Consumer Care Specialist

Department: Brand

Employment Type: Full-Time Regular

FLSA Classification: Hourly, Non-Exempt

Reports To: Consumer Experience Manager

Travel Requirements: None

Work Location: Onsite – Vital Place (Green Bay, Wisconsin)

Expected Schedule: Monday – Friday from 8:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST with 1-Hour Break | 15-30 Minute on Saturdays

Role Summary:

The Consumer Care Specialist is responsible for representing the Vital Essentials brand of Carnivore Meat Company by serving as the product expert to our loyal, pet-loving consumers. This role will ensure all inquiries are handled with a sense of care and urgency while providing consumers with accurate and timely information. The Consumer Care Specialist is a role that embodies our brand and should have a genuine love for all pets!

Role Responsibilities and Essential Functions:

• Serve as a compassionate and knowledgeable point of contact for consumers across email, phone, live chat, and social media, ensuring every interaction reflects our commitment to pet health and excellent consumer care.
• Deliver timely, empathetic, and solution-oriented responses that build trust and reinforce brand loyalty.
• Provide expert guidance on raw feeding practices, pet nutrition, and product selection, helping pet parents make informed decisions that support the health and longevity of their pets.
• Stay up to date on internal product catalog, formula updates, nutrition research, and emerging pet wellness trends to confidently answer a wide range of consumer questions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with veterinary support team to investigate escalated consumer cases and deliver resolutions with empathy and clarity.
• Collect initial product information and veterinary records and conduct an initial review to determine escalation status. Establish trust with the consumer and remain point of contact for any further questions while investigation is underway.
• Investigate and resolve complex customer issues related to D2C orders, shipping inquiries, returns, and billing with a proactive, problem-solving mindset.
• Collaborate with fulfillment and e-commerce teams as needed to ensure swift and accurate resolution.
• Maintain accurate and detailed records of all consumer interactions using CRM software, flagging trends, recurring concerns, and opportunities for process improvement.
• Support brand, quality assurance, and technical services teams by sharing insights and contributing to continuous improvement in the consumer experience.

Education and Experience:

• 5+ years of experience working directly in an environment or role providing care for the health and wellbeing of animals, animal science, animal technician, animal health/nutrition, or related field (required) 
• Associate’s degree in communications, business, marketing, or related field or combination of degree with equivalent work experience (required)
• 2+ years of experience using standard software and technology such as Microsoft Suite (required)
• 2+ years of experience in customer service, consumer-facing roles, Consumer-Packaged Goods or food/pet food manufacturing or distribution (preferred) 
• Certification or licensure in animal science or veterinary field such as Veterinary Technician (strongly preferred)

Skills and Abilities:

A successful Consumer Care Specialist will: 

• Resolve conflicts and provide first-time resolution in a timely manner while maintaining a friendly disposition.
• Be positive and solution-focused while being confident and friendly.
• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills with ability to record and track notes while engaging in conversations. 
• Strive to work independently to resolve issues with minimal guidance but also strive to interact with peers and other teams. 
• Be flexible to business needs and can juggle multiple priorities at one time. 
• Anticipate the needs of consumers by being proactive and a self-starter. 
• De-escalate unhappy consumers and engaging with them to keep the consumer relationship and goal of remaining advocates of the brand. 
• Be inquisitive of changes in the pet food industry and continuously strive to be a self-learner of our brand. 
• Ability to confidently navigate complex scientific conversations relating to pet health and nutrition.

Physical Requirements:

This position sits in a standard, office environment with potential interaction with the operation and warehouse facilities. The role may be in an open environment with potential noise disruptions. The office does allow pets so one must be comfortable with pets. The role will require the usage of standard technology such as phones, computers, printer/scanning, etc. While the intent of this role is to operate during standard business hours, employees may be requested to work overtime, nights, holidays, and/or weekends. The physical demands must be met with or without accommodation for an employee to be successful in performing the essential job functions of this role. This includes regular and frequent walking, listening, sitting, standing, walking, use of hands and fingers, and the ability to push or lift up to 40 pounds.