Director, Packaging

The Farmer’s Dog was born from a mission to change the landscape of pet health, providing dogs and their humans with honest, smart, and simple care. We’re starting by radically improving the $90 billion pet food industry, replacing bags of highly-processed pellets with a personalized subscription service that sends complete and balanced, freshly-made dog food directly to customers’ doors. Our ultimate goal is to create innovative, delightful and personalized experiences across all aspects of pet care, and we believe our direct-to-consumer business model, holistic approach to growth, and dynamic culture uniquely position us to shepherd this backwards industry into the future.
To date, The Farmer’s Dog has delivered over 1 billion meals nationwide and raised over $150M in funding to help us build a company as healthy as the dogs who are eating those meals. Join us as we continue to develop ways of bringing peace of mind to customers, health to their companions, and much-needed change to the way people feed and care for their pets.

#LongLiveDogs

The Farmer's Dog is growing fast — and our packaging needs to keep pace. We're looking for a Director, Packaging Engineering to own the design, development, and commercialization of packaging across our product portfolio. This is a high-ownership role for a technically excellent engineer who is equally comfortable building strategy and rolling up their sleeves on the plant floor. You will be a key technical partner across Product Development, Design, Quality, Operations, and Supply Chain — driving packaging from concept through commercial launch with speed, rigor, and a clear point of view.

One Team: We don’t think of ourselves as “Acquisition Marketers”, “Engineers”, “Data Analysts”, or “Product Managers”. Beyond denoting skill sets and areas of expertise, we don’t think departments matter. We’d rather align ourselves to the goals we’re working to achieve and make sure we have necessary subject matter expertise to drive meaningful impact. We strive to orient ourselves around customer problems TOGETHER – getting the right people, with the right context, in the right rooms/Zooms to solve problems holistically.

We are skeptical about everything and precious about nothing:  Ideas can and should come from anywhere, and we aren’t tied to our own. We proactively source input. We talk to our customers and leads regularly and are quick to change course if we know there’s a better or more impactful way to solve problems.

We consider the customer journey in all of our decisions:  We know that no interaction exists in a silo and therefore understand how important every single one is.  We ensure our strategy sets prospective and new customers up for success and drives long-term retention.  We answer questions and address problems early and proactively.  We understand the value of different channels, initiatives, and messages and know how to articulate impact and advocate for prioritization holistically.

We Execute For Impact: We don’t subscribe to “best practices” or “industry KPIs”. We’re uninterested in how we compare to “benchmarks”; instead we orient ourselves around being the best we can possibly be. Similarly, we don’t subscribe to rigid or classical expectations of roles – i.e. acquisition is hyper-focused on improving customer retention and experience.

We Are Focused and Work Without Assumption: We are not beholden to ideas. We have goals and believe everything beyond that is a series of hypotheses to validate. To that end, we seek to work in sequence and not in parallel. We constantly ask ourselves, “what’s the most important hypothesis I should be working on right now? How do I confirm or reject that hypothesis as fast as possible?”. We rarely have timelines/deadlines and are constantly taking in new information and adjusting our priorities accordingly. We don’t expect to be perfect the first time.

Packaging Strategy & Portfolio Leadership 

• Set the strategic direction for packaging across TFD's full product portfolio — including current formats and new formats as the business expands into new categories and channels. 
• Own the packaging roadmap: prioritize initiatives, align stakeholders, and ensure the team is focused on the highest-impact work at every stage of growth. 
• Define and build scalable packaging engineering standards — qualification protocols, print approval processes, retained sample programs, shelf-life testing frameworks, and supplier quality requirements. 
• Drive design recommendations backed by competitive benchmarking, consumer insight, and technical rigor; make the call when tradeoffs arise and align the organization on direction. 
• Proactively identify and resolve risks across the packaging portfolio — materials performance, print quality, regulatory compliance, retailer requirements — before they reach production or market. 

Commercialization & Supplier Management 

• Lead packaging trials and validation runs at co-manufacturers and suppliers; own technical outcomes and ensure findings are clearly documented and communicated to leadership. 
• Build and manage strong relationships with external packaging suppliers, print vendors, and contract manufacturers — driving accountability for quality, cost, and timeline. 
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to align on production windows, material lead times, and inventory requirements across launches and ongoing production. 
• Ensure all packaging meets food safety, regulatory, and retailer requirements for every format and channel we sell through. 

