Job description

Smalls is on a mission to make nine lives ten, building a brand and a digital experience that cat people genuinely love. Our website and product aren't just a storefront; they're the clearest expression of who we are and the engine of our growth. This role owns both. We're looking for a VP of Product & Engineering to set the vision for our digital product, digital experience, and the technology that powers them — and to be accountable for the business results that vision delivers. Reporting to Ed (SVP, Growth & Data), you'll sit on the leadership team and act as the connective tissue between what we want the business to become and what we build to get there. WHAT YOU’LL DO PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY - Define a multi-year vision for our digital product and the platform beneath it, and turn it into a roadmap the team can rally around. - Decide where to invest, what to build, and how team resourcing and tech stack need to shift to support that roadmap. - Tie every call to the long-term vision and financial goals of the overall business in a way that is clear and motivating for the teams you lead. DIGITAL PRODUCT EXPERIENCE - Hold the vision and the bar for everything a customer touches once they reach us — the onsite experience, paths to purchase and checkout, the account and subscription experience, and the product surfaces that keep them coming back. - Bring a real perspective on how UX, merchandising, and onsite flows shape behavior, and make sure the experience we ship reflects the brand at its best. METRICS & REVENUE ACCOUNTABILITY - Own the product and experience metrics that ladder up to revenue — conversion, AOV, LTV, retention — and feel personally accountable for the topline you influence. - Bring that commercial lens into every prioritization decision; be as fluent in the economics of the business as in the product. PRODUCT & MARKETING PARTNERSHIP - Build a shared agenda with Marketing across acquisition, retention, and reactivation. - Bring a strong point of view on how product and brand compound each other to grow the business. ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP - Set the technical direction and build an org that ships with quality and speed. - Make the build-vs-buy and platform calls, keep the stack healthy, and make sure engineering is pointed squarely at what matters most. TEAM BUILDING - Attract, develop, and motivate a cross-functional product and engineering org. - Get the best out of your people, put resources where they'll have the most impact, and create a culture where ambitious builders do the best work of their careers. WHAT WE’LL LOVE ABOUT YOU - You lead with a point of view: you arrive with a bold, well-formed take on the experience and where it should go. You can describe a future others can't yet see and build the organizational conviction to chase it — while staying honest enough to update when the evidence says you're wrong. - You start from the customer: your strategy is grounded in a genuine understanding of who you're building for. You use data, testing, and research to sharpen your bets, not to make them for you. - You're commercial: you think in business outcomes and are comfortable being measured by them. You can articulate the tradeoff between a long-term experience investment and this quarter's number to anyone in the building, including the board. - You've scaled consumer commerce: you've built and grown across DTC subscription and traditional ecommerce, and understand what changes when a subscription-first business opens up to one-time purchase and subscribe-and-save. You know the modern DTC stack well, Shopify included, and carry enough technical depth to set engineering direction and earn your engineers' trust. - You operate at the product–marketing seam: you've owned the place where growth, brand, and product meet, and know how to make those functions pull in the same direction. - You're a builder of teams: an exceptional people leader who attracts strong talent, manages resources with judgment, and creates the conditions for a team to do its best work. - You communicate with clarity: your team and peers always understand the why behind the roadmap. You can go deep enough to debate architecture with engineers and high enough to align the exec team. - You have the track record to back it up — 12+ years (or equivalent) across product and technology leadership, with proof you've set strategy, led teams, and grown the metrics that matter. - You're a cat person: you care about cats and the people who love them, and you're genuinely excited to build for this community. - You lead with gut and opinion, and validate with data — not the reverse; purely analytical, data-first decision-making is not the right fit for this seat. - Your orientation is closer to a GM of ecom than a features-focused PM — you've owned broad commercial outcomes, not just a narrow conversion/CRO scope. - Subscription and Shopify experience are strong signals. 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.

Requirements

Must-haves

Define a multi-year vision for our digital product and the platform beneath it, and turn it into a roadmap the team can rally around.
Decide where to invest, what to build, and how team resourcing and tech stack need to shift to support that roadmap.
Tie every call to the long-term vision and financial goals of the overall business in a way that is clear and motivating for the teams you lead.
Bring a real perspective on how UX, merchandising, and onsite flows shape behavior, and make sure the experience we ship reflects the brand at its best.
Own the product and experience metrics that ladder up to revenue — conversion, AOV, LTV, retention — and feel personally accountable for the topline you influence.
Bring that commercial lens into every prioritization decision; be as fluent in the economics of the business as in the product.
Build a shared agenda with Marketing across acquisition, retention, and reactivation.
Bring a strong point of view on how product and brand compound each other to grow the business.
Set the technical direction and build an org that ships with quality and speed.
Make the build-vs-buy and platform calls, keep the stack healthy, and make sure engineering is pointed squarely at what matters most.
Attract, develop, and motivate a cross-functional product and engineering org.
Get the best out of your people, put resources where they'll have the most impact, and create a culture where ambitious builders do the best work of their careers.
You start from the customer: your strategy is grounded in a genuine understanding of who you're building for. You use data, testing, and research to sharpen your bets, not to make them for you.
You operate at the product–marketing seam: you've owned the place where growth, brand, and product meet, and know how to make those functions pull in the same direction.
You're a builder of teams: an exceptional people leader who attracts strong talent, manages resources with judgment, and creates the conditions for a team to do its best work.
You communicate with clarity: your team and peers always understand the why behind the roadmap. You can go deep enough to debate architecture with engineers and high enough to align the exec team.
You have the track record to back it up — 12+ years (or equivalent) across product and technology leadership, with proof you've set strategy, led teams, and grown the metrics that matter.
You're a cat person: you care about cats and the people who love them, and you're genuinely excited to build for this community.
You lead with gut and opinion, and validate with data — not the reverse; purely analytical, data-first decision-making is not the right fit for this seat.
Your orientation is closer to a GM of ecom than a features-focused PM — you've owned broad commercial outcomes, not just a narrow conversion/CRO scope.
Subscription and Shopify experience are strong signals.
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.

Nice-to-haves

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Platform: ashby
Effort: quick

Benefits

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Dental

Vision

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