[Hiring] General Product Manager @KittySpout

Role Description

A profitable DTC pet brand doing $50M+ a year is looking for a Head of Product Development to join our team! You will own every new product end to end, from the customer problem to mass production: industrial design, engineering, prototypes, patents, factories, cost and quality. This is a builder role: you will build our product function from the ground up, using contract engineers, design studios, building your team and factories in Shenzhen rather than an already set team.

The mission of this role:

• Build the products that make our brands the best pet brands in their categories.
• Own every new product end to end, from the customer problem to mass production.
• Success is great products launched on time, at their target cost and margin, protected before any factory sees them, and better than anything competitors sell.

Outcomes (what success looks like):

• New products launch on time: launch date vs the date agreed in the brief, per product.
• Products hit their target cost and margin: landed cost per unit and gross margin at launch vs the brief.
• Customers love the new products: star rating, return rate and defect rate in the first 90 days vs our core products.
• New products grow revenue: revenue from products launched in the last 24 months as a % of total revenue.
• Every design is protected before a factory sees it: patents filed before factory contact; NNN and IP assignment signed with every supplier and contractor.

Qualifications

• 6–8+ years building great physical products end to end.
• Experience building and running a product team (design, patents, factories).
• Fluent in English and Mandarin.
• Based in Shenzhen, Dongguan or Hong Kong.
• Experience with consumer hardware with electronics is ideal.
• Excellent cultural fit as per our values.
• Excited to play a big role in scaling the company and work closely with the founder.

Requirements

• Ability to visit factories, design agencies and studios in person every week.
• Experience finding, vetting and running Chinese factories.
• Knowledge of IP protection, including filing patents in China and/or the US.
• Ability to design to a target landed cost and margin.
• Strong engineering judgment to understand mechanical, electrical and firmware trade-offs.
• Passionate about work and willing to work overtime or on weekends if needed.

Benefits

• Salary expectation: US$135,000–175,000 per year base.
• Up to 20% of base in milestone bonuses (stage gates hit on time, landed cost on target, defect and return rates, patents filed).

Accountabilities

• Agree the product roadmap with the CEO each quarter.
• Move every product in development forward each week through the stage gates.
• File every design before any factory sees it and ensure IP protection.
• Pick the factory for each new product and hold landed cost and margin to the brief.
• Pass testing, certification and inspection before mass production.
• Post a weekly product update and set monthly Rocks with the CEO.

How Our Hiring Works & How We Operate

• Application + Screening Interview
• In-depth Interview with the CEO
• Reference Calls
• Final Interview with the CEO