Senior Product Developer, Food & Treats

Dogs, cats, budgies and everything in between - pets deserve the world. They make us want to be better humans. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to build the most engaged and passionate community of pets and pet parents across the world. And we’re looking for talented team mates who can help us do it.

Founded in Sydney, our team of 500+ pet obsessives span Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. We’ve scaled to become one of Australia's top five eCommerce companies and the no.1 online pet store. But we’re just getting started. Like a whippet who’s spotted their mate across the dog park, our growth is only going to accelerate, as we continue to disrupt the way that pet parents shop.

Excitingly, the pet industry is booming (as in $15 billion kind of booming) and online pet retail is set to grow exponentially in the next five years. So this is a unique career opportunity to be part of our epic growth story.

The opportunity

As a Private Label Senior Product Developer within our Merchandising function, you will effectively support the expansion of Pet Circle’s private label offering leading to increased revenue and customer loyalty to our brands. This is a crucial role in the team executing NPD category strategy across consumables and non-consumables and bringing innovative products to market.

Our vision is to develop and offer products and brands that we know our customers and their pets love that are exclusive to Pet Circle. 

• Lead the development of new products within your assigned portfolio, ensuring all offerings align with the private label strategy.
• Ensure each product introduced is backed by a strong customer and business rationale, maximizing its impact upon launch.
• Keep innovation and quality at the core of all product development initiatives.
• Oversee and manage the end-to-end product development process, from concept to launch, ensuring projects adhere to the critical path and are executed effectively.
• Manage the artwork process and ensure supplier communication is clear and timely, ensuring projects land right the first time.
• dentify key global trends and translate them into actionable insights for the pet industry across consumables and non-consumables.
• Leverage these trends to drive new product development and product differentiation
• Ensure all products follow the stage-and-gate process, from concept through to final approval.
• Lead NPD and EPD projects across the portfolio, ensuring clear briefings, sample management, and timely commercial sign-off.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Vets, to ensure product validation and approval.
• Regularly conduct competitive benchmarking and gap analysis to identify market opportunities, guiding product design and recipe formulation.
• Use insights from industry trends and competitors to influence key product decisions.
• Support the onboarding of new suppliers and assess their capabilities for future collaboration.
• Manage pre-production trials and the first production runs, ensuring all products meet Pet Circle's quality standards.
• Stay current with industry developments by attending pet trade shows and supplier visits.
• Regularly engage with suppliers to understand manufacturing processes, capabilities, and future innovation opportunities.

• 3-5 years of experience in procurement, buying, or sourcing, preferably within consumables or retail.
• Strong track record in sourcing and negotiating private label or exclusive branded products.
• Expertise in managing supplier relationships and securing favorable terms.
• Proven ability to develop and execute sourcing strategies aligned with category growth.
• Strong financial acumen, with the ability to analyze market trends and sales data.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product development, marketing, and supply chain teams.
• Excellent negotiation, organizational, and project management skills.
• Effective communication and stakeholder management skills, with a proactive, results-driven approach.

• Heaps of development opportunities - stretch projects, focus groups & secondments
• Flexible working environment
• Up to 50% employee discount
• Product sample giveaways
• Pawrental leave and wellbeing leave
• Team charity volunteer days
• Classpass subsidy

Role location

We believe that building connections and collaborating as Pet Circlers is super important. So this role is based in Sydney with a hybrid arrangement of 3 days per week in our pet friendly offices (your pet might love coming to the office even more than you). This could change in line with business requirements.

Why Join?

We reckon our mission to help the world Pet Better is an important one, but also an incredibly fun and rewarding one. Becoming a Pet Circler means you’re committed to help shape an entire industry - it’s pretty exciting stuff. Here’s what we stand for:

We’re better together

We operate with humble hearts and hungry minds

Pets matter; so pets and pet parents always have a seat at our table

We’re instinctively curious. Always

Belong at Pet Circle

Our unique perspectives and expertise is our superpower  - we value diversity in all forms. So, no matter your background, please apply if this role makes you excited to bring your full self to work each day.