Senior Food Technologist - 12 Month FTC in Richmond

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 use that information to create their dog’s unique Tails.com recipe – so they get exactly the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month.

Build our brand

We’re building a brand, fast. We set ambitious goals and 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.

The role

You will be responsible for supporting food product innovation, renovation, and optimisation across the Tails.com product range. Working collaboratively across multiple departments and with supplier partners to develop and deliver high‑quality, market‑appropriate, and fully compliant products. Supporting projects from concept through to launch, ensuring products meet required standards for quality, safety, performance, and regulatory compliance while aligning with business and consumer needs.

Responsibilities

• Product development, optimisation & management: Work closely with Project Managers to deliver food product changes across the range, following the stage gate development process from concept through to launch. Partner with Proposition & Innovation teams to align and deliver new product development objectives, while collaborating with Quality, Supply Chain, and Procurement teams to identify and implement product optimisation opportunities. Create, maintain, and control product, ingredient, and recipe specifications, ensuring accurate documentation, robust version control, supplier compliance, and effective communication of updates to stakeholders. Support product evaluation and benchmarking activities, including palatability trials, competitor analysis, and digital product catalogue management, using insights to inform development priorities and maintain accurate product information across internal systems.
• Building effective collaborative development relationships with our suppliers: Collaboration with product / ingredient suppliers to bring our solutions to life, being responsible to hold our suppliers to SLA's on delivering innovation to meet our launch deadlines. Set examples for best in class supplier ways of working, & model these behaviours to the rest of the team.
• Claims substantiation: Maintain a strong working knowledge of pet food labelling legislation, including FEDIAF guidelines and UK/EU regulations, ensuring all products and associated claims remain fully compliant throughout development and launch. Create and manage Label Information Sheets (LIS) for new products, coordinating cross‑functional review and approval processes with Regulatory, Compliance, Nutrition, and other key stakeholders prior to artwork and asset creation. Support product claims development and substantiation by collaborating with Innovation, Regulatory, and Nutrition teams to ensure claims are evidence‑based, accurately maintained throughout the product lifecycle, and updated in line with emerging scientific research and regulatory requirements.
• Food philosophy: The Tails.com Food Philosophy is managed & documented by the Animal Nutritionist. Ensure that this philosophy is maintained, along with nutritional, design guidelines, & other key resources for the Innovation team.
• Issue management & resolution: Support the resolution of incidents & shortages, making clear recommendations on food risk & proposed next steps.

The skills you’ll bring

• Previous experience in Pet food related product development, food technical, nutritionist role, or similar.
• Food Science or Animal Nutrition degree is desirable.
• Experience in working with & developing products in partnership with suppliers & co‑manufacturers.
• A commercial mindset, able to input on business cases to aid sizing of innovation projects, & able to build own business case for renovation projects.
• Experience with specification management software.
• Theoretical nutrition modelling experience.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary, reviewed annually.
• Flexible core hours, giving you true work‑life balance.
• Hybrid role to ensure this role works for you – we expect employees to have a conducive remote working environment (including an appropriate desk and adjustable chair) available for their start date.
• 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays) which increases over time to a max of 27 days.
• 9/10 day working week to enhance your wellbeing without a reduction in pay and 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.
• 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.