Director, Continuous Improvement

Who We Are

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

What We Stand For and Where You'll Come In

The Director, Continuous Improvement will utilize data analytics, observations, and core lean methodologies to understand and determine the root cause of opportunities and create solutions for improvement that directly enhance operational performance within processing, packaging, and fulfillment centers. You'll develop and implement effective CI strategies, foster a culture of Continuous Improvement, and utilize Lean tools and first-principle thinking. This role focuses on driving operational excellence, enhancing quality, and optimizing processes to achieve strategic business goals. This role reports directly to the VP of Technical Services. 

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.

How You'll Make An Impact

• Evaluate data to implement technical improvements in production processes, develop and implement innovative solutions; research and recommend new supply chain technology. 
• Identify gaps, invent solutions, and find wins across the most impactful aspects of our supply chain.
• Implement Lean, Six Sigma, and other methodologies to streamline operations, reduce waste and improve quality
• Influence and coach senior management and their teams on Continuous Improvement transformation, cultural change, engagement, Continuous Improvement adoption and empowerment with a passionate approach to results
• Assist in the development, leadership, and execution of the continuous improvement of long-range plans, including project selection, resource management, and technology innovation. 
• Assist in vetting and prioritizing projects, determining 3rd party partners, and soliciting innovative strategies for the company. 
• Devise project plans to manage projects from inception to control, including developing audit KPIs to ensure process improvement is stable and sustainable. 
• Drive Continuous Improvement/CI implementation to achieve cost reductions, cycle time improvements, and quality improvements through effective Continuous Improvement/CI management, benchmarking, Key Performance Indicator development, and scorecard for various functions within the organization
• Leverages change management strategies to gain acceptance and adoption of overall strategies and new initiatives.

We're Excited About You Because You

• You have +10 years of experience in high-growth organizations
• You understand the importance of leveraging and utilizing engineering principles and data analysis to reduce variation in manufacturing processes, thereby improving operating safety and efficiency in various parameters 
• You understand the crucial role of Continuous Improvement in creating a seamless supply chain and building a world-class, customer-centric organization.
• You are a big-picture thinker while simultaneously driving strategic execution
• You are enthusiastic about combining valuable data with effective coaching to help the company learn and grow.
• Are passionate about mastering and leveraging software to achieve desired business outcomes
• You will constantly question existing processes and tools to find opportunities for continuous improvement
• You are a driver of change management and will engage stakeholders at all levels to gain buy-in and support for projects
• You have a proven record of driving results through the use of common metrics and data including those with environments of ambiguity
• You lead by example and have a “no task is ever too big or too small for us to all work together and contribute for the collective good” mentality
• You are detail-oriented, organized, and collaborative team player
• You champion the TFD mission, values and culture
• You're willing to travel up to 30% of the time

Our DEI Philosophy:

Our company’s mission is rooted in deep, genuine care for dogs – and for the people who love them. As an organization we are full of individuals who are unique in many ways, but all united in a mission of providing true peace of mind to dog lovers everywhere. Fixing this industry and improving the lives of pets and their people will be a difficult, decades-long endeavor. We believe the best use of our time, energy, and resources as a collective team is to focus on this mission, and on supporting our team to do their best work and be their best selves. In support of this we’re committed to hiring and supporting a diverse workforce, and investing in internal structures, opportunities, hiring/promotions processes, and training that create and sustain an inclusive team. We strive to provide an experience at TFD that will be invested, meaningful and memorable as we progress on the journey to reimagine how we feed and care for our pets.

A Few of Our Best Benefits

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

We commit to building a competitive compensation package and company environment for all individuals to thrive. We believe in competitive base compensation rooted in location specific market data and performance along with equity ownership in the company that allows every team member to build their personal wealth as the company grows, just as much as we believe in fostering a culture that supports our team members personally, professionally, and holistically. For this role the anticipated hiring base compensation range is $170,000 - $185,000 USD Annual and the compensation offered will include a robust market competitive package of base and equity. In addition to your base compensation offer you will also receive equity ownership in the company. More information about the value of this equity will be shared at the time of offer. This range is representative of NYC Market Data if you are applying to this role outside of the NYC area the range may change.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

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.