[Hiring] VP of Product Development @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.

Qualifications

• 6–8+ years of building great physical products end to end
• Experience in building and running a product team (design, patents, factories)
• Fluent in English and Mandarin
• Based in Shenzhen, Dongguan or Hong Kong
• In factories, design agencies and studios in person every week

Requirements

• Build and own the product roadmap for both brands
• Turn customer reviews, support tickets, return reasons and competitor products into product ideas
• Hire and run contract industrial designers, engineers and design studios in Shenzhen
• File patents in China and the US
• Find, vet and run Pearl River Delta factories
• Set the quality standard for each product
• Build the product function: documented processes and weekly product updates
• Excited to play a big role in scaling the company and work closely with the founder

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)

Outcomes (what success looks like)

• New products launch on time
• Products hit their target cost and margin
• Customers love the new products
• New products grow revenue
• Every design is protected before a factory sees it

Key Objectives

• Build and own the product roadmap for both brands
• Turn customer reviews, support tickets, return reasons and competitor products into product ideas
• Hire and run contract industrial designers, engineers and design studios in Shenzhen
• File patents in China and the US
• Find, vet and run Pearl River Delta factories
• Set the quality standard for each product
• Build the product function: documented processes and weekly product updates

Accountabilities

• Product roadmap and briefs
• Design, engineering and prototypes
• Patents and design protection
• Factories, cost and tooling
• Quality and launch handover
• Build the product function and reporting

How Our Hiring Works & How We Operate

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