Program Manager, Patient Care Education

The Program Manager, Patient Care Education leads enterprise patient care education, technician and veterinary assistant development strategy, and credentialing pathway programs that advance clinical quality, patient safety, associate growth, and team-based care across VCA hospitals. This role partners cross-functionally with Medical Leadership, Mars Veterinary Health, Talent Acquisition, P&O, Legal, Risk, Marketing, Corporate Affairs, hospital leaders, and academic partners to assess education needs, develop scalable programs, and support effective field implementation. The Program Manager, Patient Care Education is accountable for increasing year-over-year completion and credentialing/certification outcomes for associates pursuing credentialed veterinary technician and Approved Veterinary Assistant pathways, with primary ROI measured by completion rate, credentialing/certification rate, and successful conversion.. This role also incorporates VCA’s current career progression framework into credentialed veterinary technician and AVA curricula, so learning pathways are integrated, practical, and aligned to hospital career growth.

NOTE: This role requires associates to work out of a MVH North America hub location – Santa Monica, CA

Essential Responsibility/Task:

Patient Care Standards, Career Pathways & Field Education

• Create, implement, and maintain enterprise patient care standards aligned with state regulations, risk requirements, clinical leveling, VCA career progression expectations, and team-based care models appropriate to each hospital’s size and scope.
• Design and deliver practical patient care education programs, tools, and communications that support consistent field adoption and measurable advancement of patient care associates, veterinary assistants, and technicians.
• Develop programming that increases, year over year, the number of associates who complete approved pathways and convert to credentialed veterinary technicians or certificated veterinary assistants.
• Promote the use of key clinical and welfare frameworks, such as Fear Free, low-stress handling, Cat Friendly Practice, and AAHA standards, to ensure consistent, high-quality patient care.

Regulatory & License Administration

• Support Risk & Legal teams with the tracking of technician licenses and credential renewals to ensure compliance.
• Partner with Legal and Risk to monitor state practice act requirements and scope-of-practice changes, documentation, and audit readiness.
• Support administration of PNAP, Penn Foster, and other credential pathway programs.
• Assist with documentation and audit readiness related to technician compliance.

Technician and Veterinary Assistant Development & Credentialing Outcomes:

• Lead technician and patient care associate career progression programming through onboarding, clinical leveling resources, completion support, and partnership with the Program Manager, Patient Care Programs and Partnerships P&O, Talent Acquisition, MVH, and hospital leadership.
• Establish and monitor defined success measures for pathway programs, emphasizing completion rate, credentialing/certification rate, retention, and conversion into expanded clinical roles rather than enrollment volume alone.
• Identify barriers to program completion and credentialing/certification; develop interventions such as but not limited to mentor models, manager toolkits, progress tracking, cohort support, exam preparation, and field accountability routines.
• Use workforce and program data to inform strategic recommendations, prioritize investment, and demonstrate ROI through improved completion and credentialing/certification outcomes.

Academic Partnerships, Curriculum Integration & Externships:

• Manage relationships with veterinary technician and veterinary assistant education partners and oversee pathway programs, including associate support, hospital engagement, progress tracking, billing, and outcome reporting.
• Incorporate and integrate VCA’s current career progression framework into credentialed veterinary technician and Approved Veterinary Assistant curricula so pathway milestones align with clinical leveling, role expectations, and hospital workflows.
• Partner with academic programs, hospital mentors, hospital and field leaders to improve associate persistence, completion, credentialing/certification readiness, and transition into advanced clinical responsibilities including patient care visits, advanced dental, anesthesia and surgical responsibilities.
• Oversee internal CrVT and AVA candidate externship standards, tracking, and hospital participation in partnership with and field leadership and Medical Affairs team.

Marketing, Communications & Content Review:

• Ensure clinical accuracy and consistent patient care messaging by reviewing marketing and social content for compliance, providing expert guidance, and creating materials that highlight the role of patient care associates.
• Support community and external engagement by collaborating with Corporate Affairs on conferences, events, and outreach that promote patient care standards and VCA’s mission.

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or Applicable Experience
• 5+ years relevant experience as a credentialed veterinary technician, including experience developing, managing, or supporting clinical education, credentialing/certification pathways, or workforce development programs with measurable outcomes.
• Skilled in delivering presentations, coaching others, designing curriculum, managing completion-focused programs, and using data to improve credentialing/certification outcomes.
• Experience with veterinary assistant or technician education programs, AVA pathways, CrVT/CVT/RVT/LVT credentialing requirements, and associate career progression frameworks preferred
• Credentialed Veterinary Technician / Registered Veterinary Technician
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to read, write, and speak English

OTHER (describe)

• Industry awareness and familiarity with AVMA, CVTEA, NAVTA AVA standards, state credentialing requirements, and clinical career progression models.

*All degrees will be deemed “or equivalent combination of education and experience” unless absolutely required to do the job (i.e., DVM degree for Veterinarian, Law degree for Attorney, etc.).

Preferred Skills & Qualifications:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Ability to manage relationships and create strategic plans with KPIs and ROI tied to completion, credentialing/certification, conversion, retention, and dollars spent.

• Considerable knowledge of principles and practices of technician and assistant development, professional growth, adult learning, curriculum design, training program delivery, and field implementation.

• Working knowledge of state practice acts, credentialing requirements, AVA certification pathways, and regulations as they apply to technicians and assistants.

• Ability to integrate career progression frameworks into education pathways, curricula, mentor resources, and hospital implementation tools.

• Ability to compose and present comprehensive reports, including progress-to-completion, credentialing/certification conversion, risk, and ROI analysis.

• Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to plan, organize and present training activities to diverse groups.

• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.

• Ability to prioritize tasks and to delegate them when appropriate.

• Strong clinical knowledge to aid in the development and maintenance of programs while keeping them relevant, achievable, measurable, and scalable for hospital teams. Knowledge of emergency and specialty practice medicine and environment preferred.

Core Competencies:

• Communicates Effectively
• Dealing with Ambiguity
• Action Oriented
• Fostering Effective Relationships
• Client-Focused
• Strategic Agility
• Planning & Priority Setting
• Decision Quality

Working Conditions:

• Ability to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, and climb as well as manipulate (lift, carry, and move) up to 50 pounds. Lifting higher weights requires requesting assistance from another associate.
• Requires good hand-eye coordination, arm-hand-finger dexterity with the ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard and operate necessary equipment.
• Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision.
• Occasionally exposed to airborne particles and illness from patients and chemicals related to animal care and office equipment.
• The noise level in the work environment is normally moderate.
• Environment where pets are present.
• The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Travel Requirements:

• This role requires up to 50% travel to hospitals and externship sites to support quality assurance and ongoing program development.

Additional Information:

Compensation is negotiable based on education, experience, and other relevant credentials. The US base salary range for this full-time position is $96,600 - $120.750. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only.

If you are a current associate, you need to apply through our internal career site. Please log into Workday and click on the Jobs Hub app or search for Browse Jobs.

Benefits: We offer competitive compensation along with a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision and paid vacation/sick days, 401(k), generous employee pet discounts and more!

The information in this position description indicates the general nature and level of work to be performed. It is not designed to be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of associates assigned to this job. Management reserves the right to revise the job description or require that other tasks be performed when the circumstances of the job change (for example, emergencies, change in personnel, workload, or technical development).

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. For a complete EEO statement please see our career page at vcacareers.com.