Strategic Initiatives & Platform Growth Lead

About the role

The Strategic Initiatives, Platform & Growth Lead will play a pivotal role in shaping TFD's future. Reporting directly to the SVP of Integrated Ecosystems, this individual will work closely with the CEO and senior leadership to incubate new platform capabilities, conduct market research, and define build/buy/partner strategies.

Responsibilities

• Conduct deep research on adjacent markets, technology trends, regulatory considerations, and partnership opportunities
• Lead the research, design, and early-stage build of multiple new platform capabilities
• Closely partner across Engineering, Product, Data, Marketing, Finance, and Corporate Development to understand systems, architecture, and infra
• Serve as a thought partner to the CEO and senior leadership on emerging opportunities
• Own a portfolio of CEO-level strategic initiatives requiring dedicated research, structured thinking, and rapid operationalization
• Drive build, buy, and partner recommendations to the executive team including defining goals, success metrics, and own execution
• Deeply understand TFD’s customers to ensure what is being built will continuously elevate the experience and is scalable as the company grows

Requirements

10+ years of experience with 3–5 years at a top-tier management consulting firm and a track record of leading complex strategic engagements.

Operating experience in a high-growth company and a track record of taking ambiguous, early-stage ideas from inception through execution — turning uncertainty into credible, deliverable plans.

Hands-on experience with build/buy/partner frameworks and platform business model design — you've run evaluations that resulted in real decisions, whether a signed partnership, a vendor selection, an embedded service, or a well-reasoned 'no-go'.

Strong quantitative and financial skills — you build business cases from scratch, model opportunity sizes, and are comfortable pressure-testing your own assumptions.

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to absorb and distill complexity into simple terms that drive decision making for peers, executive, and board audiences.

Deep curiosity and range — you can move fluidly across categories, synthesize across disciplines, and develop genuine conviction on unfamiliar topics quickly.

Low ego and high ownership — you thrive in environments where you are figuring things out without a lot of structure, and you treat ambiguity as an opportunity rather than a problem.

Background in consumer health, digital health, or consumer wellness — TFD is bringing the best of human-side innovation into the pet space, and experience translating health concepts across categories is directly relevant.

Experience building and scaling consumer-facing platform businesses in health or wellness, with familiarity across the regulatory, technical, and commercial dynamics of the space.

Loves dogs.