Free OB/GYN Job Description Templates
Free OB/GYN job description templates: general, private practice, hospital, laborist, locum, and small practice. Credentialing guide. Download as DOCX.
OB/GYN Job Description Templates
6 free templates by setting. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
The OB/GYN job description sits at the front of one of the most demanding hires in medicine. Whether you are a physician-owned group adding a partner, a hospital filling a service-line gap, or a small independent practice bringing on a second physician, the posting has to do something most job descriptions never face: it has to communicate call structure, surgical scope, and a stack of hard credentials, all to a physician who reads the call line before anything else. The generic templates from the big job boards give you a single block of duties and miss the part that actually decides the hire.
At FirstHR, we build for the practices behind those hires, including small and independent practices that handle hiring without a dedicated HR department. The six templates below cover the real settings an OB/GYN is hired into: general, private or group practice, hospital or health system, laborist or OB hospitalist, locum tenens, and small independent practice. Each carries the license, DEA, ABOG, and call fields the role needs. Fill in the brackets and post. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description covers the basics.
What Does an OB/GYN Do?
An OB/GYN provides care and counsel to women across pregnancy, childbirth, and the female reproductive system, and diagnoses and treats conditions specific to women. The role has two sides, obstetrics and gynecology, and the O*NET profile for obstetricians and gynecologists frames the core: providing medical care related to pregnancy or childbirth and diagnosing, treating, and helping prevent diseases of the reproductive system. Most OB/GYNs also perform surgery and take labor and delivery call.
The defining feature for an employer is that the same specialty spans very different settings, and the setting decides the daily work: a continuity clinic with shared group call in private practice, a department call ratio in a health system, fixed in-house shifts as a laborist, or temporary coverage as a locum. That is why the posting has to name the setting, not just the duties. For the non-physician roles that surround the OB/GYN in a practice, the nurse job description templates and the medical assistant job description templates cover the clinical team with the same structure.
OB/GYN Duties and Responsibilities
OB/GYN duties center on obstetric care, gynecologic care, surgical and procedural work, and the records and collaboration that hold a practice together. The setting shifts the weights, a laborist leans on labor and delivery coverage while an outpatient role leans on well-woman care, but the four categories hold. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
A strong posting selects the responsibilities from each area that match the role and the setting rather than listing every possible task. The call structure and surgical scope belong right alongside the duties, because in OB/GYN they shape the physician's actual life more than any single clinical task. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by setting. The clinical core, full-scope women's health care, runs through all six, but the call structure, schedule, ownership, and employment status differ enough that the matched version always reads more credibly to a physician. Use this guide to choose.
6 Free OB/GYN Job Description Templates
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: practice overview, position summary, clinical responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, compensation, and how to apply, with the call structure, surgical scope, credentials, and exempt classification as structured fields. Fill in the brackets and confirm your credentialing timeline before posting.
Template 1: General OB/GYN
The universal base for any practice or employer: full-scope obstetric and gynecologic care, surgery, and call, with the license, DEA, and ABOG fields every OB/GYN posting needs.
Template 2: Private / Group Practice OB/GYN
The ownership version for physician-owned groups: a partnership track, patient-panel building, and equitable call within the group. For a long-term hire who wants ownership.
Template 3: Hospital / Health System OB/GYN
The employed version: wRVU productivity, department call, system credentialing and privileging, and integrated MFM, anesthesia, and NICU support.
Template 4: Laborist / OB Hospitalist
The shift-based version: in-house labor and delivery coverage with no clinic and no personal panel, for 12 or 24 hour shifts covering emergencies and unassigned patients.
Template 5: Locum Tenens OB/GYN (1099)
The independent-contractor version for temporary coverage: framed as a 1099 contract engagement, not employment, with expedited credentialing and malpractice fields.
Template 6: Small / Independent Practice OB/GYN
The autonomy-and-continuity version for a small or solo practice: a personal patient panel, direct work with the owner, and room to grow toward partnership.
OB/GYN Qualifications and Credentials
OB/GYN qualifications are credential-based and non-negotiable, which makes precision the whole game: the posting either names the exact license, DEA, and board requirements, or it wastes everyone's time with candidates who cannot be credentialed. The difference shows in how the requirements are written.
| Vague requirement | Specific requirement |
|---|---|
| Medical degree required | MD or DO with completion of an ACGME-accredited OB/GYN residency |
| Board certification preferred | ABOG board-certified, or board-eligible with certification expected within [N] years |
| Valid license | Active, unrestricted [state] medical license and DEA registration, or eligible before start |
| Surgical experience | Competent in [cesarean, hysterectomy, laparoscopy: list scope] within granted privileges |
| Call expected | 1:[N] labor and delivery call shared with the group, [home / in-house] |
Keep every requirement job-related and neutral, because the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that express a preference based on protected characteristics. Board certification by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology requires a written Qualifying Examination and an oral Certifying Examination after an ACGME-accredited residency, and many newer physicians are board-eligible while they complete it, so state whether you require certification or accept eligibility. For the general structure of a strong posting, the SHRM guide to writing a job description covers the standard sections.
