Senior Manager, Veterinary Research

Company Description

Trupanion is a leading provider of medical insurance for cats and dogs in North America. Our mission is to help loving, responsible pet owners budget and care for their pets. At Trupanion, we offer a collaborative, casual, and pet-friendly environment where everyone is encouraged to be themselves.

Description

We are seeking an experienced research leader to build and lead a veterinary data research function that generates clinically grounded, decision-relevant insights from real-world veterinary medical data.

This role is ideal for a veterinarian, academic researcher, or applied scientist who enjoys designing rigorous studies, mentoring researchers, and translating complex findings into practical impact,

You will define the research agenda, oversee multi-quarter studies, and ensure scientific rigor, reproducibility, and clinical relevance. Your work will directly inform product design, claims policy, actuarial models, and long-term strategy. You will manage a team of analysts while partnering closely with practicing DVMs, and domain experts including our PR and Communications teams.

Examples of data you will work with include veterinary medical records, diagnostic and lab data, body-system classifications, treatment narratives, and claims outcomes.

• Define and own a veterinary research roadmap aligned with business and clinical questions (e.g., drivers of pet health costs, outcomes, and longitudinal care patterns).
• Ensure appropriate use of controls, assumptions, and statistical power; clearly articulate uncertainty and limitations.

• Establish standards for data quality, documentation, internal peer review, and research governance.
• Encourage robust research and data integrity through versioned datasets, transparent assumptions, and defensible methodologies.
• Champion responsible use of sensitive veterinary medical data, privacy-by-design and de-identification.

• Collaborate with veterinary clinicians (DVMs) to review and interpret medical records, diagnostics, and treatment plans; ensure clinical validity in definitions and labels.
• Guide the discovery process alongside Actuarial, Claims, Product, and Growth teams transforming business questions into testable hypotheses and measurable outcomes.
• Serve as a trusted thought partner on the intersection of veterinary medicine, economics, and data.

• Summarize findings into concise executive-level reports that support informed decision-making.
• Communicate complex information in simple language for a wide range of stakeholders.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of analysts.
• Establish clear expectations regarding research rigor, and clinical context.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, and continuous improvement.

• 5-8+ years of experience in applied research, analytics, or quantitative analysis, with 2+ years leading research programs or teams.
• Demonstrated strength in research design, statistical inference, and causal reasoning; able to select methods based on the question, not the trend.
• Experience working with medical or clinical data, including unstructured records and ambiguous or evolving taxonomies.
• Proven ability to lead long-horizon research efforts that influence policy, product, pricing, and operations.
• Comfortable guiding technical execution without needing to personally optimize models day-to-day.

• Background in veterinary medicine, biomedical research, epidemiology, health economics, or related fields.
• Familiarity with veterinary clinical workflows, terminology, and diagnostic reasoning.
• Experience translating messy, real-world medical data into analytically usable constructs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to tell a coherent story from complex evidence.
• Exposure to applied modeling approaches used for inference and interpretation with an emphasis on understandable results over novelty.

• The base pay range for this position is $120,000 - $140,000, on a full-time schedule.
• Along with base salary, Trupanion employees may be eligible for monthly bonuses.
• We want all employees to be invested in Trupanion's success, so we grant Restricted Stock Units to all new team members. Our new hire grants vest over 4 years.

• Full medical, dental, and vision benefits at no cost to the employee
• Four weeks of paid time off and 9 paid float holidays (you can decide which days are most important to you!)
• Five-week sabbatical after five years of employment
• Open, casual, pet-friendly, and fun office environment
• Free medical health insurance for your pet (1 dog or cat)
• Paid time off to volunteer at nonprofit organizations
• Seattle Office Amenities: Free on-site gym, free dog walking services for office pets during business hours, free parking, and paid ORCA cards.