Associate Director

 Our Opportunity:

Chewy.com is a leading online pet supply retailer in the United States and Canada, specializing in high-quality pet products, including hard goods (hard lines and soft lines), consumables (food, treats, litter), and healthcare products (supplements) for dogs, cats, and other small animals. We are dedicated to delivering safe, nutritious, and innovative products that enhance pet wellness while maintaining the highest standards of regulatory compliance, quality assurance, and ethical sourcing.

The Associate Director, Global Compliance & Ethical Sourcing will define and lead the company’s regulatory compliance strategy, ensuring full adherence to FDA, AAFCO, NASC, FSMA, FSVP, USDA, Prop 65, and other domestic and international regulations. This role will own compliance for Private Brands and collaborate closely with other teams to ensure that compliance frameworks also support National Brands. Responsibilities include compliance governance, regulatory risk management, social responsibility programs, and team leadership, ensuring regulatory integrity across all product lines.

As a key member of the leadership team, this role will work closely with R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Legal, Marketing, and Quality. The Associate Director will also drive compliance investigations, supplier accountability, digital regulatory compliance frameworks, and scalable risk mitigation programs to support global business expansion. This role will lead a team of high-performing compliance professionals, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and accountability.

If you are a visionary compliance leader with a track record of regulatory excellence, risk management, and ethical business practices, we invite you to apply and help shape the future of compliance at Chewy.com

Key Responsibilities:

• Regulatory Strategy & Governance
• Define and execute a comprehensive regulatory compliance strategy to ensure adherence with all applicable domestic and international regulations governing pet consumables, hard goods, and healthcare products.
• Serve as the primary compliance authority, advising leadership on regulatory risk, global market compliance trends, and competitive regulatory intelligence, while ensuring compliance with global regulatory frameworks, including EU feed/food regulations, Canadian CFIA pet food requirements, and import/export compliance. Additionally, actively develop the company’s presence on key industry committees and regulatory forums.
• Oversee compliance risk assessments, internal audits, and external regulatory inspections, ensuring adherence to industry’s best practices.
• Own product labeling, claims substantiation, packaging compliance, and regulatory disclosures, implementing scalable systems to ensure all marketing and sales efforts align with legal and regulatory frameworks.
• Direct the development and strategic oversight of compliance dashboards, reporting tools, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor regulatory adherence and provide executive reporting.

Compliance Investigations & Risk Management

Lead high-impact compliance investigations, ensuring privileged and confidential handling of regulatory investigations, supplier non-conformance, and product safety incidents.

Establish compliance protocols, incident response strategies, and corporate governance policies, ensuring consistent application across business units, and develop crisis management frameworks that include escalation protocols, legal risk analysis, and crisis communication strategies.

Oversee consumer safety reporting, adverse event management, and recall execution, collaborating with Legal and Quality to protect consumer trust, while developing a regulatory risk monitoring framework to proactively

preemptively address compliance concerns and ensure a proactive approach to regulatory engagement.

Partner with Legal, Risk, and Sourcing teams to mitigate regulatory risk across the supply chain, vendor contracts, and international trade compliance, while implementing regulatory scenario planning to anticipate potential enforcement actions and ensure proactive risk mitigation strategies.

Global Supplier & FSVP Compliance

• Own Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) compliance, ensuring that all imported ingredients and finished goods meet FDA safety and quality standards.
• Partner with Quality and Sourcing teams to ensure compliance with global packaging regulations, including recyclability requirements, heavy metal restrictions, and chemical safety standards, ensuring supplier regulatory compliance is embedded within vendor selection, ingredient approvals, and product manufacturing processes.
• Develop and implement systematic solutions within a compliance risk framework to assess and manage supplier conformance, ensuring corrective and preventive action (CAPA) plans are effectively executed and scalable.
• Lead internal compliance assessments and regulatory verification processes to ensure and maintain supply chain transparency and accountability.

Sustainability & Ethical Sourcing

• Develop and oversee sustainability programs, ensuring compliance with ethical sourcing, and environmental sustainability regulations.
• Manage third-party services to conduct social audits for domestic and international suppliers, ensuring adherence to BSCI, Sedex (SMETA), SA8000, and retail partner ethical sourcing mandates.
• Strengthen supplier engagement by driving continuous improvement in ethical sourcing, fair labor practices, and sustainability goals.
• Ensure compliance with sustainable packaging regulations and support long-term sustainability initiatives.

Scaling Compliance Programs & Digital Transformation

• Architect scalable compliance programs that evolve with market expansion and regulatory complexity.
• Leverage technology-driven compliance solutions, including AI-powered regulatory tracking, compliance automation tools, digital auditing platforms, and supply chain traceability systems to enhance transparency across global operations.
• Lead compliance training and education programs, ensuring all employees understand and adhere to evolving regulatory requirements.
• Foster a culture of compliance, accountability, and continuous improvement, reinforcing compliance as a business enabler and competitive differentiator.

What You'll Need:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Regulatory Affairs, Food Science, Animal Nutrition, Veterinary Science, Business, or a related field.
• 10 – 15 years of executive-level compliance experience in pet food, animal nutrition, dietary supplements, or related consumer goods industries, with a strong preference for leading high-performing compliance teams in a fast-paced, complex regulatory environment.
• Extensive experience in regulatory governance, compliance risk management, and regulatory affairs leadership.
• Proven expertise in FDA, AAFCO, NASC, FSMA, FSVP, USDA, Prop 65, and global regulatory frameworks.
• Strong background in FSVP compliance, international supplier governance, and risk-based supplier management.
• Demonstrated success in social compliance, ESG integration, and ethical sourcing initiatives.
• Exceptional leadership, executive communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience managing regulatory audits, recalls, and crisis management scenarios.
• Some travel may be required.

Why Join Us?

• Strategic leadership role at a high-growth, mission-driven organization.
• Direct impact on corporate compliance governance and risk mitigation strategy.
• Cross-functional collaboration with executive leaders, industry regulators, and global partners.
• Competitive executive compensation, benefits, and career growth opportunities