friday daytime hours only, no nights or weekends required

Schedules are subject to change at the sole discretion of the ASPCA.

Ability and willingness to travel up to 5% of the time.

What you’ll get

Compensation

Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of factors, including but not limited to education, training, experience, location, business needs, internal equity, market demands or budgeted amount for the role.

The target hiring range is for new hire offers only, and staff compensation may increase beyond the maximum hiring range based on performance over time. The maximum of the hiring range is reserved for candidates with the highest qualifications and relevant experience.

The expected hiring salary range for this role is set forth below and may be modified in the future.

The target hiring range for this role is $198,000 - $210,000 annually.

This position is eligible for a signing and retention bonus.

Benefits

At the ASPCA, you don’t have to choose between your passion and making a living. Our comprehensive benefits package helps ensure you can live a rewarding life at work and at home. Our benefits include but are not limited to:

Flexible time off that includes 4 weeks of vacation time, 1 week of paid personal time to observe the days that mean the most to you, plus sick and bereavement time, paid parental leave, and company paid holidays

Competitive financial incentives and retirement savings including veterinary state license fee reimbursement, Veterinary Information Network (VIN) membership, and a 401(k) plan with generous employer contributions — we match dollar for dollar up to 4% and provide an additional 4% contribution toward your future each year.

Robust professional development opportunities, 3 paid days for Continuing Education and a $1,500 CE Stipend. We offer an ongoing learning environment, including structured mentorship from experienced veterinarians and rounds to share ideas with colleagues across the country. We are one of the largest and most impactful animal welfare organizations in the world, so you will always have a strong team to lean on and cheer you on.

Affordable health coverage, including medical, employer-paid dental, and optional vision coverage, as well as employer-paid life and long-term disability insurance.

Who We Are

Have you ever wondered what happens to cats and dogs whose owners are unable to afford veterinary care? We did.

The ASPCA’s Community Medicine (CM) team provides veterinary care to support the welfare of animals and their people through our stationary and mobile veterinary clinics, serving the most underserved communities in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

We help pet owners overcome barriers to care, bringing high quality medical services directly to the communities that need us most and partially or fully subsidizing the cost of basic and preventive care.

CM treats people and pets with dignity and respect, assisting pet owners in making informed decisions about their pets’ health and wellbeing regardless of their financial circumstances.

When you come to work at the ASPCA, you join a team of over 1,000 dedicated colleagues with deep knowledge, skills, and passion for the animals we serve.

Responsibilities

Responsibility buckets are listed in general order of importance, and include, but are not limited to:

Medical Leadership

Ensure high-quality, high-volume medicine, surgery, and nursing care are provided at the ASPCA’s CVC according to CM’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines, working in concert with the Regional Medical Director, Regional Director of Nursing, and onsite Medical Managers.

Establish clear clinical expectations, review performance and outcome data, identify gaps or trends, and implement corrective actions with defined owners and timelines.

Ensure that all medical staff receive training and have mastered the skills to handle patients in a low stress manner, and that they implement these handling techniques consistently.

Ensure all medical staff are trained and demonstrate competency in low-stress patient handling; address inconsistent practice through coaching, retraining, or performance management.

Ensure clinic operations staff understand and consistently perform their role in creating a calm environment that supports patients’ behavioral and mental health.

Shape, champion, and support the adoption of new medical protocols in partnership with regional medical and nursing leadership; lead clinic-level implementation through clear communication, training, change management, and follow-up.

Train, assess, and mentor veterinarians to provide preventative care and treat common conditions on an outpatient basis following CM protocols, concentrating on signalment, medical history, and physical exam to guide decision making and conserve resources.

Train, assess, and mentor veterinarians in high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) techniques.

Ensure veterinary student externs, ASPCA interns, and residents receive consistent instruction in Community Medicine protocols and philosophy; develop clinic veterinarians’ mentoring capability.

Maintain a visible floor presence, make timely decisions about daily clinic flow, provide real-time feedback, and resolve or escalate barriers to safe, efficient care.

Serve as the responsible veterinarian for the clinic’s DEA certificate and ensure secure storage, accurate inventory, compliant documentation, discrepancy investigation, and timely reporting for controlled substances.

Model clinical excellence and maintain credibility through direct practice as a PPC doctor and HQHVSN surgeon treating cats and dogs as both a scheduled shift and fill-in coverage as needed

Perform pre-surgery physical examinations on all surgical candidates; perform 30 - 40 high quality, high volume spay/neuter surgical procedures per spay/neuter clinic day with the daily number based on patient and clinic variables

Provide compassionate, quality preventive and basic care to patients in underserved areas, overseeing all aspects of veterinary care during a clinic day including physical examination, point of care diagnostics, treatment recommendations and delivery, prescribing of medications and discharge information.

• Diagnose and treat post-surgical complications on an outpatient basis
• Triage and refer cases that do not fall within the Community Medicine parameters of care as appropriate
• Provide compassionate end of life care and euthanasia when it is a humane option.

Make and document clinic-level decisions consistent with Community Medicine’s limited-practice parameters, including referrals, management of post-operative complications, and eligibility for additional client or patient support through ASPCA programs such as the One ASPCA Fund.

Audit medical records for sound decision-making and complete, accurate documentation. When necessary, coach direct reports and verify sustained improvement.

Support internal ASPCA departments, such as Adoptions and Kitten Nursery (NYC) and LA Feline Programs (LA) and external partners including local municipal shelter systems, through provision of spay/neuter surgery and services, being flexible to the needs of each.

Collaborate with veterinary colleagues across the ASPCA, share lessons learned, and follow through on commitments that advance the organization’s mission and medical standards.

People Leadership

Directly supervise 3–5 veterinarians and be accountable for team performance, engagement, development, conduct, and coverage. Set clear role-specific expectations, support professional growth, and foster trust.

Empower veterinarians to make confident, informed decisions within Community Medicine protocols and available client options using sound clinical judgment, accurate documentation, and client-centered communication.

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