diff --git a/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults.go b/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults.go
index 35194ba419a..0020991db58 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults.go
@@ -141,8 +141,16 @@ func (e *Experiment) setDefaultMetricsCollector() {
 		e.Spec.MetricsCollectorSpec = &common.MetricsCollectorSpec{}
 	}
 	if e.Spec.MetricsCollectorSpec.Collector == nil {
+		// Default to Push collector for TrainJob trials to support push-based
+		// metrics reporting via the Kubeflow Training SDK.
+		defaultCollector := common.StdOutCollector
+		if e.Spec.TrialTemplate != nil &&
+			e.Spec.TrialTemplate.TrialSource.TrialSpec != nil &&
+			e.Spec.TrialTemplate.TrialSource.TrialSpec.GetKind() == "TrainJob" {
+			defaultCollector = common.PushCollector
+		}
 		e.Spec.MetricsCollectorSpec.Collector = &common.CollectorSpec{
-			Kind: common.StdOutCollector,
+			Kind: defaultCollector,
 		}
 	}
 	switch e.Spec.MetricsCollectorSpec.Collector.Kind {
diff --git a/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults_test.go b/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..870cfa666b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/apis/controller/experiments/v1beta1/experiment_defaults_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2022 The Kubeflow Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package v1beta1
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
+
+	common "github.com/kubeflow/katib/pkg/apis/controller/common/v1beta1"
+)
+
+func TestSetDefaultMetricsCollector(t *testing.T) {
+	tcs := []struct {
+		name              string
+		trialSpec         *unstructured.Unstructured
+		explicitCollector *common.CollectorSpec
+		wantCollectorKind common.CollectorKind
+	}{
+		{
+			name:              "non-TrainJob trial defaults to StdOut collector",
+			trialSpec:         newFakeUnstructured("batch/v1", "Job"),
+			wantCollectorKind: common.StdOutCollector,
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "TrainJob trial defaults to Push collector",
+			trialSpec:         newFakeUnstructured("trainer.kubeflow.org/v1alpha1", "TrainJob"),
+			wantCollectorKind: common.PushCollector,
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "explicit collector is preserved for TrainJob",
+			trialSpec: newFakeUnstructured("trainer.kubeflow.org/v1alpha1", "TrainJob"),
+			explicitCollector: &common.CollectorSpec{
+				Kind: common.StdOutCollector,
+			},
+			wantCollectorKind: common.StdOutCollector,
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "nil TrialSpec defaults to StdOut collector",
+			trialSpec:         nil,
+			wantCollectorKind: common.StdOutCollector,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tcs {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			e := &Experiment{
+				Spec: ExperimentSpec{},
+			}
+			if tc.trialSpec != nil {
+				e.Spec.TrialTemplate = &TrialTemplate{
+					TrialSource: TrialSource{
+						TrialSpec: tc.trialSpec,
+					},
+				}
+			}
+			if tc.explicitCollector != nil {
+				e.Spec.MetricsCollectorSpec = &common.MetricsCollectorSpec{
+					Collector: tc.explicitCollector,
+				}
+			}
+
+			e.setDefaultMetricsCollector()
+
+			gotKind := e.Spec.MetricsCollectorSpec.Collector.Kind
+			if gotKind != tc.wantCollectorKind {
+				t.Errorf("got collector kind %q, want %q", gotKind, tc.wantCollectorKind)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func newFakeUnstructured(apiVersion, kind string) *unstructured.Unstructured {
+	u := &unstructured.Unstructured{}
+	u.SetAPIVersion(apiVersion)
+	u.SetKind(kind)
+	return u
+}