Product Development Manager

Zazu Digital Talent is partnering with a premium leader in the arts and crafts industry, known for their rapid growth and deep licensing portfolio. The Product Development Manager will oversee the entire product lifecycle, from ideation to mass production, while fostering relationships with factory partners and ensuring compliance with global standards.

Responsibilities:

• The end-to-end product development lifecycle, ideation through mass production
• A multi-year roadmap aligned with brand strategy, licensing timelines, and consumer insights
• Daily relationships with the China factory partners
• Sampling, prototyping, and hands-on sample review (you must be able to pick up a sample and immediately know whether it is right)
• Compliance against CPSIA, ASTM, EN71 and other global standards
• Cross-functional execution alongside creative, licensing, design, and operations
• Process, documentation, and SOPs that scale as the brand grows

Requirements:

• 7+ years in product development, ideally 3 to 5 of them in toys, collectibles, arts and crafts, or consumer goods
• A genuine love for arts and crafts, you make things yourself
• Tactile instinct for product quality, you can hold a sample and immediately spot what needs fixing
• A creative bent, you bring ideas, not just project plans
• Direct experience working with overseas factories and navigating production cycles
• Hands-on by preference, you would rather do the work than only manage it
• Excellent organizational skills, detail obsessed, proactive
• Comfortable with light travel to Asia (1 to 2 times per year)
• Mandarin speaker