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 in the UK and Europe – 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.

Food Development Team

The Food Development team at tails.com changes the lives of pets and their owners for good by assuring the most nutritious and tasty combinations of food are provided to all healthy dogs throughout their lifetime. We work with our contract manufacturer partners and every team at tails.com to execute new food product launches as well as optimising, maintaining and monitoring existing products. We also use our knowledge of nutrition and product development processes to substantiate and document our claims as well as maintain a source of knowledge that builds confidence around our food and nutrition.

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

The role
We’re looking for an experienced Pet Food Development Manager on a 1 yr FTC to help us cover maternity leave. You’ll lead a team of 1-2 food innovation and specification technologists to develop, optimise & support our food products. Working cross functionally with multiple teams at Tails.com you’ll be responsible for:

• Product development, optimisation and management; working with project managers to execute food-based change through our established process
  • partnering with experts in Proposition & Range to align development direction for new products and executing through to launch. 
  • partnering with Quality, Supply Chain and Procurement teams to identify opportunity areas for product optimisation and execute changes. 
  • collaborating with suppliers to bring our solutions to life, being responsible to hold our suppliers accountable to SLAs on delivering innovation to meet our launch deadlines
• Building effective food co-development relationships with our suppliers and setting examples for best in class supplier ways of working for the rest of the team. 
• Substantiating new product claims ahead of launch and owning the system by which we iterate claims and their substantiation through the product lifecycle - supported by our Nutritionist and Regulatory contact. 
• Maintenance of our food philosophy, nutritional design guidelines and other key resources for the team. 
• Supporting the resolution of incidents and shortages; making clear recommendations on food risk and next steps.

The skills you’ll bring:

• Previous experience in Pet food-related product development in a food technology, nutritionist role or similar. 
• Passion for leading & developing a small team of food technologists. 
• Experience in working with and developing products in partnership with suppliers and co-manufacturers. 
• A commercial mindset; able to input on business cases to aid sizing innovation projects and own business case for renovation projects. 
• A Food Science or Animal Nutrition degree is desirable. 

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.

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.
• An external financial coach to support a range of topics - debt management, savings and investments.
• In house L&D team, with access to year round courses to help drive your development.
• 50% discount on all Tails.com and 40% on Republic of Cats products.
• 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 Hiring Manager.
2. If selected, you will then have a call with the Talent Aquisition to understand more about your skills and experience (30 mins).
3. Should you be successful, the next stage will be a video call with the hiring manager (45 mins)
4. If successful, you will be invited to present a task back to a panel of interviewers (60 mins).
5. The final stage is a video call with our Operations Director (30 mins).