[Remote] Product Development Manager - Premium DTC Arts & Crafts Brand

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Zazu Digital Talent is a premium leader in the arts and crafts category, seeking a Product Development Manager to oversee the product development lifecycle. The role involves managing relationships with factory partners and ensuring a fresh and inventive product pipeline aligned with brand strategy and community feedback.

Responsibilities

• The end-to-end product development lifecycle, from concept and trend research through prototyping, sampling, costing, packaging, compliance, and mass production
• A constantly expanding product roadmap aligned with brand strategy, licensing timelines, retailer needs, and what the VIP community is asking for
• Daily relationships with the China factory partners. You are the one guiding them on premium standards, not the other way around
• Hands-on sample review: pantone match-ups, mold check-ins, photo-first triage before physical samples, and the instinct to know what is right and what is not
• Material instinct across wood, acrylic, printing finishes, packaging substrates, and the substitution decisions that protect both premium feel and unit economics
• A constant innovation cadence: at least one new product type every quarter, never copying competitors, always looking outside the category for inspiration
• Process discipline that scales: SOPs, a master calendar, tighter tech packs, fewer revisions
• Compliance and testing where applicable to the category and retailer requirements

Skills

• 7+ years in product development, with 3 to 5 of those years inside arts and crafts, toys or collectibles (essential, not a preference)
• A genuine craft sensibility: you make things yourself, you understand what hours of immersive making feels like, you see brands like PopMart and Sanrio as reference points
• Tactile instinct for product quality: you can hold a sample, place a pantone chip beside the print, and know what is wrong in 30 seconds
• A design background or strong design fluency (Photoshop, Illustrator, CAD review) enough to mock up ideas yourself and direct factories visually
• Real experience with overseas factory partners and the rhythm of Asian manufacturing
• Comfortable being the operator in the room: hands-on, proactive, organised, detail-obsessed, prepared to set up systems where they don't yet exist
• Willing to take evening calls with China on most weeknights and travel there one to two times a year
• Mandarin is a bonus but not required

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision
• Life insurance
• 401k
• Flexible time off

Company Overview