The Category
The bar moved, and a lot of teams did not
Pet spent a decade becoming a premium category. Owners read ingredient panels, buy fresh and frozen, and pay human food prices. That pulled operators in from food and beverage and raised the bar on formulation, quality and supply chain in a category that used to tolerate less.
Channel structure is what generalist recruiters miss. Pet specialty, mass, grocery, veterinary and DTC each behave differently, and the veterinary channel in particular needs relationships and a sales motion that look nothing like retail.
Manufacturing deserves its own note. Pet food production carries real regulatory and safety exposure, and a recall here is brutal because the consumer is somebody's animal. Quality and food safety leadership is often the most important hire a growing pet brand makes, and usually the last one they think about.
- 01
- Channel motionVeterinary is not retail. Candidates rarely move between them as easily as a resume suggests.
- 02
- Safety exposureWe screen quality leaders on recall and audit history, because that is the risk that actually ends brands.
- 03
- Cold chainFresh and frozen pet food is closer to fresh human food than to kibble. The operator profile changes with it.
What We Cover
Roles We Place Across Pet Food and Pet Care
We place commercial, manufacturing, nutrition and leadership roles from mid-management through the C-suite. Work with a specialized CPG recruiter or food and beverage recruiter who knows your world, or see how our search model works.
Channel Sales
- VP of Sales
- Director of Pet Specialty
- Director of Veterinary Sales
- National Account Manager
- Ecommerce Lead
Marketing
- Brand Director
- Shopper Marketing Manager
- Director of Digital
Nutrition and Formulation
- Pet Nutritionist
- Formulation Scientist
- Palatability Lead
- Director of R&D
Manufacturing and Safety
- Plant Manager
- Director of Food Safety and Quality
- Co-Manufacturing Manager
- Regulatory Affairs Manager
Leadership
- President
- CFO
- VP of Operations
Candidate Evaluation
You meet the person before the first interview
Every finalist arrives with a written evaluation, not a resume and a sentence. Interview notes from several conversations, a homework assignment tied to your biggest need, career motivations, and the resume itself, merged into one document on your portal.
You will not get a weekly summary email. You will see the candidate the day we add them.
Where we work in the category
- Dry and wet pet food
- Fresh, frozen and raw
- Treats and chews
- Pet supplements
- Veterinary diets
- Litter and hygiene
- Toys and hard goods
- Private label
Common Questions
Pet recruiting, answered
Which channels do you recruit across?
Pet specialty, mass, grocery, veterinary and DTC. The veterinary channel needs a different sales profile from retail, and candidates rarely move between them as easily as a resume suggests.
Do you recruit pet nutritionists and formulation roles?
Yes. Pet nutritionists, formulation scientists and R&D leadership are a regular part of our work. The pool is small and highly credentialed, so these searches run almost entirely on direct outreach.
Can food and beverage executives move into pet?
Often, and premiumization made it more common. The screening question is whether they understand the regulatory and safety exposure specific to animal nutrition, which differs meaningfully from human food.
Do you work with fresh and frozen pet food brands?
Yes, and those searches skew heavily to cold chain and manufacturing expertise. The operational demands are closer to fresh human food than to conventional dry pet food.
What happens if the hire does not work out?
We rerun the search at no additional fee if the placement leaves or is let go inside 12 months.
Hiring in pet?
Tell us the seat. We will show you how we would run the search.