Optometrist (Clinical Development Lead)

Clinical Development Lead - Domiciliary Optometrist (GOC-Registered)

Sector: Domiciliary Eyecare & Optometry

Location: South England preferred (flexible - limited travel required)

Hours: Flexible / Part-time, scaling over time

Package: Day-rate consultancy fee, with equity/profit-share potential as the business grows

Most optometrist roles ask you to deliver a service that already exists. This one asks you to help build the service itself.

Zest Optical are working in partnership with a new and fast-growing domiciliary eyecare provider to recruit an experienced, GOC-registered Optometrist into a Clinical Development Lead role - a strategic, advisory position at the heart of a business that's putting patient care ahead of targets from day one.

At a glance:

• Strategic leadership role, not a traditional clinical post - clinical sessions optional, not required
• Founders come from a strong optical and care background with extensive experience in domiciliary eyecare, but they are looking for your clinical guidance
• Established network of care homes already engaged, with an admin and business development team already in place
• Flexible, self-employed basis to begin with, evolving as the business and relationship grow
• Genuine equity/profit-share potential tied to the company's growth
• Long-term, non-executive style involvement - not a short-term consultancy project

About the Opportunity

This domiciliary eyecare provider has been founded by two experienced professionals who have already built a strong reputation in the industry, with a growing list of care homes signed up and a support team in place. What they don't have is an Optometrist at the table, and that's where you come in.

Rather than hiring an optometrist to deliver eye tests, they're looking for someone who can provide clinical leadership and strategic guidance as the business establishes itself and scales, shaping how the clinical service is run, mentoring the optometrists who deliver it, and helping the founders navigate the compliance and governance side of a growing domiciliary provider.

It's a role that suits someone who's done the hands-on delivery already, whether that's a domiciliary optometrist, a practice owner, or someone who's held a clinical leadership or business development role, and who now wants to put that experience to use shaping a business.

What You'll Be Doing

• Providing clinical leadership and governance across the domiciliary optometry service
• Helping shape policies, procedures, consent and safeguarding practices suited to domiciliary and care home settings
• Advising on compliance and best practice as the care home network grows
• Mentoring and supporting optometrists joining the business
• Contributing to strategic decisions on growth, service development and long-term direction
• Helping protect and build a genuinely patient-first, ethical culture as the business scales
• Taking on clinical sessions yourself, if that's of interest (entirely optional)

The scope of the role is deliberately flexible and will evolve. It's likely to start as a lighter-touch consultancy commitment, with real scope for the responsibility, involvement and reward to grow significantly as the business expands.

What They're Looking For

• GOC-registered Optometrist
• Experience in domiciliary, care home or community eyecare is highly desirable
• Exposure to the operational or business side of optometry - practice ownership, clinical leadership, or similar
• An interest in mentoring, governance and strategy
• Comfortable working on a self-employed/consultancy basis with a flexible time commitment
• A genuine, values-led approach to patient care - this business has been built specifically to do things differently, and ethics matter as much as growth

What's On Offer

• A genuinely influential, strategic role in a growing domiciliary eyecare business, from an early stage
• Flexible time commitment that can grow as the business does
• Equity or profit-share potential linked directly to company growth
• A long-term relationship with the founders, closer to a non-executive advisor than an employee
• Real influence over the direction, ethics and reputation of a new provider in the domiciliary optometry space

How to Apply

To avoid missing out on this opportunity, please click the Apply link or contact Kieran Lindley via WhatsApp to find out more.