Associate Product Developer

Want to help pets live their best lives?

We’re proud to be where the pets go and where the pet people go. If you want to make a real difference, create an exciting career path, feel welcome to be your whole self and nurture your wellbeing, Petco is the place for you.

Our core values capture that spirit as we work to improve lives by doing what’s right for pets and people.

• Pet First – Protect & Empower. All pets should Live their Best Life. We put the needs of pets and pet parents at the center of everything we do.
• Foster the Fun – Connect & Bond. Our Passion for pets brings us together! We celebrate the journey of pet parenthood through district experiences, products, and services.
• Let’s Go! Own & Commit. We are stronger as One Petco team. We bring our unique superpowers and champion authenticity in everyone to drive success.

About Petco:

We’re proud to be "where the pets go" to find everything they need to live their best lives for more than 60 years — from their favorite meals and toys, to trusted supplies and expert support from people who get it, because we live it. We believe in the universal truths of pet parenthood — the boundless boops, missing slippers, late night zoomies and everything in between. And we’re here for it. Every tail wag, every vet visit, every step of the way. We are 29,000+ strong and together we nurture the pet-human bond in more than 1,500 Petco stores across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico, 250+ Vetco Total Care hospitals, hundreds of preventive care clinics and eight distribution centers. In 1999, we founded Petco Love. Together, we support thousands of local animal welfare groups nationwide and have helped find homes for approximately 7 million animals through in-store adoption events.

The Product Innovation Associate is a next-gen product development role, that provides essential support in bringing new product ideas from early concept through commercialization. This role supports the Product Innovation Manager and owns the end-to-end development of smaller categories and curated product programs—bringing strategy, newness, and innovation to life from concept through commercialization.

Acting as a cross-functional connector, the Product Innovation Associate ensures product concepts move with speed, accuracy, and consumer-obsessed execution across merchandising, product design, sourcing, supply chain, packaging, brand marketing, and QA. This role translates insights and trends into actionable briefs, drives timelines, tracks deliverables, and ensures every item lands on-time, on-trend, and on-margin

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Product Creation & Execution

• Manage the full lifecycle of assigned categories and programs—from concept alignment and design handoff through costing, sampling, testing, packaging, and production readiness.
• Maintain development trackers, timelines, and milestone calendars to ensure products move with speed and discipline.
• Facilitate quick decisions, escalate roadblocks early, and support cross-functional partners in meeting deliverables.
• Partner with sourcing to support costing rounds, vendor communication, sample reviews, and feasibility assessments.

Strategy & Consumer Insights

• Bring a trend-forward lens to product creation by gathering competitive insights, cultural signals, and category trends.
• Support the development of assortment strategies and line architecture for smaller categories, ensuring a steady pipeline of newness and innovation.
• Translate trend, consumer, and category opportunities into clear briefs and design/packaging inputs.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as the connective tissue across merchandising, sourcing, product design, packaging, supply chain, QA, and brand marketing.
• Facilitate alignment meetings, track decisions, and ensure partners have what they need to move programs forward.
• Support packaging teams with claims, copy, size/variant lists, and packaging inputs required for brief creation.
• Partner with supply chain to ensure timelines, MOQ considerations, and delivery execution are achievable.
• Collaborate with brand marketing to bring newness to life across digital, social, and store environments.

Operational Excellence

• Maintain accurate product data, documentation, and item attributes.
• Support testing and compliance processes by coordinating test submissions and tracking results.
• Prepare product samples and information for key meetings (line reviews, leadership updates, milestone gates, etc.).
• Own smaller process improvements that support speed, quality, and cross-functional clarity.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years experience in Product Development, Product Design, Trend/Fashion Research, Merchandising, or related consumer product field.
• Experience in retail, private label, pet, home, lifestyle, or CPG preferred.
• Demonstrated interest in product design and consumer trends.
• Comfortable with visual tools (Adobe, Canva, PowerPoint, or equivalent).
• Strong organizational skills; able to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously.
• Clear communicator; able to partner across creative and operational teams.

Success Profile

• Trend-curious, culturally aware, and excited by product innovation
• Highly organized, detail-driven, and committed to operational excellence
• Collaborative, proactive, and able to influence cross-functional partners
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities
• Strong communicator who can simplify complexity and drive alignment

Success Metrics

• On-time delivery of category programs and milestones
• Post-launch product performance (sell-through, margin, customer feedback)
• Quality of briefs, trackers, and cross-functional documentation
• Speed of decision-making and issue resolution
• Cross-functional partner satisfaction and trust in the process
• Contribution to newness pipeline and category innovation

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Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

The pay ranges outlined below are presented in accordance with state-specific regulations. These ranges may differ in other areas and could be subject to variation based on regulatory minimum wage requirements. Actual pay rates will depend on factors such as position, location, level of experience, and applicable state or local minimum wage laws. If the regulatory minimum wage exceeds the minimum indicated in the pay range below, the regulatory minimum wage will be the minimum rate applied.

Salary Range: $56,900.00 - $85,300.00

Hourly or Salary Range will be reflected above. For a more detailed overview of Petco Total Rewards, including health and financial benefits, 401K, incentives, and PTO - see https://careers.petco.com/us/en/key-benefits

Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or any other protected classification.

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