Lead Technical Designer, Private Brands (Hard Goods)

Job Description:

At Chewy, we believe great work starts with great people!

At Chewy, our mission is to be the most trusted and convenient destination for pet parents and partners everywhere. We are passionate about creating innovative products and experiences that strengthen our connection with customers and improve the lives of pets and pet parents. As part of our Private Brands team, you'll have the opportunity to shape distinctive products and experiences that drive differentiation, growth, and long-term brand equity.

Your Opportunity

As a Lead Technical Designer, you will help shape the technical direction of Private Brands by influencing product development strategies, technical standards, and commercialization practices across categories. You will serve as a technical authority throughout the product lifecycle, guiding complex decisions related to construction, materials, functionality, performance, manufacturability, and customer experience.

Working across a broad portfolio of products and initiatives, you will influence how technical requirements, validation methodologies, and development processes are applied to support long-term business objectives. Through technical leadership, strategic thinking, and cross-functional influence, you will help define the future capabilities of the Technical Design function while driving differentiated product outcomes.

About The Team

The Technical Design team serves as the technical authority throughout product development, translating product concepts and innovation strategies into scalable, manufacturable solutions. The team owns product specifications, performance requirements, development validation, and commercialization readiness while ensuring products deliver on design intent, customer expectations, and business goals.

Working closely with Product Design, Quality Assurance, Compliance, Sourcing, Category Management, and supplier partners, Technical Design plays a critical role in bringing innovative products to life. The team influences product performance, construction, materials, manufacturability, and customer experience while helping establish technical standards and best practices across a rapidly growing portfolio.

Success in this role requires strong technical judgment, customer advocacy, and the ability to balance design intent, product performance, manufacturability, and commercialization readiness. You will influence product outcomes through technical expertise, data-driven decision making, and collaborative problem solving.

What You'll Do

Technical Development

• Lead the translation of product concepts into detailed technical specifications, construction requirements, material standards, performance criteria, and development plans.
• Establish and approve final product specifications, construction requirements, material standards, performance criteria, and acceptance limits through sample evaluation and development validation activities.
• Influence product concepts early in development by providing expertise on construction, materials, functionality, durability, and customer use cases.
• Partner closely with Product Design to ensure design intent, functionality, and customer expectations are successfully executed throughout development.
• Validate manufacturability and commercialization readiness through sample evaluations, development iterations, technical reviews, and supplier collaboration.
• Provide technical leadership and problem-solving throughout development to ensure products are scalable, manufacturable, and commercially viable.

Technical Standards & Product Performance

• Establish technical standards, product specifications, performance requirements, and testing approaches across product categories.
• Conduct competitive benchmarking and market analysis to evaluate product quality, functionality, durability, and value.
• Coordinate development testing activities and incorporate findings into product specifications and development decisions.
• Identify technical, manufacturing, performance, and quality risks and implement solutions before production.
• Approve products for commercialization based on performance, manufacturability, and customer experience expectations.
• Partner with Quality Assurance to transition approved specifications and critical-to-quality requirements into production quality processes.

Regulatory & Product Safety Integration

• Partner with Compliance to understand applicable regulatory requirements, product safety standards, labeling requirements, and market obligations.
• Incorporate regulatory and product safety requirements into product specifications, validation plans, and development processes.
• Coordinate technic