Lead Certified Veterinary Technician - Metropolitan Veterinary Center
Chicago, IL 60605
About the Job
Metropolitan Veterinary Center is seeking a
Lead Certified Veterinary Technician
To Lead our Pack!
Are you a seasoned vet tech looking for that next step?
At Metro & Mission Vet Partners, we’re searching for leaders like you to not only bring your skills to our pack, but to guide and mentor our team! In a supportive, collaborative, and fun environment, you’ll have the opportunity to impact the lives of pets and teammates alike.
Take the Lead on…
• Setting Standards in Patient Care – Your experience means you know what top-notch care looks like.
• Streamlining Hospital Operations – Help improve efficiency, ensuring we’re always ready for anything.
Location:
Clinic Hours:
M-F
7a-7p
Sat
8a-6p
Sun
CLOSED
Compensation:
$30-33/hr
This Candidate MUST be a Credentialed Veterinary Technician
Our Ideal Candidate will have 5+ years experience in a clinical setting- leadership experience highly valued!
Additional Perks for Lead Technicians:
• Leadership Role – Help shape a supportive team culture where everyone thrives.
• Mentorship Opportunities – Train and inspire fellow technicians, sharing your expertise.
• Enhanced Professional Development – Access to advanced leadership training, exclusive CE, and growth pathways.
Working With Us Means...
- Confidence Around Pets – Whether fluffy, feathery, or scaly, animals just get you.
- Hearing and Communication Skills – You can catch client questions and patient sounds, no problem!
- Great Vision – Whether reading records or watching for that sneaky tail flick, you’re sharp.
- Love for Learning & Growth – We offer career and personal development at every stage.
- Team-First Mentality – Here, collaboration is king (or queen!). No lone wolves allowed.
Benefits that’ll Make You Wag Your Tail
- 80 Hours of PTO for All Credentialed Techs – You’ve earned those vacay days!
- 48 Hours of CE PTO + $500 for Conferences – Keep those skills sharp with continued education.
- 401k with 4% Company Match – Starting Day One!
- Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance – For you and your family’s peace of mind.
- Short & Long-Term Disability, Life, Critical Illness, and Accidental Insurance Options – We’ve got you covered.
- Annual Scrub Allowance – Look good, feel good.
- Discounts for Your Pets – Because your fur-babies deserve the best too.
- Employee Assistance Program – 24/7 access to help with mental health, legal advice, financial planning, and more.
Essential Functions:
The following duties and responsibilities generally reflect the expectations of this job but are not intended to be all inclusive. The essential functions include the most significant tasks and are the essence of why the role exists; removing an essential duty would fundamentally alter the role.
- Maintain and uphold Core Values and Mission Statement of MVP.
- Provide guidance to the support staff to assure that the shift flows well.
- Mentor team members for career advancement and personal development towards goals.
- Provide input to the hospital manager for 360-degree employee performance evaluations.
- Provide patient care under the supervision and direction of a DVM.
- Maintain excellent client communication.
- Record all pertinent medical, client and case related information in the patient record accurately with appropriate grammar, terms, and accurate information.
- Review medical records, estimates or discharge instructions with clients.
- Answer client’s inquiries about basic animal care questions and routine procedures; handle client’s medical questions with confidence and direct to veterinarians when appropriate.
- Provide client care for scheduling appointments, taking payments, and checking in clients.
- Answer the phones in a courteous and informative way.
- Provide feedback and changes to the training program.
- Take part in jobs shadows or working interviews as necessary.
Additional Functions of Lead:
1. Excellent Patient Care
compassionate & clean care of all outpatients, surgery patients, and inpatients
delegation and training of coworkers
seamless communication with coworkers about priorities of patients
2. High level of client education
desire to comfort & educate clients
patiently listening & accurately answering questions to the best of your ability
uses handouts and other resources for clients to refer to in follow up to your direct education
training coworkers on the most important aspects of medication side effects, home care instructions, monitoring, and follow-up
3. Controlled Drug Management
best system for tracking medication use
monthly check on accuracy of logs
maintaining security of control drug cabinet and limiting access
4. Aid practice manager in hospital inventory, particularly but not limited to:
injectable drugs
control drugs
surgery supplies
5. Care and maintenance of dental and surgical equipment:
Set standards of making surgery packs; keep packs organized & stocked
sharpen tools as needed; dispose of tools if necessary
train coworkers on cleaning and packing surgery instruments, making drapes, use and maintenance of autoclave & ultrasonic machine
train coworkers on use & maintenance of other surgery equipment including suture and blades, as well as cauterytup, suction etc
6. Work in all areas of hospital performance aside from technician skills including answering phones, booking appointments, scheduling clients, etc. Manage and contribute to the overall flow of the clinic.
7. Make recommendations to the Practice Manager (or Medical Director in absence of PM) concerning personnel matters, disciplinary actions and follow through. Provide follow up feedback to direct supervisor to help them continue to coach team members as needed.
8. Provide guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance. Mediate interpersonal problems and address concerns from Technicians and veterinary support staff.
Conduct monthly departmental meetings and schedule in-service meetings as deemed appropriate and necessary
Weekly or biweekly check-in meetings with each member of technical staff (these should be <15 min or so)
9. Create or co-create technical schedules that align with doctor, team, surgery, and outpatient needs while monitoring overtime and payroll costs. Arrange to cover shifts by either seeking coverage by technical team or covering shifts yourself.
10.
Inform the Practice Manager and Medical Lead of any regulatory issues.
Facilitate technical team members’ breaks and lunches.
Manage down time in clinic with cleaning, restocking supplies and rooms, as well as preparation for future appointments and surgeries
Participate in a minimum of once weekly meetings with direct supervisor to discuss overall hospital health and departmental needs.
Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Must be able to conduct oneself in a confident and professional manner with clients even when situations are stressful and/or focused on individual tasks.
- Ability to demonstrate patience and composure in stressful situations, and ability to handle a fast-paced environment.
- Genuinely enjoys working with animals and can deal with them even when they are stressed, ill or in pain.
- Ability to stay calm and efficient during a medical crisis.
- Ability to give SQ, IM and IV injections.
- Knowledge of usage, dosage, and common side-effects for commonly used prescription drugs and ability to readily explain them to the clients.
- Knowledge of the common anesthesia and recovery states and ability to alert veterinarians when symptoms change or when concerns arise with hospitalized patients.
- Knowledge of heartworm and external parasite preventives to promote client education and sales.
- Ability to properly extubate, monitor temperature and recover a patient from anesthesia.
- Ability to navigate the practice management software addressing concerns and providing technical support to all departments.
- Writing skills are effective, efficient, and ability to clearly state the objective.
- Computer knowledge required; comfortable with Word, iOS, Windows, practice management software, and use of communication tools such as marketing program and email.
- Excellent communication skills.
- Ability to meet deadlines and exceed expectations.
- Strong communication, leadership, and motivation skills. Has the ability to effectively solve problems dealing with team member conflict to personnel issues and performance. Has the ability to direct, guide and assist a group of individuals.
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing client and personal services. This includes client needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of client satisfaction.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Possess exceptional interpersonal communication skills.
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Working alongside Practice Manager to address negative feedback on NPS and celebrate positive feedback.
- Ability to work independently on assigned tasks as well as to accept direction on given assignments.
- Perform or oversee routine maintenance on equipment and determine when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Knowledge of the procedures used for receiving, treating, and scheduling patients, ordering medical supplies, and requesting laboratory tests.
- Knowledge of the use, care, and storage of veterinary instruments, materials, and equipment.