Associate Business Consultant

Job Description

Management Consultant

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Business Operations, Process & Transformation

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London |Full-time, permanent | Clinic and office based |Reporting to the Operations Director

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About Virtue Vets

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At Virtue Vets, we're reimagining what a visit to the vet should feel like. We're building a different kind of veterinary group across London, where exceptional clinical care is matched by genuine hospitality, beautiful spaces and a better experience for pets and the people who love them.

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We're growing quickly, with ambitious plans to open 50 clinics across the UK and expand internationally — so there's a real opportunity to join at an exciting stage and shape the future of modern veterinary care.

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The Role

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This is an internal consulting role at the centre of a scaling business. You will do inside Virtue Vets what you previously did for clients at a top-tier firm: frame the problem, get to the insight fast, design the solution, and then stay to implement it properly.

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Our estate is equipment-heavy, consumables-heavy, process-heavy and people-heavy, and clinical excellence and hospitality both depend on operations that run like clockwork. You will own how the business actually works day to day: the processes, the workflows, the standards, the systems that support them, and the data that tells us whether any of it is working. This is not a role run from a desk or a deck — you will spend real time in our clinics, and you will be measured on adoption and results rather than recommendations.

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Who We're Looking For

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You bring a winning mentality and an entrepreneurial instinct, both of which matter in a business that is still scaling. Challenges do not faze you, least of all the ones you have never met before.

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You trained at a top-tier management or operations consulting firm — McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Alvarez & Marsal, AlixPartners or equivalent — and you can still do the work yourself: structure an ambiguous problem, build the analysis, generate the insight and make the recommendation land. You have since proven yourself in a senior operational leadership role – within a premium, client-facing, multi-site environment such as healthcare-adjacent services, wellness, fitness or technology-enabled services with a physical estate.

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You hit the ground running and earn your team's respect just as quickly. You are exceptional at developing and implementing efficient, error-free and pragmatic business processes, and your project management is first-rate. You are a consummate problem solver who holds on to the details that matter while applying an 80/20 lens to chronic issues. You design workflows that technology can then automate.

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You have embedded operating models, standards and playbooks across multiple sites, driving adoption through leadership, coaching and accountability rather than documentation alone. You have led site-level leaders, built capability and turned standards into consistent day-to-day execution. You own KPIs, budgets and P&L performance, communicate and manage stakeholders exceptionally well, and lead confidently through ambiguity with a bias towards action.

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Key Responsibilities

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• Problem solving and insight. Take on the business's hardest operational problems, build the analysis yourself, and turn insight into decisions and business cases the leadership team can act on.

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• Process design. Map processes end to end and develop operating models, playbooks and SOPs that hold up across a growing estateS.

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• Operational excellence. Simplify complexity, remove rework and reduce cost to serve without compromising care or hospitality, driving consistency across all clinics.

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• Technology, AI and automation. Identify where technology removes effort, error or delay; lead system and vendor selection; own implementation through to adoption; and specify bespoke tooling where off-the-shelf will not do.

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• Project and programme management. Run multiple concurrent initiatives from concept to embedded implementation, on time, on budget and on standard, with clear owners and success measures.

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• Cross-functional partnership. Work with Clinical, Operations, Finance, Marketing, Property, IT and People teams, facilitate workshops, influence at all levels, and launch new clinics on a proven operating model.

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• Commercial performance. Define, track and improve the operational KPIs that drive clinical quality, client experience and profitability, and hold initiatives accountable to P&L impact.

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Essential Skills & Experience

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• Top-tier consulting background. Several years at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Alvarez & Marsal, AlixPartners or equivalent. This is a firm requirement.

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• Senior operational leadership. Area Director, Regional Director, District Leader, General Manager or equivalent in a premium, client-facing, multi-site environment.

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• Scale-up experience. Building processes and operating models from the ground up in a startup, scale-up or rapidly growing business.

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• Delivery, not just design. A track record of operational transformation and measurable business improvement.

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• Technology selection and delivery. Choosing, implementing and embedding operational systems and digital tools.

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• Analysis, insight and project management. Exceptional problem-solving skills and first-rate management of complex, cross-functional workstreams.

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• Commercial acumen and influence. Ownership of KPIs, budgets and P&L, with the confidence to challenge constructively at senior level.

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• Location and eligibility. London-based, willing to work across our clinics, with the right to work in the UK without sponsorship.

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Desirable

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Experience scaling from a handful of sites to a significantly larger estate; a background in veterinary, healthcare, hospitality or luxury retail; Lean, Six Sigma or Operational Excellence qualifications; MBA or equivalent.

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Why Join Virtue Vets?

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You will have unusually direct access to the CEO and Senior Management, a genuinely broad remit, and the freedom to make a real impact alongside passionate, talented colleagues. If you have spent your career recommending change and want to own the outcome instead, this role is built for you.

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Before You Apply

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• You have consulting experience at a top-tier management or operations consulting firm. This is essential.

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• You already have the unrestricted right to work in the UK. We are not able to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

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• You are based in, or able to reliably commute to, London. This is an office or clinic-based role, with no hybrid or remote working.

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• You genuinely care about improving the lives of pets and share our ambition to redefine veterinary care.

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