Vet Partners are a group of vet practices and businesses across the UK, working in true partnership to help keep pets healthy and happy.
Their journey started in 2015 with three practices, the CEO and founder was a vet herself and collaborate with other experienced veterinary professionals, to create a caring group of veterinary practices and businesses with a welcoming, family feel, guided by people with extensive experience of practice life and pet care. This spans across, veterinary practices and veterinary business such as nursing schools, laboratories and pet crematoriums.
Today they are proud to have developed a supportive group of over 850 sites across the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal and Ireland with 12000 employees globally. Sharing a commitment to treating every animal like one of their own, whilst offering their own individual set of services to meet the needs of the local communities they serve.
In the UK, Vet Partners presence is based in York where their veterinary teams receive centralised support in all areas, from finance to IT and marketing, as well as fantastic benefits, training and investment, meaning they can focus on what really matters: delivering outstanding care to your pets.
Due to continued growth and the requirement to develop new markets, Elevation Recruitment are partnering with Vet Partners to recruit a Group Digital Director. This is a key role for the business at a global and group level.
Role: Group Digital Director
Reporting to: Chief Marketing Officer
Location: York based, with hybrid working
The Role:
As Group Digital Director, you will lead the optimisation, governance, and future evolution of the group’s digital ecosystem, spanning 400+ websites across 9 European countries to drive client acquisition, engagement, retention, and long-term value, while defining the next generation of digital touchpoints, including the strategic application of AI and emerging technologies.
As Group Digital Director, you will hold end-to-end ownership of the group’s digital experience and platforms, setting the vision, strategy, and execution that ensures digital is a driver of growth through excellent client.
Operating at group level, you will balance strong central leadership with effective local execution, creating scalable digital frameworks that enable market responsiveness while maintaining performance, consistency, and security. This role requires a seasoned digital leader experienced in managing complex, multi-market digital estates and driving transformation at scale.
Responsibilities
* Define and own the group-wide digital vision and roadmap, aligned to enterprise strategy and client needs.
* Establish digital as a key support of client acquisition and retention.
* Define the future digital ecosystem, including websites, platforms, tools, data, and emerging technologies such as AI-driven personalisation, automation, and experience optimisation.
* Act as the group authority on digital innovation, experience design, and platform evolution.
Digital Client Experience & Optimisation
* Lead the continuous optimisation of the group’s 400+ websites across 9 countries, ensuring they deliver best-in-class user experience, performance, accessibility, and conversion.
* Define client journey across all digital touchpoints, ensuring seamless, intuitive, and consistent experiences.
* Drive data-led optimisation across acquisition, engagement, and retention, using insight to prioritise investment and improvement.
* Ensure digital experiences reflect brand, trust, and regulatory requirements across markets.
Multi-Market Governance & Platform Leadership
* Design and implement a scalable digital governance model, balancing central standards with local market flexibility.
* Establish clear decision rights, platform standards, operating models, and KPIs across countries and brands.
* Lead platform consolidation, rationalisation, and optimisation where appropriate to reduce complexity and improve performance.
* Ensure strong oversight of digital risk, security, compliance, and resilience across the estate in close collaboration with IT.
* Lead the identification, testing, and deployment of AI-enabled and emerging digital capabilities to enhance client experience, operational efficiency, and personalisation.
* Define future digital touchpoints and interaction models, including conversational interfaces, self-service, automation, and intelligent content delivery.
* Partner with IT and Operations teams to ensure innovation is scalable, secure, and value-driven.
* Build a culture of experimentation, learning, and continuous improvement across digital teams.
Performance, Insight & Value Creation
* Own the digital performance framework, defining KPIs across traffic, conversion, engagement, retention, and experience quality.
* Use analytics and insight to drive optimisation.
* Lead and develop digital teams, with influence across countries and matrixed relationships.
* Partner closely with Brand, Practice Marketing, IT, Data, Operations, and country leadership to deliver aligned, end-to-end client experiences.
* Build strong capability, ways of working, and accountability across markets.
Skills & Experience needed to be successful in this role:
* Extensive senior-level experience leading large-scale digital platforms and client experience across multi-market or global environments.
* Proven track record of managing and optimising complex digital estates at scale (multi-site, multi-country, multi-brand).
* Strong expertise in digital acquisition, conversion optimisation, UX/CX, analytics, and performance marketing ecosystems.
* Demonstrated experience defining and deploying AI-driven or advanced digital capabilities in a commercial, client-facing context.
* Experience operating at senior level, with the ability to influence, challenge, and advise senior stakeholders.
Success Measures
* Improved digital acquisition, conversion, and retention performance across all markets.
* A simplified, high-performing, and scalable digital platform ecosystem.
* Consistent, high-quality digital client experiences across 9 countries.
* Tangible value creation through digital optimisation, innovation, and AI adoption.
* Strong alignment and collaboration between central and local teams, with digital embedded as a strategic driver.
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