Associate Veterinarian Job Description Template
A copy-paste template, plus the pay-transparency laws that decide whether you're required to publish a salary range.
This is a free, copy-paste job description template for an associate veterinarian posting — practice overview, responsibilities, qualifications, and a compensation block you fill in. Before you publish it, check whether your state legally requires a salary range in the posting itself: as of 2026, fifteen states plus Washington, D.C. do, with employer-size thresholds that range from a single in-state employee to thirty or more.
At a glance
Paycor 2026 pay-transparency chart
States requiring a salary range
15 + D.C.
can reach a single in-state hire
Smallest employer threshold
Rhode Island — 1 employee
chart's highest named threshold
Largest employer threshold
Minnesota — 30+ employees
state and local law only
Federal salary-disclosure law
None exists
What to include
Cover five blocks: the practice snapshot (species mix, setting, size), the vacancy itself (caseload, surgical days, on-call), required credentials (DVM or VMD plus an active state license — not a NAVLE score alone), the compensation structure (base, ProSal, or straight production, stated plainly), and how to apply.
A posting that skips the compensation structure is the fastest way to lose a candidate who has read one associate-contract guide before yours.
Resist restating your practice's whole story in the posting.
Candidates skim for the caseload, the pay structure, and whether mentorship is real — not a mission statement.
For the deeper detail behind each of those — what to actually pay, how to structure a fair ProSal offer, and what mentorship a first-year associate needs — see the full associate veterinarian hiring guide and the candidate-facing veterinarian career guide.
The block most templates get wrong is the salary line.
Whether you're required to include an actual range — not "competitive" — depends on your state, and getting it wrong is a compliance question, not just a candidate-experience one.
That's covered in full below, after the template.
The template
Copy the block below into your applicant tracking system or job board, and fill in the bracketed sections with your practice's specifics.
[Practice Name] is seeking an Associate Veterinarian ABOUT THE PRACTICE [Species mix — e.g., companion-animal-exclusive, mixed animal] practice in [city, state], seeing approximately [X] appointments per day across [X] exam rooms. [1–2 sentences on setting, ownership structure, and team size.] THE ROLE - Caseload: [species mix, typical appointment volume] - Surgical days: [X days/week — types of surgery performed in-house] - On-call / emergency coverage: [none / shared rotation / describe] - Support staff: [technician-to-doctor ratio, if known] - Schedule: [days/week, hours] QUALIFICATIONS - DVM or VMD from an AVMA Council on Education–accredited program - Active veterinary license in [state], or eligibility to obtain one - [Any species-specific or procedural experience required] COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS - Pay structure: [salary / ProSal — state the production percentage and whether negative accrual is capped or absent / straight production] - Salary range: [$X–$Y, or see this practice's pay-transparency obligations before omitting this line] - Benefits: [health insurance, CE allowance, licensing and dues, PTO, retirement, signing bonus, relocation] - Non-compete: [state whether one applies, its duration, and its geographic scope] MENTORSHIP [if hiring a new graduate] [Describe check-in cadence, onboarding structure, and who a new associate can escalate a difficult case to.] TO APPLY [Instructions, contact, or application link]
Which states require a salary range in the posting?
No federal law requires it.
As of 2026, fifteen states plus Washington, D.C. do — and the trigger for your practice is the number of employees you have in that state, which ranges from a single employee in Rhode Island to thirty or more in Minnesota.
If your practice operates in more than one state, or you're posting a role open to remote-eligible administrative work, check each state the posting could reach: California's and Washington's laws both explicitly apply to remote-eligible postings from candidates in those states, regardless of where your practice is based.
The states, their thresholds, and their effective dates — verify against current statute or counsel before publishing, since this list moves quickly:
- California — job postings must include a pay scale for roles that could be filled in the state; a related, separate requirement covers pay-data reporting for employers with 100+ employees. Effective Jan. 1, 2023.
- Colorado — compensation disclosed on all job postings, internal and external, with no salary-history questions permitted. Effective Jan. 1, 2021.
- Connecticut — pay range provided to applicants upon request, not automatically posted. Effective Oct. 1, 2021.
- Delaware — employers with more than 25 employees must post a compensation range and benefits. Effective Sept. 26, 2027 — not yet in force.
- Washington, D.C. — salary range or hourly rate required on postings; healthcare-benefits information must be provided before a first interview. Effective June 30, 2024.
- Hawaii — employers with 50+ employees must include a pay scale. Effective Jan. 1, 2024.
- Illinois — employers with 15+ workers must provide a wage scale and benefits description. Effective Jan. 1, 2025.
- Maryland — wage ranges posted internally and externally, or provided to applicants upon request. Effective Oct. 1, 2020.
- Massachusetts — employers with 25+ employees must disclose the pay range on all postings. Effective July 31, 2025.
- Minnesota — employers with 30+ employees must include a pay range and a general benefits description. Effective Jan. 1, 2025.
- Nevada — salary information shared with applicants; salary-history questions prohibited. Effective Oct. 1, 2021.
- New Jersey — employers with 10+ employees must post a salary range and a benefits description. Effective Jan. 1, 2024.
- New York — employers with 4+ employees must disclose salary ranges and flag commission-based roles. Effective Sept. 17, 2023.
- Rhode Island — pay range provided upon request; no salary-history questions. The size threshold here is the narrowest on this list — it can reach an employer with a single employee in the state. Effective Jan. 1, 2023.
- Vermont — employers with 5+ employees must disclose a salary range or hourly wage, and flag commission or tip-based roles. Effective July 1, 2023.
- Washington — employers with 15+ employees must include salary ranges on postings and disclose pay for internal transfers on request. Effective Jan. 1, 2023.
Two states are easy to misread. Ohio has no statewide law — only local ordinances in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, so a posting for a practice outside those cities isn't covered even though Ohio sometimes appears on general "pay transparency states" lists.
And Oregon's new law, effective January 1, 2026, governs pay-stub and payroll-deduction transparency for existing employees — it is not a job-posting salary-range requirement, and shouldn't be conflated with the states above.
This list is aggregated from a single third-party compliance chart (Paycor, "2026 Pay Transparency Laws by State"), not independently verified against each state's current statute, and pay-transparency law is one of the fastest-moving areas of state employment law. It is general information, not legal advice — confirm current requirements and thresholds with a licensed employment attorney in your state before finalizing a posting.
After you post
Once the posting is live, verify the license before extending an offer — through your state veterinary board, not the diploma.
A DVM or VMD confirms an accredited education; only the state confirms an active, current license to practice.
The associate veterinarian hiring guide covers exactly what to check and how to read the NAVLE-versus-licensure distinction correctly.
If a non-compete is part of the offer, disclose it before the offer stage, not after — a candidate who first sees the clause at signing has reason to distrust the rest of the offer.
Four states (California, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma) void employee non-competes outright; where they're enforceable, reasonableness turns on duration and geography.
See the non-compete guide for the state-by-state detail before finalizing that clause.
And if the offer runs on ProSal, put the actual formula in writing before the candidate signs — the production percentage, whether it's calculated on production or collections, and whether negative accrual is capped. ProSal and production pay, explained covers what makes two ProSal offers with identical headline percentages genuinely different.
Ready to fill this role?
Post your associate veterinarian opening on VeterinaryHires, or read the full hiring guide for how to structure pay, verify credentials, and keep a new associate past year one.