Team Leadership & Organizational Development 

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing packaging engineering team — setting clear goals, providing direct and caring feedback, and creating a culture of technical excellence and ownership. 
• Be opinionated on team structure, talent needs, and capability gaps as the portfolio grows; recruit top technical talent and advocate for the resources needed to win. 
• Mentor engineers on technical skills, project ownership, and cross-functional communication — developing the next generation of packaging leaders at TFD. 

Cross-Functional Partnership & Executive Communication

• Partner at a senior level with Product Development, Brand, Creative, Quality, Operations, and Supply Chain — serving as the packaging function's voice in strategic decisions. 
• Translate complex technical constraints into clear, confident recommendations for non-technical stakeholders and executive leadership. 
• Represent the packaging function in stage gate reviews, executive updates, and cross-functional forums — ensuring leadership has the visibility they need without having to ask for it. 
• Maintain thorough documentation of designs, test results, and project milestones to support traceability, knowledge sharing, and regulatory compliance. 

Continuous Improvement & Sustainability 

• Apply Lean Six Sigma principles and continuous improvement tools to drive efficiency and consistency in packaging operations. 
• Identify opportunities to improve materials, processes, and supplier performance — for better cost, sustainability, and production efficiency. 
• Champion sustainable packaging solutions that reduce environmental impact and support TFD's long-term goals. 

This role requires up to 30–50% domestic travel for supplier visits, plant trials, and co-manufacturer support.

• You have 5+ years of packaging engineering experience and are ready to step into a leadership role at a company building something genuinely new. 
• You are fluent in both structural and graphic packaging execution and know how to navigate ambiguity without losing momentum. 
• You build strong supplier relationships and drive accountability across complex, cross-functional environments. 
• You are able to thrive in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment — a naturally curious and proactive self-starter, constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and solutions. 
• You're an owner, with excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to prioritize tasks effectively, with strong attention to detail. 
• You're a skilled communicator with the ability to absorb and distill complexity into simple terms to drive decision making. 
• You love dogs.

We are an in-office culture, made of in-office people who thrive on the collaboration and magnetism of working in a shared space. We are seeking individuals who excel in this type of environment, where being present fosters deeper connections and engagement. We ask all team members to be in office 4 - 5 days a week to build a collaborative and invested environment to foster our unique in-person culture we are proud to have. This office policy is subject to change at company discretion.

At TFD, we believe Belonging is a shared commitment to creating a workplace where every person feels respected, valued, and empowered to be themselves. When people feel a true sense of belonging, they do their best work, take smart risks, and bring forward diverse perspectives — leading to stronger decisions and deeper relationships.
We anchor this belief in a simple phrase: “Everyone’s welcome at the dog park.” No matter your background, identity, or role, there’s space for you here. There’s no one way to show up at the dog park— just shared space, mutual respect, and the freedom to be yourself. Being included is just the beginning, it’s about contributing your voice, growing through challenges, and building trust through shared goals. This philosophy guides how we lead, how we hire, how we communicate, and how we grow.
                    
We continuously evaluate to ensure we are creating a consistent experience that cultivates belonging for all employees, from hiring and performance reviews to talent development. We also believe Belonging happens in everyday moments of connection; lunch with a new teammate, a shared laugh, or a quick story about your weekend. Our structure includes biannual employee surveys, manager training, TFD camps, and support from Humans to ensure we’re listening and learning from our Team.

Together, these efforts reflect what Belonging means at TFD: a culture where everyone can thrive.

• Dog-friendly office in SoHo
• Market-competitive compensation and equity packages
• Comprehensive Healthcare, Dental, and Vision
• Company supported mental health benefits
• 12 week paid parental leave
• Competitive 401k plan with company match
• Flexible PTO 
• Discounted fresh food for your pup
• Your pet interrupting video calls (and in-person meetings) is now a feature, not a bug

The Farmer's Dog, Inc. is an equal employment opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic or status. For more information, please visit Know Your Rights.

TFD complies with applicable federal, state, and local disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities.  If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [email protected].

We’re happy to answer any questions you may have about the position or our hiring process - please reach out at [email protected].