AEC is looking for a particular kind of emergency veterinarian.
Animal Emergency Care is looking to expand our team of Operating Veterinarians (oDVM). These are veterinarians who like both emergency surgery and emergency medicine.
We are looking for someone who can hold more than one truth at a time: the patient’s medical needs, the client’s reality, the team’s capacity, the limits of resources, and the next safe step. This role is for an experienced emergency veterinarian who can move toward complex situations without making the room smaller.
The candidate we hope to meet is clinically capable, emotionally steady, curious, direct, kind, and willing to help when help is needed. They are the person who wants to learn, who is ready for adventure, and who understands that emergency medicine asks for both skill and generosity.
Quick Details
· Hospital: Privately owned emergency hospital in Bellingham, Washington
· Ownership: Founded in 2002 by local veterinarians and still owned by 33 local veterinarians
· Referral context: Nearest after-hours specialty referral options are more than an hour away
· Role: Operating Veterinarian, Emergency Medicine and Surgery
· Schedule: Nights, weekends, and holidays required
· Full-time status: > 24 hours per week
· Recent oDVM census: 1,341.67 to 1,634.12 paid hours annually, or 25.8 to 31.4 average weekly hours
· Recent oDVM gross annual compensation: Approximately $171,890 to $221,906
Why AEC Is Different
Animal Emergency Care is a privately owned emergency hospital in Bellingham, Washington, founded in 2002 by local veterinarians to provide after-hours emergency care for the community. Today, AEC remains privately owned by 33 local veterinarians, many of whom are still connected to our referral network. We were built by the community, for the community, and that still shapes how we operate every day.
AEC is not a general practice with emergency hours. Emergency care is the work. Our nearest after-hours specialty options are more than an hour away, so clinical judgment, surgical readiness, communication, and team coordination matter here.
AEC has built a team model around emergency medicine. For every veterinarian, our hospital currently has approximately four people working alongside them on the floor and one working to support them off the floor:
- 1.6 licensed veterinary technicians
- 1.3 non-LVT medical professionals
- 1.1 veterinary advocates
- 1 administrative team member
All team members share the workload of their department. The ratios include decimals because more than one veterinarian works most shifts. Swing shifts generally host 2-3 veterinarians, day shifts host 2 veterinarians, and overnight shifts host 1-2 veterinarians.
We recognize that emergency medicine is not just medicine. It is communication, financial reality, access, timing, fear, grief, and decision-making all while under immense pressure. This is why AEC offers more pathways for clients to access care than any other veterinary hospital in our region. For our veterinarians, that means financial conversations are supported by systems, veterinary advocates, and real options, rather than being left entirely on the provider in the room.
AEC’s commitment to access does not stop at the hospital doors. Through free community veterinary wellness clinics, we provide preventive care and resource connections for families who may otherwise be unable to reach veterinary care. We invest in shared learning across the veterinary community and within our hospital. This includes spring and fall continuing education symposia that hosts around 50 lectures over two weeks per season. Both initiatives reflect our beliefs; care improves when people are supported before they are in crisis.
The Person We Are Looking For
Qualified candidates must have a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine or equivalent, an active or eligible Washington veterinarian license, an active or eligible DEA license, availability for nights, weekends, and holidays, and demonstrated proficiency through experience in the following scopes of practice.
Relevant surgical scope includes but may not be limited to:
- Exploratory laparotomy
- Abdominal and diaphragmatic hernia repair
- Enterotomy, anastomosis, and gastrotomy
- GDV rotation, gastropexy, and partial gastrectomy
- Splenectomy
- Cesarean and pyometra OVH/OVE
- Cystotomy
- Enucleation and ophthalmic globe reduction with tarsorrhaphy
- Abscess, wound, and laceration repair to include penetrating thoracic or abdominal wounds
Relevant clinical scope includes but may not be limited to the medical management of:
- Addisonian crisis
- Diabetic ketoacidosis and pancreatitis
- Urethral obstruction and acute kidney injury
- Congestive heart failure and acute respiratory distress
- Aspiration pneumonia and pleural space disease
- Heatstroke, anaphylaxis, and coagulopathy
- Sepsis, SIRS, and shock
- Seizure clusters or status epilepticus
- Acute abdomen, and hemoabdomen
- Gastroenteritis with dehydration or electrolyte derangement
- Autoimmune/immune mediated hemolytic anemia
- Dystocia and neonatal emergencies
- Trauma-associated medical stabilization
- Post-operative complications and pain crisis
- Toxin exposure with and without decontamination
- Humane end-of-life care and euthanasia.
