Scottish Government
Head Veterinarian
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Job description
Looking to lead the veterinary and technical leadership team responsible for delivering meat Official Controls across Scotland?
The Head Veterinarian provides technical leadership to approximately 100 field-based staff delivering meat Official Controls within Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and reports to the Head of Operational Delivery. The role engages with external veterinary stakeholders, including Chief Veterinary Officers, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Scottish Government policy teams, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and academic institutions.
The Head Veterinarian contributes to veterinary policy matters and provides timely reports to FSS management and the Board to help shape the future delivery of Official Controls in Scotland. The role manages a range of technical portfolios, works closely with the FSA and other government departments (OGDs), and leads the publication of Official Controls guidance through the Scottish Manual for Official Controls.
Responsibilities
- Build meaningful strategic stakeholder relationships to maintain support for FSS policies relating to the delivery of meat Official Controls.
- Provide direction, support and definitive veterinary technical advice to colleagues and stakeholders as required.
- Develop and deliver learning and development opportunities to ensure that Authorised Officers (AOs) have the knowledge, skills and appropriate training to perform their duties effectively.
- Provide interpretation of management information and briefings in areas of responsibility, as required.
- Maintain professional knowledge and ensure staff are updated in a timely manner on any changes to Official Controls or legislation relevant to their roles.
- Provide specialist professional input into FSS operational policy development.
- Develop and deliver a recruitment outreach programme to ensure FSS has access to a supply of Official Veterinarians to meet future demand.
- Commission relevant veterinary research to address emerging meat-related public health issues and contribute to the design and delivery of FSS meat hygiene research as part of foodborne disease and surveillance strategies.
- Manage a cost centre in accordance with FSS and Scottish Government financial processes.
- As a member of the Operational Management Team, provide definitive veterinary advice in support of relevant operational initiatives and change programmes, including the audit and approval of Food Business Operators.
Qualifications
Veterinary Degree and Fellowship or Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Official Veterinarian qualification for meat Official Controls.
Success profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on. The Success Profile will include the Professional /Technical skills, Experience and Behaviours.
Technical / Professional Skills:
- A good understanding of State Veterinary Medicine and livestock farming in Scotland
- Connections and communication with stakeholders – Practitioner level
- Builds and maintains networks internally. Adopts a government wide perspective, aligning activity, making links across government and learning from others.
- Embeds a culture of open and transparent communication that stretches widely across government.
- Recognises the complexities and communicates the key messages in a simple, inclusive and accessible way to stakeholders. Promotes honest discussions where there are differences of opinion and is keen to receive feedback.
- Operational leadership and management - Practitioner Level
- Communicates a clear sense of purpose, provides a direction that stakeholders understand and engage with.
- Leads large, diverse teams with an appreciation of the interdependencies and with a sense of inclusivity.
- Establishes a culture of confidence in times of ambiguity and complexity which enables delivery of outcomes, often working within legal or regulatory frameworks.
- Thinks analytically, using trends Connections and communication with stakeholders – Practitioner Level
- Insights from data to support decision-making and forecasts.
- Makes decisions in complex environments using accurate and timely data and insights.
- Leads the development, design and commissioning of meaningful management information and dashboards (data outputs) to provide data and insights at pace to support service delivery and operational standards.
- Assures how data is used to drive decision making in a consistent way across the organisation.
- Is confident in weighing up competing data sets to ensure sound decision making across the organisation.
- Takes responsibility for the way data drives decision making and asks the right questions around data sets to focus attention.
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You can find out more about the skills required, here: ODP Competency Framework [https://www.odp.civilservice.gov.uk/skills-framework-new/core-odp-skills/]
Behaviours:
- Making Effective Decisions - Level 4
- Working Together - Level 4
- Communicating and Influencing - Level 4
- Managing a Quality Service - Level 4
Find out more about Success Profiles.
How to apply
Apply online, providing a CV and supporting statement (of no more than 1000 words) providing evidence of how you meet the behaviours, experience and technical skills listed in the Success Profile above. Both the CV and the supporting statement provided will be assessed against the criteria for the role.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.
Skilled Worker Sponsorship not being offered Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.
Initial applications will be sifted against the Technical/ Professional Skills listed above.
If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation of the Behaviours above.details of which will be shared with the relevant candidates in due course.
Assessments are scheduled for w/c 2nd November 2026 however this may be subject to change.
In the event of a high volume of applications, candidates will have their applications initially assessed against the required qualifications and the Operational leadership and management criteria above. Candidates who pass this initial sift will have their applications fully assessed against the listed criteria.
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In the event of a tied score at interview, performance in the Working together Behaviour criteria will be applied to determine merit order.
Recruitment Principles As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
About us
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has a wide and diverse remit which covers all aspects of the food chain which can impact on public health – aiming to protect consumers from food safety risks and promote healthy eating. Our mission is to be Scotland’s leading authority on food safety, standards and healthy eating; using data and evidence to provide assurance and advice that inspires consumer confidence and improves public health.
Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, observing the Civil Service Code and working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.
We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.
As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Working pattern
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week and we offer a range of flexible working options depending on the needs of the role, including Flexi-leave. This post is a full-time role, but we welcome applications from staff with different working patterns and proposed working patterns will be assessed against the business requirements for this post.
Location
This post is based at a Scottish Government office anywhere in Scotland and will require travel to different FSS-approved establishments and the FSS and other Scottish Government offices, with likelihood of overnight accommodation needed at times.
Security checks
Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).
You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, and read about the Government Vetting Charter, or about all the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.
Internal candidates may need to gain higher security clearance than they currently hold if successful in their application.
Equality statement
We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.
Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.
Further information
Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.
Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.
Apply before 23:59 on 25th October 2026. This post is open to internal candidates and Common Citizenship Organisations only. External candidates are not eligible to apply for this vacancy.
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