Veterinary Lead
Owns clinical care, disease surveillance, welfare, and rewilding fitness for every animal in the League's program.
Role Summary
The Veterinary Lead is the League's marine veterinarian — owning clinical care, disease surveillance, welfare, and rewilding fitness for every animal in the program, from broodstock in the Broodstock Ark to recovering strandings in the holding systems and pressure-adapted species in Abyssal Holding. Working alongside the Husbandry Lead and the Restoration & Rewilding program, the Veterinary Lead authors and owns the AE-VET health protocols that the entire husbandry chain runs on, certifies release fitness before any animal is handed to rewilding, and stands as the responder when Field Recovery brings an injured cetacean off hostile water in the dark. The role is accountable for the welfare standard that justifies the League's non-captivity doctrine, for keeping zoonotic and reportable disease out of the Ark, and for the gravest clinical call any of this work demands — to treat, to release, or to end suffering. The science of keeping these animals alive is the proof that the League deserves to defend them.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide and direct clinical veterinary care — diagnosis, treatment, surgery, and anaesthesia — across broodstock, recovering, and protected animals in the Broodstock Ark, holding, and Abyssal Holding systems.
- Author, own, and revise the AE-VET health protocols and certify their adoption across Husbandry, Field Recovery, and Restoration.
- Run the disease-surveillance and biosecurity program, screening for zoonotic and reportable disease and syncing diagnostic records to NEREID and the Universal Marine Registry.
- Certify rewilding-release fitness with the Restoration & Rewilding Lead, gating every release on a documented clinical and welfare assessment.
- Respond as on-call veterinary lead to at-sea and shore animal emergencies, including injured-animal recovery handed up by Field Recovery from hostile water.
- Uphold and adjudicate the welfare standard underpinning the non-captivity doctrine, owning the clinical decision to treat, release, or euthanise.
- Maintain the controlled-drug, anaesthetic, and diagnostic-reagent record and declare the veterinary suite fit-for-purpose before casework.
Required Qualifications
- Veterinary qualification with aquatic, marine-mammal, or zoological practice experience.
- Clinical competence in fish, invertebrate, and marine-mammal medicine and anaesthesia.
- Working command of disease surveillance, biosecurity, and zoonotic-risk management.
- Commitment to welfare-first, release-oriented practice under a non-captivity doctrine.
- Composure to make and own end-of-life and release clinical decisions.
Preferred Qualifications
- Marine-mammal or protected-species clinical and field-rescue experience.
- Aquatic pathology, toxicology, or diagnostic-laboratory training.
- Familiarity with the Broodstock Ark systems, the AquaLink mesh, and the AE-VET protocol set.
- At-sea or field-stabilisation experience under austere conditions.
Certifications
Curricula are delivered through the Training Academy; currency is tracked on the HR training matrix.
| Certification | Status at Hire | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Veterinary Licence / Practising Registration | Required | Annual |
| Aquatic & Marine-Mammal Clinical Medicine | Required | 24 months |
| Zoonotic-Disease & Biosecurity | Required ≤ 60 d | Annual |
| Controlled-Substance Handling & Anaesthesia | Preferred | Annual |
Physical & Hazard Requirements
- Handle large, stressed, venomous, or diseased animals under clinical and welfare protocol.
- Pass annual biosecurity, zoonotic-exposure, and immersion-survival medical.
- Work safely with anaesthetics, controlled drugs, and biohazardous tissue under containment.
- Respond on-call to shore and at-sea animal emergencies at any hour, and carry the clinical and emotional load of welfare and end-of-life decisions.
Compensation Band
Career Path
The Veterinary Lead (O-4) advances to Breeding Program Director (O-5) or laterals to the Registry Director track where clinical science meets the registry. The role partners daily with the Husbandry Lead and the Restoration & Rewilding Lead on release fitness, and answers Field Recovery Specialist call-outs for injured animals from the field.
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