VP of Product Development & Manufacturing

Key Responsibilities
Product Development

Lead end-to-end development of Freebird's hardware and personal care products from concept through commercialization.
Translate consumer needs, market opportunities, and business objectives into clear product requirements and development priorities.
Define product architectures, specifications, performance requirements, and development plans.
Evaluate potential development paths and determine when to build, adapt, source, customize, or partner.
Lead product benchmarking, prototyping, testing, and iterative improvement.
Make clear recommendations on technology, partners, resources, timing, cost, and development tradeoffs.
Ensure product programs remain focused on delivering meaningful improvements to the customer experience.
Bring structure, urgency, technical rigor, and strong judgment to product-development decisions.
Product Design & Engineering

Lead and coordinate industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and technical development across Freebird's product portfolio.
Provide technical leadership across sophisticated electromechanical systems, including:
Motors and drivetrains
Batteries and charging systems
Electronics and PCBs
Mechanical systems and interfaces
Cutting and grooming mechanisms
Blades, foils, and precision components
Waterproofing and sealing
Materials and tolerances
Tooling and molded components
Ergonomics
Reliability and manufacturability
Establish clear engineering requirements, design reviews, technical milestones, and validation standards.
Ensure products are designed for performance, durability, manufacturability, quality, and cost from the beginning.
Select and manage the appropriate internal and external industrial design, engineering, and technical partners.
Challenge engineering assumptions and supplier recommendations where necessary to ensure the strongest product outcome.
You do not need to personally engineer every component, but you must have the technical fluency and judgment to effectively lead and challenge internal teams, external engineers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners.

Sourcing & Manufacturing

Build and manage a high-performing network of factories, ODMs, component suppliers, engineering partners, and specialist manufacturers.
Develop strong direct relationships with China-based manufacturing and technology partners.
Lead supplier identification, qualification, RFQs, negotiations, tooling, production readiness, and manufacturing ramp.
Improve supplier performance, cost, quality, transparency, and supply-chain resilience.
Establish appropriate second-source strategies and reduce unnecessary dependency on individual suppliers or intermediaries.
Travel to China and other manufacturing locations as required.
New Product Introduction & Execution

Own the development process from concept through engineering, prototype, validation, EVT, DVT, PVT, tooling, pilot production, and mass production.
Improve the speed, predictability, and quality of Freebird's product development process.
Establish clear milestones, development gates, critical paths, risk management, and launch-readiness criteria.
Lead multiple concurrent hardware-development programs while maintaining strong execution discipline.
Quality, Reliability & Validation

Establish rigorous engineering, reliability, and consumer-validation standards.
Ensure products meet high standards for performance, durability, safety, usability, and customer experience.
Build strong processes around lifecycle testing, supplier quality, factory quality controls, failure analysis, and corrective actions.
Use consumer testing and competitive benchmarking to validate products before commercialization.
Drive continuous improvement based on customer feedback, returns, warranty data, and product performance.

Product Economics

Ensure products achieve strong customer outcomes while supporting competitive mass-market pricing and attractive economics.
Own or influence target COGS, BOM architecture, DFM/DFA, tooling economics, manufacturing yields, supplier negotiations, and value engineering.
Identify opportunities to improve cost without compromising product quality or customer experience.

Team & Partner Leadership

Lead and develop Freebird's product-development capabilities across engineering, sourcing, NPI, quality, program management, and manufacturing.
Build the right combination of internal talent and specialized external expertise.
Select and manage high-quality industrial design, engineering, testing, manufacturing, and technology partners.
Create organizational confidence through clear recommendations, strong technical judgment, and consistent execution.

Requirements
12+ years of experience in consumer hardware product development, engineering, manufacturing, sourcing, NPI, or closely related functions.
5+ years of experience leading multidisciplinary product, engineering, development, or manufacturing teams.
Demonstrated success taking sophisticated physical products from concept through mass production.
Significant experience with high-volume electromechanical consumer products.
Deep firsthand experience working directly with China-based factories and suppliers.
Strong mechanical and electrical product fluency.
Experience with motors, batteries, electronics, charging systems, PCBs, tooling, molded components, waterproofing, and precision mechanical systems.
Strong knowledge of EVT, DVT, PVT, DFM, tooling, validation, and production ramp.
Experience identifying, qualifying, negotiating with, and developing manufacturing and technology partners.
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent development programs.
Strong understanding of product quality, reliability, COGS, manufacturing economics, and supplier performance.
Strong executive communication, decision-making, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Preferred Experience

Experience in one or more of the following categories is highly desirable:

Shaving and grooming
Trimmers, clippers, blades, foils, or cutting systems
Personal care devices
Beauty devices
Small appliances
Precision electromechanical consumer products

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means:

Launching materially better products that customers love
Shortening and improving the predictability of development cycles
Building stronger design, engineering, supplier, and manufacturing relationships
Improving product quality, reliability, and customer satisfaction
Making better and faster technical and sourcing decisions
Maintaining strong product economics and competitive pricing
Creating a scalable foundation for continued product innovation
Building greater confidence across Freebird in how physical products are developed and commercialized