Job Description
Smalls is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Innovation Brand Manager to lead our Innovation Pipeline and ensure Smalls stays at the forefront of the cat space through new product development and go-to-market excellence. This role will be instrumental in refining and maintaining a scalable innovation process, enabling cross-functional collaboration and alignment, and managing projects from concept to launch to performance analytics. The right candidate will blend strategic thinking with hands-on execution, thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment, and know how to bring about products that drive growth and deepen brand love.
- What You'll Do
- Innovation Project Management
- Lead the development of a multi-year innovation strategy, transforming big ideas into real products that cats (and their humans) will love.
- Own project timelines and budgets, ensuring each initiative ladders up to clear objectives and brand impact.
- Collaborate across the Innovation pod, made up of leaders across Operations, Brand, Customer Support, Retail, and more.
- Facilitate regular cross-functional meetings, keeping stakeholders aligned, accountable, and on timeline.
- Build and reinforce project structure by managing all innovation documentation, tasks, progress, and deliverables in Notion.
- Write sharp, stellar, insights-driven product briefs that inspire and advance our brand story, while driving measurable results.
- Partner with Marketing to shape GTM strategies, defining product positioning, audience targeting, and launch moments that make an impact.
- Product Development Insights:
- Leverage customer insights, category trends, and market research to feed the Innovation pipeline and uncover new opportunities.
- Own post-launch reporting and analysis to evaluate product performance, transforming quantitative and qualitative feedback into learnings and recommendations.
- Balance brand storytelling with product performance, ensuring every launch strengthens our brand positioning in cat nutrition and cat health, driving both brand equity and business results.
- What We’ll Love About You
- You’re a cat parent and cat lover, with a deep understanding of the category across multiple verticals.
- You have worked 4+ years in product marketing, innovation or brand management. Huge plus if you have CPG experience.
- You’ve successfully developed, launched, and optimized new products with measurable impact on revenue and brand growth.
- You can work cross-functionally with stakeholders at all levels and communicate effectively and with ease.
- You are highly organized and your attention to detail makes you a strong project manager. Bonus points if you’re skilled at project management in Notion.
- You bring a strong point of view while remaining open to input—keeping the team grounded in process and data.
- You are relentlessly curious and passionate about building new and better products.
- You’re a strategic thinker and a tactical doer, equally comfortable leading a brainstorm or writing a detailed product spec.
- What you’ll love about us:
- Mission-Driven Company: We love cats and we're here to make nine lives ten.
- People-Driven Company: We treat our people like people; we're committed to Smalls, and we work hard but also respect everyone’s lives outside of work.
- Data-Driven Culture: We love using data to guide decision-making where appropriate, but we also know when to move quickly and go with our gut.
- Competitive Salary: Make some $$$.
- Very Competitive Benefits: Fully paid Health, Vision, and Dental insurance. 4-day work week. Unlimited PTO.
- Fully Remote Office & Culture: Our team is spread across the US day to day, but we travel for department & company off-sites and retreats.
- Free Product: Free cat food every month.
Apply tot his job
Apply To this Job