Sorrel Langley-Hobbs graduated from The Royal Veterinary College, London (RVC). She did an internship there before spending 2 years in private practice and then returning to do an orthopaedic residency. She gained her RCVS Diploma in Small Animal Surgery (Orthopaedics) in 1997 and her ECVS Diploma in Small Animal Surgery in 1999. She spent six months at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 before she moved back to the UK and worked at Cambridge University until 2013.

She has been a Professor in Small Animal Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Bristol since 2013. She was awarded the BSAVA Simon Award in 2012 for outstanding contributions in the field of small animal surgery. She has a particular interest in feline orthopaedics and runs a feline orthopaedic clinic at Bristol. She has co-edited a textbook on Feline Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Disease in 2009 and Feline Soft Tissue and General Surgery in 2013.