The person we are looking for does not need every case to be simple before they begin. They can assess the room, organize the next step, communicate clearly, and keep moving. They can make decisions, teach in real time, receive feedback, and help the team find a path forward when the path is not obvious.
What This Role Does
The oDVM provides emergency medical and surgical care for canine and feline patients presenting through AEC’s emergency service. This veterinarian evaluates and stabilizes patients, develops diagnostic and treatment plans, performs emergency surgery within the expected scope of the position, manages hospitalized patients, communicates with clients, collaborates with team members, and coordinates transfer or referral when that is the safest path.
This role is not limited to surgery. The oDVM is a steady clinical presence for the whole room. They help the team prioritize competing needs, recognize changes in a patient’s status, provide clear medical decisions, and maintain patient care standards even during high-acuity, high-volume, or emotionally difficult moments.
The right candidate understands that emergency medicine often requires holding several realities at once. A patient may need surgery. A client may need time, clarity, or financial options. A technician may need direction. A veterinary advocate may need information. The hospital may need flow. The oDVM helps carry those realities, alongside their coworkers, without losing sight of the patient.
How AEC Honors and Supports This Work
AEC standardized its compensation structures so people holding the same position are evaluated using the same criteria. The system recognizes that a person’s value is not limited to the medical skills that qualify them for a role; it also lives in how they communicate, steady a room, support others, respond to pressure, and contribute to the greater organization.
Prospective candidates are encouraged to share their salary requirements. AEC can then evaluate those expectations using the same compensation framework used across the organization. Our recent oDVM internal census reflects the range in hours worked and compensation outcomes:
- Paid hours: 1,341.67 to 1,634.12 annually or 25.8 to 31.4 average weekly hours
- Gross annual compensation: approximately $171,890 to $221,906
We believe baseline employment structures should be clear. Access to full-time employment and its benefits start at 24 hours per week. Employees are paid for every hour worked, operations are structured to prevent team members from being routinely pulled back into work from home, and no one is ever required to sign an employment contract.
AEC knows health care should be accessible, and this is what drives our commitment to the 24-hour-per-week full-time status threshold. AEC is happy to report that 98% of our employees have access to health coverage through our employer-sponsored plan.
Full-time employees have access to:
- Regence health insurance, including three PPO plans and two HSA plans, with one of each 100% employer paid
- Regence vision insurance, 100% employer paid
- Regence Expressions dental insurance, 100% employer paid
- Principal life insurance, with benefit equivalent to annual salary, 100% employer paid
- Principal long-term disability insurance, 100% employer paid
- Principal accidental death and dismemberment insurance, 100% employer paid
AEC provides professional support that reflects the work we ask our full-time veterinarians to do:
- CE budget: $2,000 per year with carryover for two years, plus an additional $1,000 for CVPP and ABVP credentials
- Professional memberships: AVMA and VECCS
- VIN and Plumb’s subscriptions
- Licensure, DEA, and certification reimbursements
- AVMA PLIT insurance: $1 million per incident, $3 million aggregate, with $100,000 in license defense
- Secondary professional liability through umbrella policy
- Student loan repayment plan
- Paid time to volunteer with a cause important to you
- Employee pet care benefits, including complimentary in-house laboratory packages, euthanasia, and cremation benefits through AEC and professional discounts for care accessed through Boundary Bay Veterinary Specialty Hospital
Other employment structures are built into the system for every employee rather than treated as perks:
- On-call supplement: 25% paid scheduled hours in addition to hours worked
- Overtime differential: 50% over 40 hours per week regardless of exempt status
- Overnight differential: 10% for hours worked between 12:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.
- Holiday differential: 50% in addition to other applicable differentials
- Sick leave: 2.5% of worked hours returned in sick leave
- Vacation leave: 8.7% of worked hours returned in vacation leave
- Retirement match: 3% employer match of employee contributions
The Doctor We Keep Thinking About
There is a doctor we keep thinking about.
They walk into a room and notice what is happening before they speak. They see the patient, the family, the technician, the advocate, the estimate, the clock, the transfer distance, and the emotional temperature of the room. They do not need everything to be simple before they begin. They look for the next safe step.
They are the person who wants the hard case because there is something to learn. They are the person who stays kind when the answer is complicated. They are the person who knows that access to care, surgical readiness, communication, and team trust are all part of emergency medicine.
If that sounds like you, we would like to meet you.
Pay: $171,890.00 - $221,906.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Relocation assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
