Product Development and Production Manager

Job Description

REQUIREMENTS

• 5+ years of experience in product development, production, sourcing, or manufacturing within toys, collectibles, games, licensed merchandise, publishing products, or consumer hardgoods.
• 3+ years of hands-on hardgoods product development experience.
• Demonstrated experience taking physical consumer products from concept through mass production.
• Experience working directly with overseas factories and suppliers.
• Strong understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, packaging, tooling, sampling, and production timelines.
• Experience simultaneously managing multiple SKUs, categories, and product launches.
• Strong understanding of product costing, MOQs, margin considerations, and manufacturing negotiations.
• Experience with quality control, inspections, testing, and overseas trade compliance.
• Strong project management, documentation, and organizational skills.
• 2+ years of experience with Monday.com or comparable product/project management platforms.
• Experience incorporating modern AI tools into research, reporting, documentation, and operational workflows.
• Must be an active reader with a genuine understanding of book culture, fandom, and collector communities.
• Strong knowledge of pop culture, fan behavior, licensed merchandise, and what makes a product feel authentic to an established IP.
• Demonstrated experience owning New Product Introduction (NPI) lifecycles for physical consumer products from concept through mass production.

Preferred

• Experience with a major toy, collectible, games, or licensed consumer products company.
• Experience developing products based on books, entertainment, gaming, anime, or pop-culture IP.
• Experience working with authors, publishers, entertainment licensors, or other IP owners.
• Experience working within licensor approval processes and brand guidelines.
• Familiarity with collector expectations, limited editions, premium finishes, Easter eggs, and display-driven packaging.
• Experience developing products for specialty retail, mass retail, and direct-to-consumer channels.
• Experience with international freight, compliance, testing, and production logistics.
• Experience working in a fast-growing company with rapidly expanding product categories and SKU counts.

RESPONSIBILITES

NPI & Collectible Product Development

• Own the end-to-end New Product Introduction (NPI) lifecycle across collectibles, toys, games, and licensed fan merchandise, from concept and feasibility through development, engineering, prototyping, validation, production readiness, and mass production.
• Develop products across categories including collectibles, puzzles, games, building sets, book nooks, illuminated products, accessories, and specialty hardgoods.
• Translate books, characters, worlds, and licensed IP into compelling physical products.
• Work with creative teams to identify the characters, environments, references, Easter eggs, and story details that can become meaningful product experiences.
• Evaluate concepts through both a fan lens and a commercial product lens.
• Partner with creative teams to evaluate materials, construction, scale, functionality, finishes, features, and manufacturing feasibility.
• Develop and maintain product specifications, BOMs, packaging requirements, technical documentation, and production standards.
• Manage prototypes, preproduction samples, revisions, approvals, and production sign-off.
• Balance creative vision, fan expectations, cost targets, manufacturability, and retail requirements.

Sourcing & Manufacturing

• Manage relationships with overseas factories, sourcing partners, and specialty manufacturers.
• Source and qualify factories based on product category, capabilities, quality, cost, capacity, and compliance.
• Negotiate pricing, tooling, MOQs, lead times, and production requirements.
• Evaluate manufacturing methods, materials, finishes, and construction to determine the best production solution for each product.
• Build strong vendor accountability around timelines, communication, quality, and deliverables.

Production & Quality

• Own production schedules from approved development through finished goods.
• Establish quality standards appropriate for premium collectible and licensed products.
• Manage preproduction, inline, and final quality control processes.
• Identify and resolve manufacturing defects, engineering challenges, packaging issues, and production delays.
• Ensure finished products consistently meet approved samples, specifications, safety requirements, and brand standards.

Cost & Margin Management

• Manage product costing throughout development and production.
• Monitor FOB and landed costs, tooling investments, packaging costs, MOQs, and margin targets.
• Identify value-engineering opportunities without compromising the fan experience or perceived product quality.
• Maintain clear reporting around product status, costs, risks, production timelines, and factory performance.

Systems & Process

• Continue to edit and enhance our scalable product development and production workflows.
• Build and continuously improve scalable NPI workflows, documentation, approval processes, and product development systems.
• Create and maintain SOPs, product specifications, approval processes, vendor standards, and production documentation.
• Utilize Monday.com and modern AI tools to improve product tracking, reporting, research, documentation, and operational efficiency.

Are you interested in this position?

Apply by clicking on the “Apply Now” button below!

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