BEGHR sources and screens candidates against your clinical and employment requirements. Receive a shortlist of 3–5 candidates, with billing against agreed search milestones and a 45-day replacement provision under the agreed terms. BEGHR handles client invoices and account questions. Your practice makes the hiring decision.
Define the Memphis work location
Name the street address, municipality and county. Memphis is the large central city, while Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Lakeland, Arlington and Millington are separate Shelby County municipalities, and Atoka, Munford, Covington, Oakland, Somerville and Piperton are separate Tipton and Fayette county places. Cordova, Raleigh, Hickory Hill, Whitehaven, East Memphis and Midtown are neighborhoods inside the City of Memphis. The Memphis metropolitan statistical area also reaches into Mississippi and Arkansas, and coverage on this site is limited to Tennessee, because a hospital in another state falls under a different licensing authority.
Define the region before defining the candidate
A regional leadership search should specify the number and location of practices, reporting relationships and required travel. Explain whether the leader has clinical governance responsibilities, commercial responsibilities or both. A regional title can cover very different jobs, so the search brief needs to make the actual remit clear.
Keep a Memphis base separate from regional coverage
If the position may be based in Memphis but covers practices elsewhere, communicate that distinction. Specify any relocation requirement and the frequency of in-person visits. This site focuses on employer inquiries connected to Memphis and nearby communities; regional searches are discussed individually with Business Executive Group.
What regional veterinary leaders compare before accepting
Regional medical directors and multi-site veterinary leaders compare scope, authority and support. State how many hospitals the role covers, the mix of general practice, emergency and specialty locations, the travel pattern across the region, and whether any clinical shifts remain. Describe accountability for medical quality, doctor recruiting and retention, mentorship of hospital medical directors, and collaboration with operations leaders. Be clear about compensation structure (base, bonus and any equity), benefits (health, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, CE and leadership development, license fees, liability coverage, retirement plan), vehicle or travel support, and the growth path within the group or network. Candidates also ask about the culture across hospitals and the resources available to improve care.
- Number and type of hospitals covered
- Travel expectations and remaining clinical work
- Authority over medical standards and hiring
- Compensation, bonus and equity structure
- Benefits, travel support and development
- Culture and resources across the network
Practice types a Memphis search can cover
Veterinary employers in and around Memphis range from single-doctor clinics to large animal hospitals and multi-site groups. The brief changes with the type of practice, so the search starts by naming which of these the opening belongs to.
- General practice and wellness: small animal (companion animal) hospitals focused on preventive care, vaccines, dentistry and routine surgery
- Emergency and urgent care: 24-hour emergency hospitals, overnight ER teams and extended-hours urgent care for pets
- Specialty and referral: surgery, internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, neurology, dermatology, and diagnostic imaging and critical care services
- Mixed and large animal: practices that treat livestock and equine patients alongside small animals, often with ambulatory calls
- Exotics, shelter and community medicine: avian and exotic pet practices, shelter medicine and nonprofit clinics
- Practice leadership: medical director, chief of staff and regional roles in private, partnership and corporate veterinary groups
How a recruiting partner helps a Memphis practice hire
Many of the veterinarians who would be the right fit for a Memphis practice are not actively looking. They are employed, busy with patients and only open to a move when someone explains why the opportunity is better than their current role. A recruiting partner helps by reaching those people directly, presenting the practice honestly and screening each candidate against the brief before the hospital spends time on interviews. For Memphis employers, the search starts with the hiring brief and a review of the location, schedule and compensation structure. BEGHR manages the client relationship and invoicing, while the recruiting delivery team provides sourcing, screening and candidate presentation. The practice keeps every hiring decision, interviews the people it wants, and makes the offer directly. Pricing is shown after the employer opt-in, and the agreement sets out billable milestones and replacement terms.
Memphis context for this search
The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimates put Shelby County at 910,226 residents, Tipton County at 62,287 and Fayette County at 45,071, and the Memphis MPO describes a planning boundary that covers all of Shelby County and portions of Fayette County. A regional leader in Memphis may therefore oversee hospitals under the City of Memphis, six Shelby County municipalities and Tipton and Fayette county towns, each with its own government. A Memphis regional brief should list the sites, the counties and the days the leader spends at each, and should say which local agency each hospital works with, such as Memphis Animal Services, the Shelby County Health Department, Bartlett Animal Services or Tipton County Animal Control.
Memphis veterinary hiring context for employers
The Tennessee Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners' continuing education policy states that each veterinarian must obtain 20 hours of continuing education each calendar year and each veterinary medical technician 12 hours, and that a licensee who falls short must submit a letter and certificates and make up the deficit hours by December 31. For a veterinarian licensed in another state, the Board's application instructions list proof of active practice in three of the previous five years at an average of at least 25 hours a week and 60 hours of continuing education in the previous five years, the Board accepts credential packets from the American Association of Veterinary State Boards VAULT service, and its lapsed license policy states that applicable law prohibits practice without an active license. For technicians, the Board uses the title Licensed Veterinary Medical Technician and recognizes graduates of programs accredited by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association as comparable to American Veterinary Medical Association graduates, and its supervision position statement says supervised persons must be employees of the supervising veterinarian, who does not have to be on the same premises. The Memphis/Shelby County Veterinary Medical Association describes a mission to promote the practice of veterinary medicine in Shelby County and lists continuing education and jobs pages, the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville has a Refer a Patient page for veterinarians, and Lincoln Memorial University's veterinary college in Harrogate hosts a job board for its graduates. O*NET OnLine, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data, lists the Memphis, TN-MS-AR median annual wage for veterinarians slightly above the Tennessee median and below the national median, the Memphis median for veterinary technicians below both, and the Memphis median for veterinary assistants slightly above the Tennessee median and below the national median. The same state rules apply to every Memphis employer, so confirm them before the Memphis search starts. Sources are listed on each Memphis service-area page.
- Continuing education support: state the paid days and course support behind the Board's 20 hours a year for veterinarians and 12 for technicians, and say who tracks the hours before the December 31 deadline.
- License route: ask a candidate licensed elsewhere for the practice history and continuing education the Board's instructions list, and say whether the start date holds if the Board's review takes longer than planned.
- Technician delegation: name the tasks assigned to Licensed Veterinary Medical Technicians and the doctor who supervises them, because the Board's position statement requires supervised persons to be employees of the supervising veterinarian.
- Premises: a hospital opening a new site needs a Tennessee premises permit, and the application form asks for a supervising veterinarian and license number, so state the permit status before promising an opening date.
- County and municipality: name the hospital's county and city, because the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates put the metro's Tennessee counties at 910,226 residents in Shelby County, 62,287 in Tipton County and 45,071 in Fayette County, each with its own county government.
For the wider engagement, review our veterinary recruiting services and the employer search process.