Lead Product Manager - Hardware

Houndsy is a fast-growing, design-driven pet lifestyle brand reimagining the dog feeding experience. As the Lead Product Manager - Hardware, you'll own the development and lifecycle of Houndsy’s product portfolio, managing external partners and driving the product roadmap to ensure successful product launches.

Responsibilities:

• Own and maintain Houndsy’s product roadmap, translating founder vision and customer insights into prioritized development initiatives
• Lead the development and launch of one flagship product per year along with multiple accessory and ecosystem products
• Reduce COGS across existing products through design improvements, supplier collaboration, and manufacturing optimization
• Manage external engineering and design partners to ensure development projects stay on schedule and aligned with product goals
• Build scalable product development processes that allow Houndsy to expand its product ecosystem efficiently
• Translate founder vision and customer insights into clear product initiatives and development priorities
• Maintain a clear development pipeline across flagship products, accessories, and product improvements
• While founder vision will guide major product initiatives, this role is expected to proactively identify and champion new product opportunities informed by customer insights, market trends, and operational realities
• Evaluate new product opportunities based on customer demand, manufacturability, margin potential, and strategic fit
• Ensure roadmap decisions balance innovation, brand alignment, and operational feasibility
• Evaluate opportunities to incorporate connected features or smart product capabilities into future Houndsy products as the ecosystem evolves
• Lead the end-to-end product development process from concept through launch
• Define product requirements, specifications, and success criteria for each initiative
• Coordinate industrial design, mechanical engineering, prototyping, and testing across external partners
• Drive development timelines and ensure projects progress efficiently from concept to production
• Manage prototype cycles, testing feedback, and iteration loops to achieve the right balance of quality, cost, and manufacturability
• Identify gaps in our product development process and build systems that allow Houndsy to launch products faster and more reliably over time
• Manage relationships with external industrial designers, mechanical engineers, and product development partners
• Ensure engineering contractors deliver high-quality work aligned with project goals and timelines
• Maintain clear technical documentation, specifications, and communication across development partners
• Coordinate technical decisions with suppliers and manufacturers to ensure smooth production ramp-up
• Identify opportunities to reduce product COGS through design improvements, materials selection, and supplier collaboration
• Partner with Operations and manufacturing partners to improve product manufacturability and production efficiency
• Analyze warranty issues, product defects, and customer feedback to identify opportunities for product improvement
• Drive ongoing product iterations that improve durability, usability, and long-term product performance
• Partner with Customer Experience to incorporate real customer feedback into product development and roadmap decisions
• Collaborate with Operations to ensure products are manufacturable, scalable, and operationally efficient
• Support Marketing with product positioning, launch planning, and feature storytelling
• Ensure internal teams have clear product specifications, documentation, and development timelines

Requirements:

• 6 - 10+ years of experience in Product Management, Product Development, Hardware Program Management, or related roles
• Experience bringing physical consumer products from concept through manufacturing and launch
• You have personally driven at least one physical consumer product from concept through production and commercial launch
• Strong experience managing external engineers, industrial designers, and development partners
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex hardware development timelines across multiple stakeholders
• Strong understanding of manufacturing considerations including materials, tooling, cost structure, and production scalability
• Excellent communication and organizational skills with the ability to coordinate across design, engineering, and operations
• You are comfortable operating in environments where product direction evolves quickly and imperfect information is common. You are able to make sound decisions, move projects forward, and create structure without waiting for perfect clarity
• Experience developing and launching physical consumer products is required. Candidates whose experience is primarily in software product management are unlikely to be a fit for this role