Head of NPD

Greater London, England, United Kingdom

12/3/2024

As the Head of NPD you will lead a team to develop and manage a range that meets customer needs, sustains growth and enables differentiation for Tails.com. You will shape the physical product pipeline across all categories and ensure we are saying the most compelling things about our products in the right way. But this is not your average range; you aren’t just responsible for developing a compelling range of products but ensuring they work together in harmony to create tailor-made blends and feeding plans out of a million possible combinations.

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.

Be a part of the Brand and Proposition Group

As a team we work together to deliver a powerful proposition and brand rooted in customer and market insight. We always have a deep understanding of dogs and dog owners, their needs and what they value. And we use this understanding to drive how we optimise and innovate our unique proposition in a holistic way, ultimately building a compelling and enduring brand.

Build our brand

We’re building an international 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

As the Head of NPD you will lead a team to develop and manage a range that meets customer needs, sustains growth and enables differentiation for Tails.com. You will shape the physical product pipeline across all categories and ensure we are saying the most compelling things about our products in the right way. But this is not your average range; you aren’t just responsible for developing a compelling range of products but ensuring they work together in harmony to create tailor-made blends and feeding plans out of a million possible combinations. It requires someone who can comfortably bounce between the big picture vision of crafting the perfect range and the detailed complexity of how our nutritional and technology systems work. Up for the challenge?

You will be responsible for:

Leading a team of 7, managing 4 direct reports, in pursuit of:

• Physical Product Innovation Strategy: Build and own an overall range vision and strategy that delivers on company goals and objectives. Lead the development and execution of the innovation and renovation pipeline for the product range, identifying new opportunities based on consumer insights, market research, and industry trends.
• Concept Development: Lead the team in generating, assessing, and prioritising new product concepts and modifications to existing products.
• Trend Analysis & Research: Monitor industry trends, competitor activities, and technological advancements to identify growth opportunities and areas for differentiation within the product range.
• Product Performance Monitoring: In close partnership with the Head of Trading, track the performance of our product portfolio, gathering data and consumer feedback to optimise performance, refine products and inform future innovation projects. Lead Range Managers in partnering with trading team on selling tactics, pricing optimisation and overall commercial performance of each category. Share accountability for key metrics i.e. rate of sale, repeat rates, margin.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Establish effective ways of working with Brand, Trading, Proposition, Operations and Delivery teams to ensure product ideas align with business objectives, technical feasibility, and customer needs.
• Risk and Claims Management: Identify and mitigate risks associated with new product launches, ensuring that all innovations meet regulatory, quality, and safety standards. Accountable for effective management of our product claims, approach to risk, and guidelines.
• Technical Food Development: Leading the Food and Nutrition team to develop formulations and manage specifications for NPD and EPD, working in collaboration with the operations team to identify areas of continuous improvement and optimisation, to maintain functional performance of our food.
  
  

The skills you’ll bring:

• Experience in physical product innovation, category management, or a similar role within consumer goods.
• Experience working in a business that sells or manufactures food products that claims nutritional benefits.
• Significant product development expertise with the ability to think creatively, understand market needs, explore trends and articulate new concepts.
• Self-motivated with the ability to manage multiple priorities, prioritise and work at pace in a fast changing environment.
• A confident communicator, who can explain ideas, issues, and implications to senior, technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong commercial acumen complemented with a results-driven orientation (delivering top line and marketing KPIs).
• Experience leading and managing teams.
• Skilled in developing compelling business cases, storytelling and conceptualising the big picture.
  
  

Nice-to-have:

• Experience working in the pet or nutrition industry.
• Experience working for an e-commerce and/or subscription business.
• Experience working with a physical product that has a digital component.
• Experience in delivering products and services to different countries and cultures, and the necessity for understanding different levels and types of localisation needs of those customers.
• Experience in food-related Technical Development, Manufacturing or Quality Management.
  
  

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. Because we believe that diverse teams perform better, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an underrepresented demographic.

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

• Once you have applied, your CV will be reviewed by the Hiring Manager and Talent Acquisition.
• If selected, you will then have a call with Talent Acquisition to understand more about your skills and experience (30 mins).
• Should you be successful, the next stage will be a video call with the Hiring Manager(up to 45 mins).
• If successful, you will be invited to present a task back to a panel of interviewers (60 mins).
• The final stage is a video call with two key stakeholders across the business.
  
  

What's in it for you?

• Competitive salary, reviewed annually.
• Annual bonus, based on company performance.
• Flexible core hours, giving you true work life balance.
• Hybrid role to ensure this role works for you - 2 days a week from our Richmond office.
• 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays) which increases over time to a max of 27 days.
• Plus we work a 9 day fortnight - that means every other Friday off to enhance your wellbeing without a reduction in pay or 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.
• Discounted gym membership
  
  

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.