Credentialing vs HR Onboarding
Hiring an OB/GYN runs on two separate tracks, and confusing them is the most common and most expensive mistake. Credentialing and privileging verify that the physician is qualified and authorized to practice, and must finish before the first patient. HR onboarding handles the employment paperwork and setup. They are different processes with different tools, and the job description is only the entry point to both.
The credentialing track is the one that gates the start date, and it is the part the job description never mentions. It often runs with dedicated credentialing software and can take weeks to months, so start it early. The HR onboarding track, the offer letter, signed contract, tax forms, training, and access, is faster and more standard, and it is where a small practice without an HR department feels the load. The two run in parallel: credentialing in your credentialing system, HR onboarding in a platform built for it.
How to Write an OB/GYN Job Description
A strong OB/GYN posting takes about twenty minutes once you settle the setting, the call structure, and the credentials. Here is the process the templates are built around. If you are building out the rest of the practice team, the small business hiring guide covers the steps around the posting itself.
OB/GYN Salary
OB/GYN compensation is among the highest of any occupation, with pay varying widely by region, call burden, productivity, and setting. The federal data gives a useful anchor for setting a competitive package.
Real-world physician-reported total compensation, including call pay and bonuses, often runs above the federal base figure, and rural and underserved markets frequently pay above urban academic centers because the OB/GYN shortage is more acute there. Compensation is usually structured as a base plus productivity or RVU and call pay, with malpractice, CME allowance, and often a sign-on or relocation bonus on top. Always state a compensation structure in the posting, since physicians compare the full package, not just the base.
What Hiring an OB/GYN Actually Takes
A large health system hires OB/GYNs through a recruiting team, a credentialing department, and an HR function. A physician-owned group or a small independent practice does the same hire with far less infrastructure, often with the owner or office manager handling the posting, the credentialing paperwork, and the onboarding personally. Here is how to write the posting, and plan the hire, for that reality.
From Offer to First Patient
The job description is step one, and once a physician accepts, two tracks run at once. Credentialing and privileging verify and authorize the physician to practice and gate the start date, so they begin first and often run for weeks to months. HR onboarding handles the employment side and runs in parallel: the signed offer letter and physician employment contract, the I-9 and W-4, HIPAA and OSHA training for clinical staff, and EHR and system access, with new hire paperwork collected per the new hire paperwork guide. Because a physician is an exempt licensed professional rather than an hourly employee, there is no timekeeping or overtime to set up, which simplifies the HR side.
The documents around the hire follow the usual sequence: the offer letter template for the base and call terms, and a structured onboarding template to turn the first weeks into a repeatable checklist. Credentialing stays in your credentialing system, where it belongs. FirstHR handles the HR onboarding side, e-signature for the offer letter and contract, document storage for the signed file and tax forms, HIPAA and OSHA training modules, and a first-week task checklist, in one place built for practices that hire without an HR department. The two tracks work together rather than replacing each other.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an OB/GYN do?
An OB/GYN (obstetrician-gynecologist) provides care and counsel to women across pregnancy, childbirth, and the female reproductive system, and diagnoses and treats conditions specific to women. The work has two sides. Obstetrics covers prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care, including managing routine and high-risk pregnancies. Gynecology covers well-woman exams, preventive screening, contraception, menopause, and the diagnosis and treatment of reproductive-system conditions such as cervical cancer, ovarian cysts, and endometriosis. Most OB/GYNs also perform surgery, both obstetric and gynecologic, and take labor and delivery call. The exact mix depends on the setting: a private-practice OB/GYN carries a continuity panel and shares group call, a hospital-employed physician works a department call ratio, and a laborist covers in-house labor and delivery on shifts with no outpatient clinic at all.
What should an OB/GYN job description include?
A strong OB/GYN job description includes a position summary, clinical responsibilities split across obstetrics, gynecology, and surgery, required credentials, the call and surgical scope, and compensation. The credentials section is what separates a physician posting from an ordinary job description: it must name the MD or DO requirement, ACGME-accredited residency, ABOG board certification or eligibility, an active unrestricted state license, DEA registration, and certifications such as BLS, ACLS, and NRP. Be explicit about the setting and the call structure, since call is the single factor most candidates weigh first. State whether there is a partnership track for a group role, the shift pattern for a laborist role, or the contract terms for a locum role. Include a compensation structure, since physician pay typically combines a base with productivity or RVU and call pay. The templates in this article give you the full structure to customize.
What are the main duties and responsibilities of an OB/GYN?
