Head Receptionist

Reception Team Leader Malvern, VIC | Permanent Full-time

Southpaws Specialty Surgery & Emergency Hospital 

Southpaws is one of Melbourne’s leading specialty and emergency veterinary hospitals, and our reception team is the heartbeat of the client and referring-vet experience. We’re looking for a Reception Team Leader who genuinely enjoys people, thrives on structure, and wants to step into their next leadership role in a fast-paced, high-standards environment.

This is a permanent, full-time role based primarily at our Malvern site with some time spent at our other site in Mornington. The focus of this role is leading and developing the team: training and coaching them, setting clear standards, and holding the team to those standards. You will spend regular time on the desk alongside your team, especially in your first few months, so you learn how reception really works and can coach in real situations. Over time, your focus will shift towards oversight, training and continuous improvement.

Our reception team members are the main people on the desk, looking after clients and referring vets who are often stressed or emotionally raw. Your job is to make sure your team are confident, well trained and supported, so that everyone who walks in or calls feels welcome, looked after and confident in Southpaws.

This isn’t a role where you’ll be handed a rulebook and left to enforce it. You’ll be shaping how our reception team works day-to-day, coaching people, solving problems as they come up, and lifting the capability of the whole team.

What you'll be doing

Reception Leadership

• Train and coach the reception team so they can confidently handle stressed clients and referring vets, identify the real issue, and solve or escalate cleanly.
• Set and maintain clear standards for client and referring-vet experience.
• Run the weekly reception meeting, manage shift swaps and leave, and onboard new team members so they become competent quickly.
• Spot development needs and lift team capability over time.

Client Experience

• Be the first point of contact for client complaints and non-clinical concerns
• Coordinate the complaint process end to end, liaising with the Practice and Business Managers and clinical teams
• Monitor the quality of team interactions through observation, feedback, complaints and HubSpot, and coach accordingly
• Monitor feedback surveys and complaint trends, using them to improve team capability and processes, and flag patterns to management
• Keep clear, accurate records throughout every resolution

Operational Oversight

• Keep the HubSpot Help Desk moving, with enquiries and referral follow-ups actioned on time
• Oversee accounts and debtors, completing the weekly debtor report and driving follow-up action
• Audit our accounts for accuracy and resolve issues promptly
• Review daily checklists to make sure tasks are done and fairly spread across the team

What we're looking for

• Experience leading, supervising or coaching a small client-facing or customer-service team
• A background in sales, account management, client services or a similar role where you were accountable for outcomes, not just activity
• Comfortable using a CRM to track and action work (HubSpot strongly preferred)
• Calm and constructive under pressure, with the judgement to coach others through difficult conversations
• Sharp attention to detail, especially when it comes to accounts and admin
• A natural at reading people, clients and colleagues alike, and turning a tense moment into a resolved one
• Veterinary or healthcare experience is valued, but proven coaching and leadership ability matters most Why Southpaws
• Join a specialty and emergency hospital where the work is genuinely interesting and never repetitive
• Real support from a management team who want you to grow into the role, not just fill it
• A close-knit reception team and a workplace that takes client experience seriously
• Based at our Malvern site, easy to get to and close to everything

How to apply

If this sounds like your kind of challenge, we'd love to hear from you. Send through your resume and a short cover letter telling us what draws you to the role to joseph.friend@vetpartners.com.au or use the Apply Now button.