About this role
Cytopathology Manager – Hybrid Location: Exeter Department: Senior Leadership Team Reports to: CEO Contract: Full-time Working Pattern: Monday to Friday | Hybrid Working Available
Lead the Future of Veterinary Clinical Pathology
Are you an experienced, board-certified veterinary clinical pathologist looking for an opportunity to shape the future of diagnostic pathology? At Veterinary Pathology Group (VPG),part of Zoetis, we’re looking for an exceptional Cytopathology Manager to provide clinical leadership, inspire our pathology team, and drive excellence in veterinary diagnostics. This is a unique opportunity to combine your passion for diagnostic pathology with strategic leadership, helping us deliver market-leading pathology services to veterinary professionals across the UK and internationally. As a member of our Senior Leadership Team, you'll play a key role in developing our pathology services, supporting innovation, mentoring future specialists, and contributing to the long-term success of VPG and Zoetis.
About the Role This is a varied leadership position where approximately: 90% of time focused on leadership, people management, strategic development, resident training and quality assurance with 10% involvement in diagnostic pathology You'll act as the clinical figurehead for pathology within your designated laboratory, representing VPG Zoetis internally and externally while ensuring outstanding clinical quality, operational excellence, and an exceptional client experience. Working closely with the Laboratory Director and Executive Leadership Team, you'll help shape the future direction of pathology services across the organization.
What You'll Be Doing Clinical Leadership
• Deliver high-quality diagnostic pathology services while maintaining exceptional professional standards. • Provide expert clinical support to veterinary clients. • Ensure pathology reporting meets agreed turnaround times and quality standards. • Identify opportunities to improve productivity, quality, and service delivery. • Support the Laboratory Director in delivering an outstanding end-to-end laboratory service. • Contribute to research, innovation, education, and business development initiatives. • Support the training and development of Resident Pathologists.
Leadership & People Management You'll lead and develop a team of employed and contracted pathologists by:
• Providing day-to-day leadership and line management. • Conducting annual appraisals and regular one-to-one meetings. • Creating development plans for team members. • Managing performance, attendance, wellbeing, and conduct. • Leading recruitment and onboarding of new pathologists. • Assisting Logistics with pathology rotas, holiday planning, and contractor resources • Leading regular pathology team meetings. • Ensuring compliance with mandatory training and company policies.
Strategic Leadership As part of the Senior Leadership Team, you'll:
• Help shape VPG's pathology strategy. • Translate organizational objectives into practical action plans. • Drive continuous improvement across pathology services. • Support business growth through client engagement and service development. • Lead and contribute to company-wide pathology projects. • Build strong relationships across the organization and with external stakeholders.
About You We're looking for an experienced clinical leader who combines outstanding diagnostic expertise with excellent people management skills. You'll bring:
Essential
• Board Certification (or equivalent recognized specialist qualification) in Veterinary Clinical Pathology. • Significant experience in veterinary diagnostic pathology. • Previous experience leading or mentoring clinical teams. • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. • Strong organizational and decision-making abilities. • A collaborative leadership style with high emotional intelligence. • Commitment to clinical excellence and continuous professional development. • Experience managing complex caseloads while maintaining high-quality reporting standards. • Ability to build strong relationships with colleagues and clients.
Desirable
• Previous laboratory leadership experience. • Experience managing multidisciplinary teams. • Business development or commercial experience. • Experience contributing to research or published work. • Experience training residents or interns.
What Success Looks Like You'll know you're succeeding when:
• Your pathology team is engaged, motivated, and performing at a high level. • Diagnostic turnaround times consistently meet agreed service levels. • Clinical quality remains exceptional. • Client satisfaction remains high, with minimal complaints. • Recruitment, retention, and development of pathologists are successful. • Pathology resources are effectively managed. • Business growth and laboratory performance continue to improve. • VPG/Zoetis continues to be recognised as a leading provider of veterinary diagnostic services.
Zoetis core beliefs;
Our Colleagues make the difference
• Keep your selling skills sharp. Train, and retrain. • Be an expert on your solutions – know them inside and out, and continue to learn. • Use the experience from setbacks and failure to drive your future success.
Always do the right thing
• Sell what you know your customers need; what you know will work for them. • Help build the reputation of our brand by understanding and supporting the things that we stand for.
Customer obsessed
• Know your vets, know your farmers. Know more than just their names, know their business. • Establish effective and lasting relationships with customers that build loyalty to our brand.
Run it like you own it
• Ground all account plans in commercially sound thinking. • Deliver on your commitments to customers and colleagues. Do what you say you’ll do – and quicker and better.
We are one Zoetis
• Give the team timely information and support that helps them to deliver their role. • Know what’s going on around the business and talk about it to your customers. • Communicate across roles, across regions, across species.
Full time Regular Colleague Any unsolicited resumes sent to Zoetis from a third party, such as an Agency recruiter, including unsolicited resumes sent to a Zoetis mailing address, fax machine or email address, directly to Zoetis employees, or to Zoetis resume database will be considered Zoetis property. Zoetis will NOT pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume.
Zoetis will consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume to have been referred by the Agency free of any charges or fees. This includes any Agency that is an approved/engaged vendor but does not have the appropriate approvals to be engaged on a search. Notice: Zoetis Recruiters will contact candidates via email from an address ending in @zoetis.com and may also initially connect with candidates through LinkedIn, including LinkedIn InMail. Zoetis does not use Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or other web-based/generic email domains to communicate about job opportunities, interviews, or offers of employment. If you receive a recruitment-related email message claiming to be from Zoetis that does not come from @zoetis.com, please treat it as suspicious. For your security, do not reply, click links, open attachments, share personal or financial information, or send money in response to unexpected or questionable recruitment communications.