Changing the world of pet food for good

We’re Tails.com, a dog food subscription company with a big difference. We create truly tailored food for each and every dog we serve. We start by asking people a few simple questions about their dog. Then we use that information to create their dog’s unique Tails.com recipe – so their dog gets exactly the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month. It’s clever stuff.

We’ve got bold plans. Having created an entirely new category in pet food, we’re now scaling fast – backed by Purina, one of the world’s largest pet food companies. You’ll join a bunch of smart people working towards the same goals – and a bunch of smart-ish dogs, all working on their own thing.

Together, we’ll change the world of pet food for good.

Build our brand

We’re building a brand, fast. We set ambitious goals. We challenge and support each other in equal measure. At the pace we’re moving, we prefer to test ideas and learn quickly rather than spend months building a business case. That means we celebrate when things go right, and we learn when things go wrong.

Sound like a team you want to join? Here’s how you’ll make a difference:

The role

We are seeking an experienced Pet Food Development manager, who will be responsible for executing food product innovation and renovation across our Dry & Wet dog food ranges as well as leading a small team of food and specification technologists. Leading a team of 1-2 food technologists to develop, optimise & support our food products. Working cross functionally with multiple departments across the business.

You will be responsible for:

Product Development, Optimisation & Management

• Working closely with project managers to execute food based changes to our range, using the stage gate process.

• Partnering with experts in the Proposition & Innovation teams to align development direction for new products & delivering to this agreed direction through to launch.

• Partnering with Quality, Supply Chain, & Procurement teams to identify opportunity areas for product optimisation, & execute changes.

Building effective collaborative development relationships with our suppliers

• Collaboration with product / ingredient suppliers to bring our solutions to life, being responsible to hold our suppliers to SLA’s on delivering innovation to meet our launch deadlines.

• Set examples for best in class supplier ways of working, & model these behaviours to the rest of the team.

Claims substantiation

• Support the Innovation Managers throughout the innovation process to understand & identify claims which can be associated with the products in development.

• Work in collaboration with the Regulatory & Compliance Manager to ensure awareness of their recommendations, so that you are able to represent these views in agreement of specifications, creation of artwork / assets.

• Substantiate new product claims ahead of launch, complying at all times with the claims process which has been outlined & created by the Regulatory & Compliance Manager, & the Animal Nutritionist.

• Ensure that claims substantiation is maintained & updated as necessary throughout the lifecycle of the product.

• Ensure regular reviews & update substantiation dossiers as new academic studies emerge. (Liaise closely with Animal Nutritionist to maintain awareness of new relevant studies as well as proactively maintaining an awareness via industry periodicals etc.)

Food Philosophy

• The Tails.com Food Philosophy is managed & documented by the Animal Nutritionist.

• Ensure that this philosophy is maintained, along with nutritional, design guidelines, & other key resources for the Innovation team.

Issue Management & Resolution Support

• The resolution of incidents & shortages, making clear recommendations on food risk & proposed next steps.

The skills you’ll bring

• Previous experience in Pet food related product development, food technical, nutritionist role, or similar

• Food Science or Animal Nutrition degree is desirable

• Passion for leading & developing a small team of food technologists

• Experience in working with & developing products in partnership with suppliers & co-manufacturers

• A commercial mindset, able to input on business cases to aid sizing of innovation projects, & able to build own business case for renovation projects

• Tools & Platforms Spec track or similar specification management experience

• Theoretical nutrition modelling experience

What's in it for you?

• Competitive salary, reviewed annually

• Flexible core hours, giving you true work life balance

• Hybrid role to ensure this role works for you

• 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays) which increases over time to a max of 27 days

• 9/10 day working week to enhance your wellbeing without a reduction in pay and leave allowance

• Optional 5 days unpaid leave and 1 paid volunteer day each year

• When you need a change of scenery, you can work from abroad 2 weeks every 6 months

• Health insurance for you, paid by Tails.com

• Extended maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay. 6 months at 70% pay

• Flexible paid care leave to support immediate dependants, people close to you and pets

• In house L&D team, with access to year round courses to help drive your development

• 50% discount on all Tails.com

• Discounted gym membership

What’s next?

If this sounds like it matches your experience and what you’d love to do, we can’t wait to hear from you! If you’re unsure whether you fit our criteria exactly, please get in touch anyway. And because we believe that diverse teams perform better, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

Here’s a taster of how our recruitment process works:

1. Once you have applied your CV will be reviewed by the Talent Acquisition Team.

2. If selected, you will then have a call with the TA Team who will tell you more about us and the role, as well as learning more about your skills and experience.

3. Should you be successful, the next stage will be a video call with the hiring manager.

4. If successful, you will be invited to present a task back to a panel of interviewers.

Our Commitment

We’re proud to be an active equal opportunity employer. We want to give everyone a fair chance to join us in changing the world of pet food for good. We do this by conducting a structured recruitment process for all candidates, as well as actively promoting our roles to communities that are under-represented at Tails.com.

During your interview process you’ll meet some of our team with varying levels of responsibility and experience. We want to give every candidate a fair interview process and if you need any reasonable adjustments made, please let us know.

Department

Brand & Innovation

Locations

Richmond

Remote status

Hybrid