OB/GYN duties fall into four areas. Obstetric care: prenatal visits, labor and delivery, postpartum care, and management of routine and high-risk pregnancies, with referral to maternal-fetal medicine as needed. Gynecologic care: well-woman exams, preventive screening, contraception and menopause counseling, and diagnosis and treatment of reproductive-system conditions. Surgical and procedural: gynecologic and obstetric surgery, office procedures, and ordering and interpreting labs and imaging. Records and collaboration: accurate EHR documentation, collaboration with nurses, medical assistants, and referring providers, and maintaining license, DEA, and board certification. A strong posting matches the weight of these duties to the setting. A laborist role centers on labor and delivery coverage and emergencies, while a clinic-heavy outpatient role weights well-woman care and office gynecology more heavily.
What qualifications and credentials does an OB/GYN need?
An OB/GYN needs an MD or DO degree, completion of an ACGME-accredited four-year OB/GYN residency, and an active, unrestricted state medical license in the state of practice. Board certification by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which requires passing a written Qualifying Examination and an oral Certifying Examination, is the standard credential, though many new physicians are board-eligible while they complete it. Beyond those, the physician needs active DEA registration to prescribe controlled substances, malpractice insurance, and clinical certifications such as BLS, ACLS, and NRP depending on the role. For practice, you also need primary-source verification of training, a National Practitioner Data Bank query, and OIG and SAM exclusion checks. For multi-state telehealth, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact can speed additional state licenses. The job posting should list license, DEA, and ABOG status as hard requirements and note which the physician must already hold versus be eligible for.
Is an OB/GYN exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
Exempt, in essentially every employed case. A licensed physician is a classic learned professional, and federal rules treat the practice of medicine as exempt from overtime and minimum wage. The salary-basis and salary-level tests that apply to most exempt roles do not apply to licensed physicians practicing medicine, so an employed OB/GYN is exempt regardless of how compensation is structured. In practice this means there is no overtime calculation, no timekeeping requirement, and no non-exempt classification to manage for the physician, which removes a category of HR work that dominates hourly roles. The classification that does matter for an OB/GYN is employee versus independent contractor. A permanent OB/GYN is a W-2 employee. A locum tenens OB/GYN is almost always a 1099 independent contractor, engaged through a staffing agency or directly, with a contract and a W-9 rather than an employee onboarding file. That distinction drives taxes, malpractice responsibility, and whether you onboard the physician as an employee at all.
How much does an OB/GYN make?
OB/GYN compensation is among the highest of any occupation. Federal data reports a mean annual wage of about $281,130 for obstetricians and gynecologists as of May 2024. Physician wages are top-coded in federal data, so a precise median is not published; physicians and surgeons as a group have a median at or above $239,200 per year. Real-world pay varies widely by region, call burden, productivity, and setting, and surveys of physician-reported total compensation, including call pay and bonuses, often run higher than the federal base figure. Rural and underserved markets frequently pay above urban academic centers because the physician shortage is more acute there. Compensation is usually structured as a base salary plus productivity or RVU and call pay, with malpractice, CME allowance, and often a sign-on or relocation bonus on top. Always state a compensation structure in the posting, since physicians compare the full package, not just the base.
What is the difference between a private practice, hospital, laborist, and locum OB/GYN role?
The four settings are genuinely different jobs that share a specialty. A private or group practice OB/GYN joins a physician-owned group, builds a continuity patient panel, shares call with partners, and often has a path to partnership and equity. A hospital or health-system OB/GYN is an employed physician who works a department call ratio with system benefits, integrated specialist support, and system credentialing. A laborist, or OB hospitalist, works fixed shifts providing in-house labor and delivery coverage with no outpatient clinic and no personal patient panel, which appeals to physicians who want predictable hours without practice ownership. A locum tenens OB/GYN fills temporary gaps as a 1099 independent contractor, usually through an agency, covering a defined assignment rather than building a practice. Because call structure, ownership, schedule, and employment status differ so much, the posting should name the setting clearly so the right physicians recognize the role and the wrong ones self-select out.
What happens after I hire an OB/GYN?
Hiring an OB/GYN runs on two tracks that are easy to confuse. The first is credentialing and privileging, which must finish before the physician sees patients: verify the license, DEA, and ABOG status, run primary-source verification of training, query the National Practitioner Data Bank, run OIG and SAM exclusion checks, bind malpractice coverage, and complete hospital privileging for the specific procedures the physician will perform. This is a distinct, often weeks-to-months process, frequently handled with dedicated credentialing software, and it is not general HR onboarding. The second track is HR onboarding: the signed offer letter and physician employment contract, the I-9 and W-4, HIPAA and OSHA training, EHR and system access, and the practical first-week setup. Start the credentialing track early, because it gates the start date, and run HR onboarding in parallel. FirstHR handles the HR onboarding side, the offer letter, e-signature, document collection, and training, for small practices that hire without an HR department, while credentialing stays in your credentialing system. The two work together rather than replacing each other.