Talent and Development Manager

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

As the Talent and Development Manager, you will lead key Talent Management programs that enhance employee performance and development, including driving & iterating on an org-wide performance management evolution that pushes the bounds of traditional review processes to one that promotes continuous feedback and is embedded in daily routines. You will bring your knack for building and managing projects from end to end, developing strong relationships with cross functional partners & continuous improvement mindset.

Reporting directly to the Director of Talent Management, this role will partner closely with stakeholders across the organization to deliver impactful talent initiatives in a fast-paced and evolving environment.

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.

• Own the execution of our performance enablement strategy, including iterating on the rollout of our new platform Windmill by fostering a culture of continuous feedback and meaningful 1:1s, strengthening manager coaching capabilities, increasing focus on employee development, and enhancing the bi-annual performance review experience. As part of this you will: 
  • Partner with the Director & VP of Talent Management to help translate strategic outcomes into actionable tactics and strategies. 
  • Design, execute and project management our bi-annual performance review process. 
  • Develop clear, engaging communications & trainings on program updates, key milestones, and next steps.
  • Engage closely with managers, employees, and key stakeholders, acting as the go to expert in all things performance enablement, to drive continuous improvement & gather feedback.
• Serve as key contributor and/or project manager for other Talent Management programs including promotions, talent assessment and planning, and manager/leader up skilling, in collaboration with the Director of Talent Management. 
• Monitor and track budget spend for Talent Management programs to optimize impact and efficiency.

• You bring 5+ years of experience in Talent Management or L&D, with a track record of driving impactful programs that support employee performance and development.
• You have a customer-centric mindset, care deeply about creating an amazing experience for employees and build strong relationships across groups to ensure effective collaboration.
• You are detail-oriented and proactive, you thrive as a self-starter and excel in managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• You are able to translate strategic outcomes into actionable initiatives and outcomes, driving projects from start to finish while proactively managing timelines and deliverables. 
• You're a skilled communicator and have the ability to absorb and distill complexity into simple terms to drive decision making.
• You’re an owner, have excellent problem-solving skills and can prioritize tasks effectively, with a strong attention to detail.
• You have a knack for data and technology, leveraging AI to accelerate and automate the work and using data to guide 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.

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 humansops@thefarmersdog.com.

We’re happy to answer any questions you may have about the position or our hiring process - please reach out at careers@thefarmersdog.com.