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Tovala is a food-tech company reinventing home cooking through an integrated platform of hardware, software, and fresh food delivery. The company has raised over $100M from investors including Left Lane Capital, Origin Ventures, Y Combinator, and Comcast Ventures, and is known for best-in-class retention, product engagement, and customer NPS.
As VP of Product, you will lead the entire product strategy and execution across Tovala's food, hardware, software, and customer experience portfolio. You'll report to leadership and work closely with engineering, operations, marketing, and culinary teams to develop a unified, insight-driven product strategy that drives customer retention and delight.
Key responsibilities include:
• Building a deep understanding of customer pain points through robust feedback loops (interviews, surveys, support tickets) and establishing company-wide visibility into customer needs and product opportunities.
• Developing a clear, data-informed product strategy that aligns with company goals and customer insights. You'll coach product managers to contribute meaningfully to strategy development, pressure-test strategy against customer understanding, and translate strategy into clear roadmaps with measurable goals.
• Growing and leveling up the product team by coaching product managers, UX researchers, and designers. You'll define standards for great product work, improve the team's ability to move from concept to live test quickly, and partner with cross-functional teams (marketing, tech, culinary, finance, operations) on testing and launch of new initiatives.
The role is hybrid based in Chicago, IL.
REQUIREMENTS:
• 8+ years of product management experience, including direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses with physical consumer products. Ideally experience in food, meal delivery, grocery, or other perishable/recurring subscription categories.
• Proven experience leading product teams in cross-functional environments; growth-stage company experience preferred.
• Deep customer empathy and proven ability to translate customer needs into successful products.
• Demonstrated success building product strategies, aligning stakeholders, and delivering outcomes across multiple product lines.
• Strong ability to learn and fail fast, both individually and by developing team processes and experiments to do so.
• Exceptional coaching and mentoring skills for product teams with diverse backgrounds.
• Excellent communication and alignment skills; ability to simplify complexity and ensure clarity of direction.
• Data-forward mindset with skill in integrating customer insights, experimentation, and quantitative analysis into decision-making.
