Smalls is a premium cat food company scaling toward $300M in revenue across DTC, e-tail (Amazon, Chewy), and a rapidly expanding retail footprint. We've built something rare: a brand with genuine cultural resonance among cat parents — a community that's deeply engaged, fiercely loyal, and underserved by an industry that has historically treated cats as an afterthought in a dog-first world. Our products are genuinely changing how cats eat, and our customers know it.
We are looking for a senior leader to own full-market, full-funnel demand generation across every channel — DTC, e-tail, and retail. This person will translate strategic vision into a demand plan that hits revenue targets, architect the marketing mix across the entire funnel, shape the commercial direction of our digital product experience, and create the accountability structures that connect performance data to creative execution.
Set a data-informed but philosophically-grounded view of how marketing investment should be allocated across the funnel. Design upper funnel brand, mid funnel (podcast, direct mail, inserts, lifecycle), and lower funnel performance to drive DTC growth, e-tail, and brick & mortar retail sales.
Own the transition from a performance-heavy media mix driving to DTC to a balanced full-funnel omni-channel engine without cratering short-term results — sequencing upper funnel investment intelligently, measuring blended impact over 60–90 days, and reallocating as the pipeline proves out.
Think outside the box. Where can we show up, what can we do, that drives the brand forward and builds demand? Partner with the creative team to bring these concepts to life.
Define measurement frameworks and success criteria for marketing as we expand beyond direct response, lower funnel advertising
Own the holistic marketing calendar: hero product moments, campaign timing, promotional events, and seasonal planning integrated across all channels.
Lead marketing across all channels — DTC, e-tail, and retail — as a unified demand engine, not siloed programs.
Implement an omni-channel marketing engine that builds demand at retail as well as online. Create marketing programs specifically for brick-and-mortar.
Own e-tail as a direct accountability. Amazon, Chewy, and emerging e-tail platforms are yours — you understand how to drive velocity and visibility on those platforms, how their algorithms and promotional mechanics work, and how to build a winning e-tail playbook that complements DTC and retail.
Think about demand generation as an integrated system — understanding how marketing investment in one channel creates halo effects in others, and how retail distribution functions as top-of-funnel brand awareness.
Coordinate with the COO (who owns retail sales relationships) to ensure marketing strategy supports retail velocity — one engine, not siloed budgets.
Participate in total business revenue planning alongside the CSO, COO, and CFO — bringing the demand perspective to target-setting conversations.
Come to the table with a strong point of view on market positioning — who our customer is, what stories resonate with them, and why. You don't own the creative output, but you bring the commercial and consumer intelligence that sharpens it.
Through media buying and marketing, help Smalls build a brand that is bigger than the products we sell. Build a deep belief in our mission and point of view that supports our wider vision as the cat care brand.
Work with the creative team to tell great stories that resonate with consumers and speak to a differentiated product. This is how great brands are built. While obsessed with the numbers, you are equally passionate about building a brand that stands for something, and carries cultural weight.
Partner with the brand and creative team to develop core messaging and market positioning strategies, feeding acquisition data, messaging performance, and customer insights back to creative as inputs, not directives.
Be an opinionated partner on what's working commercially and how to drive home a message to a consumer — without trying to own or approve creative output. The CBO and Creative Director do that. The right candidate sees this as a feature, not a limitation.
Architect and continuously improve the ways of working between marketing and creative — from briefing quality to feedback cadence to approval workflows. This is a leadership responsibility, not a one-time project.
Hold direct reports accountable to brand standards — brand alignment is a spectrum, and this team must understand why it matters.
Own the revenue number for the digital business: smalls.com, Amazon, Chewy, and e-tail marketplaces — conversion rate, AOV, merchandising, subscription flows, and the evolution toward a multi-category, multi-channel business.
Own the commercial roadmap for the site — how it's structured, what it prioritizes, how it's merchandised. The strategic vision comes from leadership; you define how we get there commercially and provide clear direction to the product and engineering team on what to build and why. This isn't about small optimizations and conversion rate optimization. This is about strategically positioning our site experience for success.
Guide the digital product of smalls.com with strong instincts and philosophy — not just conversion mechanics, but how the site tells our story, builds trust, and advances a multi-channel commercial strategy.
Oversee the experimentation roadmap — ensuring tests are prioritized against commercial outcomes and that learnings flow back into strategy.
Own the retention number and the acquisition-side retention strategy — measuring against payback targets that require understanding predicted LTV and what drives it.
Collaborate with the CSO's customer experience function on retention, recognizing that proactive CX outreach is a retention lever you influence but don't directly control.
You have built and owned demand strategy at a DTC or subscription-first business doing $100M+ in revenue — you've seen the complexity that comes at scale and know how to navigate it.
You have a genuine omnichannel orientation — you've thought about demand generation across DTC, e-tail, and retail as an integrated system, not siloed programs.
You have strong upper funnel instincts and philosophies. You have a point of view on market positioning, on what stories matter to customers and why, and on how to build the brand equity that lower funnel captures. You can articulate and defend an upper funnel investment thesis when the results aren't visible in week-one CAC.
You have direct experience with e-tail platforms — Amazon, Chewy, or comparable marketplaces. You understand how to drive velocity, visibility, and profitability on those platforms, not just how to report on them.
You have a point of view on trade spend — how retail marketing dollars should be allocated, what good ROI looks like, and how in-store presence connects to the broader demand strategy.
You understand that if you spend all the money in the world on upper funnel and the creative doesn't resonate, it won't work. You believe brand strategy, messaging, and creative are essential to commercial success — and you know how to partner effectively with a creative team to get there.
You have directed product and engineering teams on what to build commercially, with a customer-first, commercial-vision orientation — not technical management.
You are a partner to creative, not a passenger and not a driver. You bring data and advocate for what's working without trying to own the creative output. You write excellent briefs and care deeply about the quality of the partnership.
You are comfortable operating within a founder-led brand with a strong CBO — you receive the vision and build the machine that monetizes it.
You have managed teams of 10+ and can develop commercially-minded thinking in people who haven't had it modeled for them before.
You are naturally customer-first in your thinking — you understand who the customer is, what they care about, and how to reach them, not just how to optimize a media dashboard.
You are low-ego about titles and turf, high-conviction about commercial rigor and accountability.
