K9 Trainer Bengaluru · Full-time →

Dognosis; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 300,000 - 540,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Gym allowance

Team socials and offsites

Interdisciplinary team environment

Job summary

Dognosis in Bengaluru seeks a dedicated K9 Trainer to train and handle our detection dogs daily, ensuring they stay accurate, motivated and healthy. You will lead scent-detection sessions and monitor welfare and performance with care.

Working with a small interdisciplinary team, you will keep complete records, apply reward-based training, and raise the dogs' welfare standards alongside our vet to help push the boundaries of canine health tech.

Qualifications

• Trained detection dogs hands-on for at least two years.
• Trains with rewards and prioritizes welfare over numbers.
• Reads dogs well and notices small changes in behaviour.
• Keeps careful records and follows procedures exactly, even on busy days.
• Calm, patient and reliable around dogs and people.

Responsibilities

• Run daily scent-detection training and line-up sessions with our dogs.
• Use reward-based methods to build and keep each dog's accuracy and drive.
• Keep training, feeding, weight and welfare records for every dog, every day.
• Spot changes in a dog's health, behaviour or performance early, and act on them with the team and our vet.
• Keep the training room clean and controlled, following our scent-room and welfare procedures.

Skills

Dog training

Observation of dog behaviour

Record keeping

Reward-based training

Education

Dog training certification

Job description

Train and handle our detection dogs day to day, so the pack shows up fit, motivated and accurate on every working day.

Dognosis is a deeptech company devoted to unleashing the superpowers of humanity's best friends. We build brain-computer interfaces, wearable sensors, robotic platforms and AI models to standardise, scale and augment canine olfaction. Our focus is a breath-based multi-cancer test that triages risk at population scale, so early cancer detection can reach everyone. Our mission is informed peace of mind for people and their companions, through interspecies technology that makes medicine truly proactive. We are based in Bengaluru, India, backed by Boost VC and 1517 Fund, selected for the Accel and Prosus Atoms X LeapTech cohort, and we work with healthcare and research institutions across India, the UK and the US.

We think from first principles, question the status quo, take responsibility, move fast and keep bureaucracy to a minimum. If you are new to startups, you may find the constant contact with reality, and the freedom to act on it, refreshing.

About the role

Our dogs detect cancer from a breath sample, and their answers are only as good as their training. As a K9 Trainer you will train and handle our detection dogs every day, running sessions that keep each dog accurate, motivated and healthy, alongside our K9 team.

What You Will Do

• Run daily scent-detection training and line-up sessions with our dogs.
• Use reward-based methods to build and keep each dog's accuracy and drive.
• Keep training, feeding, weight and welfare records for every dog, every day.
• Spot changes in a dog's health, behaviour or performance early, and act on them with the team and our vet.
• Keep the training room clean and controlled, following our scent-room and welfare procedures.

What Success Looks Like (6 Months)

• The dogs you work with qualify, and hold their accuracy week after week.
• A qualifying week runs on our own team's handling, with no outside help.
• Every dog's records are complete, so a change is caught the day it starts.

You Are a Good Fit If

• You have trained detection dogs, or other working dogs, hands-on for at least two years.
• You train with rewards, and put a dog's welfare ahead of a session's numbers.
• You read dogs well, and notice small changes in behaviour before they become problems.
• You keep careful records and follow procedures exactly, even on a busy day.
• You are calm, patient and reliable around dogs and people.

Valuable but Not Required

• You have trained dogs for medical, explosives, narcotics or search-and-rescue detection.
• You have worked with Labradors, Beagles or Belgian Malinois.
• You have a formal certification in dog training or canine behaviour.

What You'll Get

• Hands-on work with the dogs behind a test published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
• Work that shapes whether cancer gets caught early, at population scale.
• A small, interdisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, clinicians and working detection dogs. The office is never boring.
• Health insurance for you, through Plum.
• Up to ₹10,000 a year towards a gym, a sport or any regular fitness activity.
• Parties, socials and offsites, because the wins are worth it.