Head of Retention at DTC Pet Brand - Scale to $100M

KittySpout; Newark (NJ); Remote; USD 115,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

DTC Pet Brand is seeking a Head of Retention & Customer Experience to own subscriptions, email and SMS, and the post-purchase journey across our brands. This is a remote, senior role with high visibility and direct access to the founder.

You will drive retention A-Z, lower churn, increase lifetime value, and build data-driven programs using Klaviyo and AI tooling. The role requires 5-6+ years in retention at DTC brands and hands-on leadership of a retention team and agencies.

Qualifications

• 5–6+ years in retention or lifecycle at DTC brands.
• Led retention at a subscription brand doing $30–50M+ yearly.
• Hands-on in Klaviyo and Loop and led retention/customer-experience teams.
• Experience managing agencies.

Responsibilities

• Own retention end-to-end from acquisition to post-purchase.
• Drive lower churn and higher lifetime value across brands.
• Lead email/SMS programs and customer experience improvements.
• Collaborate with founder/CEO and external partners to hit targets.
• Build data-driven retention strategies with AI tooling.

Skills

Klaviyo

cohort LTV analysis

subscription churn reduction

AI-powered retention tooling

Tools

Loop (or similar)

Claude

Job description

Head of Retention at DTC Pet Brand - Scale to $100M in Los Angeles

A High-Accountability, High-Reward Senior Role at a Scaling DTC Brand

This position sits at the intersection of CRM, subscription growth, and customer experience leadership — a rare combination that makes candidates extremely marketable. Skills in Klaviyo, cohort LTV analysis, subscription churn reduction, and AI-powered retention tooling are among the most in-demand in the DTC/e-commerce space right now.

Compensation Context

At $115K–$145K USD base + a 15–20% performance bonus, total compensation can reach $166K+ at the top end. For a remote, non-US role, this is above-average to strong for Head-of-Retention positions at DTC brands in this revenue range. It's competitive even against US-based equivalents at similar-stage companies.

Green Flags

• Direct access to the founder/CEO — high visibility and fast career progression.
• Clear, measurable success metrics agreed before day one (90-day targets) — reduces ambiguity.
• Use of AI tooling (Claude, automation-first culture) — you'll build cutting-edge skills.
• Profitable company at $50M+ scaling to $100M+ — lower existential risk than a venture-funded startup burning cash.

Red Flags to Weigh

• "If you want a stress-free corporate 9–5, this isn't it" — signals high intensity and potentially blurred work-life boundaries.
• Weekly green/yellow/red accountability checks suggest a high-pressure performance culture.
• Lean team means limited internal support; you'll need to execute, not just strategize.

Best suited for a senior DTC operator ready to own a P&L-adjacent function and fast-track to VP-level scope.

A profitable DTC pet brand is looking for a Head of Retention & Customer Experience to join our team! You will own everything after the first order: subscriptions, email and SMS, the post‑purchase journey and customer experience, across both of our brands.

We're doing $50M+ a year and scaling to $100M+, and we want one senior leader who owns retention A-Z: lower churn, significantly higher lifetime value and a better customer experience across the board. We are looking to hire someone with 5-6+ years in retention or lifecycle at DTC brands, who has led retention at a subscription brand doing $30-50M+ a year (ideally nine figures). The ideal candidate is hands‑on in Klaviyo and Loop (or similar), has led a retention and customer experience team, and has managed agencies.

The Mission of This Role

Own retention A-Z to fuel growth to 9-figures. This role drives three things: lower churn, significantly higher lifetime value, and a better customer experience across the board. Success looks like lower churn, stronger retention, much higher lifetime value, more revenue from email and SMS, and happier customers.

Who Are We?

We are a profitable DTC brand selling premium pet products. We sell across Shopify, Amazon and Chewy, and we're one of the fastest-growing brands in the pet space — $50M+ in annual revenue and scaling to $100M+. We recently launched a second brand, expanding into a new customer base. We're a 100% remote, lean, senior team that moves fast, and every person here has a massive impact on the business.

Culture & Who Is a Good Fit

Culture-fit is our #1 factor when hiring! We have a genuine will-to-win. No work is beneath us if it moves us towards our goals. We use creativity to do more with less — and quickly. We use data to make decisions and live by four core values:

• Better Everyday: Have a retention test live every week across subscriptions, flows or the post‑purchase experience, and write down what each result teaches.
• Speed Is King: Spot a churn, refund or CSAT problem the day it shows up and have a fix in motion that week.
• Work Smart: AI and automation first. Claude reads cancellation reasons, reviews and tickets to find why customers leave, AI drafts flow copy and segments, and retention KPIs report themselves every week.
• Overdeliver: Bring the CEO the next big retention lever before being asked, and get more lifetime value from every customer than the plan called for.

If you want a stress-free corporate 9–5 job, this isn't it.

If you want to challenge yourself and shape a fast-growing company, work directly with the founder, and play a big role in scaling it to $100M+... If you want to drive results with a group of passionate, smart, hardworking people, in an environment without politics or corporate chicanery, being hands‑on and active — then you've come to the right place.

Outcomes (What Success Looks Like)

90-day targets for each outcome are agreed with you before your start date.

• Churn goes down: monthly subscription churn and save rate, by brand
• Retention improves: repeat purchase rate and cohort retention at 3, 6 and 12 months
• Lifetime value rises significantly: 12-month LTV by cohort and brand vs. the same cohorts last year
• Email and SMS drive more revenue: email and SMS share of total revenue, and revenue per recipient
• Customers are happier across the board: CSAT, review rating, refund rate and tickets per order

Key Objectives