Cattle Research Project Manager

TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods • Okotoks, AB

7d • Hybrid

About The Position

Explore the agricultural industry, research procedures, and data management to enhance cattle welfare and productivity! TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods is advancing sustainable food production through data-driven research. We tackle one of agriculture's most pressing challenges: achieving efficient livestock production while reducing environmental impact. Our team includes researchers, project managers, data specialists, and field coordinators who are passionate about animal agriculture and committed to delivering insights that producers rely on. You'll work in a high-performance culture where your contributions directly shape how cattle producers make decisions about animal health, nutrition, individual animal management, and sustainability. By managing research studies that validate feeding, animal health, and production protocols and products, you'll contribute data that producers use to improve animal welfare while reducing environmental footprint.

Requirements

• Master's Degree in animal science, agriculture, epidemiology, or a related discipline.
• Proven experience coordinating research projects and working with research data.
• Comfort and confidence handling live cattle is essential; you'll regularly handle animals and work safely in feedlot and calf grower environments.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel (formulas, pivot tables, data validation, multi-sheet workbooks); ability to compile, organize, and validate large datasets.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent studies with competing deadlines, prioritize tasks, and maintain attention to detail in a data-intensive role.
• Ability to communicate technical study protocols clearly to non-technical on-farm partners.
• Strong critical thinking; ability to troubleshoot data issues and logistics challenges, independently and collaboratively.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with feedlot production systems and cattle health/nutrition fundamentals.
• Basic understanding of statistical analysis and data visualization.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) — a significant asset for cross-border studies and communication in USA and Mexico operations (no travel required).
• Experience with automated data collection systems or farm management software.

Responsibilities

• Support implementation of research studies—from coordinating study logistics with on-farm partners to compiling final data deliverables that inform product decisions and producer recommendations.
• Work closely with Research Team Management to implement study designs, support timelines, and produce final data for decision-making.
• Manage 8–12 concurrent studies at any given time across commercial feedlots and calf grower operations in Canada, the USA, and Mexico.
• Ensure all studies align with research procedures and quality standards.
• Work chute-side at client operations to ensure the accuracy of data collection and smooth implementation of our study designs.
• Communicate and coordinate with cattle managers at participating operations to explain data collection protocols, and troubleshoot implementation and data issues that arise during studies.
• Conduct on-site sample collection (nasal samples, fecal samples, feed samples) at local commercial feedlots and calf growers.
• Manage sample organization and shipping to analysis labs.
• Support data integrity and accuracy for valid decision-making.
• Access data from multiple sources and compile large, clean Excel spreadsheets of animal health, production, and feed data.
• Build and maintain large, analysis-ready datasets.
• Identify data gaps, inconsistencies, or quality issues and resolve them with site managers or research team.
• Support various study designs: small-pen (10–20 animals per pen), large-pen (100+ animals per pen), and individual animal.
• Compile study results into tables, reports, and slide presentations.
• Assist with technical writing for executive summaries and final reports that communicate findings to producers and research stakeholders.
• Support studies in animal health, feeding and nutrition, performance enhancement, and marketing strategies.
• Work across feedlot and calf grower production settings in various geographies and production scales.

Benefits

• Accommodation for applicants with disabilities during the recruitment process.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level