Director, FSQR Operations

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

We are seeking a Director, FSQR, Quality Operations, to ensure every customer trusts our brand offers the highest quality product. This person will be responsible for the development and implementation of processes and procedures that support our Manufacturing Network and Quality Management Systems. We are looking for a leader who will partner cross functionally and leverage their technical expertise to  effectively communicate all food safety and quality concerns/risks. 

This role will support and work directly with our manufacturing partners, product development teams (internal and external), suppliers and fulfillment centers to create and optimize processes and verify all ingredients and products we produce meet our specifications, and are handled properly from supplier to customer.  We need a visionary leader who will live our values and create a vision, in partnership with our VP, FSQR, for where the function can go, and then drive the implementation and realization of that vision.

This role will lead a group of highly skilled individuals, providing mentorship and guidance while fostering alignment with the organization’s vision. They’ll be responsible for supporting a culture of continuous improvement and helping the department grow into a best-in-industry function.

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

• Lead and support our site manufacturing team to ensure compliance to and elevate The Farmer’s Dog Food Safety and Quality Standards, including managing and mentoring your direct reports, overseeing daily responsibilities, goal-setting and coaching the group on growth and development to set them and the function up for long-term success.
• Direct Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory programs and inspections/audits procedures to ensure compliance to The Farmer’s Dog and regulatory requirements, to include Specification adherence to recipes.
• Develop and execute effective tools to measure site manufacturing performance, as it relates to Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory compliance.
• Actively participate in escalated regulatory and food safety investigations and assist the VP of FSQR in Crisis and Recall Management. 
• Lead cross-functional working groups to ensure effective implementation and adherence to Food Safety initiatives, while providing technical expertise, practical guidance, and driving process improvements across site manufacturing operations.
• Providing ownership of The Farmer’s Dog microbiological program and risk assessment of compliance failures, to include providing recommendations on actions to be taken. 
• Manage and build relationships with key regulatory agencies (USDA-FDA and AAFCO) resolving escalations and partnering with other teams to influence relevant legislation.
• Make complex risk based food safety decisions that enable the reliable delivery of products that meet all regulatory requirements and internal Quality and Food Safety standards.
• Collect and study data to understand trends and issues in order to develop corrective and preventative actions to address and prevent issues related to product safety and quality. Collaborates with other functions to advance awareness and education of food safety and quality based on data collected.
• Consistently take a proactive approach to complex challenges, embracing a growth-mindset, combining strong problem-solving abilities with clear communication and influence to drive solutions .
• Interface with and appropriately engage the support of subject matter experts to assure regulatory compliance, food safety and quality.

We're Excited About You Because

• You have 10+ years of Food Safety & Quality in human food and manufacturing experience in compliance with FDA and USDA, GFSI standards, with a minimum of 5 years managing food safety programs at third party manufacturers.
• You have an MS in Microbiology (preferred), Food Safety, Supply Chain or other related field.
• You have expert knowledge of FDA and USDA regulations and documentation requirements and are HACCP Certified (including seafood HACCP).
• You have demonstrated experience collaborating with co-manufacturers and suppliers’ QA teams, product development teams, and external service providers.
• You have strong knowledge of production processes along with application of essential food safety principles.
• You're a skilled communicator (presentation-report writing-teaching/training) and have the ability to absorb and distill complexity into simple terms to drive decision making  across all levels of an organization.
• You are able to thrive in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, naturally curious and proactive self-starter, constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and solutions.
• You have Food Safety Audit experience, ASQ Auditor Certification a plus.
• You are able to travel 30 - 50% of the time.
• You are proficient in  statistical and analytical tools, leveraging data to make informed decisions.
• You have strong project management skills and familiarity with MS Office (Excel, Word, Power Point, and Access) and Google Docs (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms).

Office Guidelines

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.

Our Belonging Philosophy:

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.

A Few of Our Best Benefits

• Dog-friendly office in Greenwich Village
• 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

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 $185,000 - $210,000 USD Annual and the compensation offered will include a robust market competitive package of base, bonus 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.

Reasonable Accommodations

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.