Director Of Nursing

Small Door Veterinary • New York City, NY

25d • Hybrid

About The Position

Small Door is hiring a senior nursing leader to establish consistent nursing standards and career development across its veterinary practices. The Director of Nursing owns nursing protocols, quality audits, skills benchmarks, and the accountability process for addressing gaps, working with Practice Managers and regional leadership. The role also builds and leads the Clinical Nurse Trainer program and owns the nursing career ladder and talent pipeline, in partnership with Talent and People. Practice Managers manage nursing teams; the Director leads through standards, training, and career pathways.

The role is hybrid, with roughly 75% of time spent in the field across practices and up to 50% travel to all practices. Small Door describes itself as a membership-based veterinary care organization offering routine, primary, and urgent care, and says its combined organization will span more than 55 clinics following its merger with Bond Vet.

Requirements

• Credentialed veterinary nurse or technician (LVT, CVT, or RVT) in good standing.
• At least 7 years of veterinary nursing experience.
• At least 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.
• Clinical credibility, executive presence, and the ability to lead through influence.
• Ability to turn strategy into scalable programs and develop people and talent while raising standards without diminishing morale.
• Financial literacy to connect nursing decisions to labor costs, productivity, and practice performance.

Nice To Haves

• Experience standardizing nursing care across practices or markets, including through openings or integrations.
• Experience designing competency-based anesthesia training.
• VTS certification.

Responsibilities

• Refine and expand nursing standards and protocols with the CMO and clinical quality leadership, keeping them current, evidence-based, and aligned to AAHA standards.
• Own nursing quality audits and skills benchmarks, and equip Practice Managers to understand the expected standard.
• Address performance gaps through action plans with Practice Managers, targeted trainer support, and escalation to regional operations and medical leadership.
• Lead nursing convergence for new clinic openings and integrating practices as part of clinical integration work.
• Own the Clinical Nurse Trainer program, including its scope, selection and promotion criteria, training, and metrics.
• Create the trainer program's operating structure, including training-shift scheduling, shift agendas, and accountability reporting.
• Deploy trainers to support onboarding where a new hire's home location cannot provide support, practice openings, integrations, and practices below standard.
• Update and own a unified nursing career 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 career-level definitions and the clinical skills screen used in recruiting.
• 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.
• Use fair and transparent promotion processes to support retention.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with a 4% company match
• Generous paid time off
• Parental leave
• Company-wide holidays
• Commuter benefits
• Monthly health and wellness stipend
• Discounted veterinary care for loved ones
• Growth opportunities
• Opportunity to make an impact on the people around you
• Collaborative group of people who live the company's core values and have your back

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed