Capability Development Manager Jobs in Des Moines, IA

Hirsh Industries | On-site at our Des Moines, Iowa headquarters (hybrid, minimum 3 days/week in office) | Full-time

Hirsh Industries is a leading American manufacturer of office, storage, and organizational products for personal and commercial use, sold under our SPACE SOLUTIONS®, HIRSH®, and IRON HORSE® brands. We have been operating continuously since our founding in Iowa in 1924. What sets us apart is that we design and build our own products in our own factories — we don't outsource our manufacturing. That vertical integration gives us direct control over quality, cost, and speed to market, and a real platform for bringing new products to life quickly.

We're a company in growth mode. We're building on a strong, established base and actively expanding into new, faster-growing categories — and our product development isn't limited to any single material or process. The next wave of Hirsh products is wide open.

We're hiring a new leader for our Product Development function to own the entire journey of a new product — from the first market insight, through concept and design, into our factories, and out to launch. This is a design-led role for someone who loves shaping a product from a blank page: understanding what customers need, defining what we should build, directing the engineering team that develops the design, and then working shoulder-to-shoulder with our factories to make it real. You'll be the person who carries a product from idea to something on a shelf, and who helps push Hirsh into exciting new markets.

This role reports to the VP of Marketing and Engineering and works cross‑functionally with engineering, operations, sourcing, and sales.

• Research market size and growth (total, serviceable, and realistically obtainable) and the risk of low‑cost imports to decide where Hirsh should play next — including new and adjacent categories.
• Lead in‑depth competitive product analysis: identify the leading sellers and manufacturers in the category, benchmark competing products on features, quality, materials, and price, run product teardowns where useful, and map where a Hirsh product can win. Turn that analysis into a sharp unique selling proposition and target customer.
• Build detailed product cost models — estimating material, component, labor, tooling, and freight cost — to set defensible target costs, stress‑test them against competitive pricing, and confirm the product can hit its margin targets before development begins.
• Assess sales‑channel and logistics fit — the right route to market, the type of sale, and how the product will ship and stock.
• Roll the cost model, pricing, and volume assumptions into a multi‑year financial case — channel and product margins, capital investment, and ROI/payback — so leadership can make a confident go/no‑go decision.
• Translate customer and end‑user insight into a clear product brief and a compelling value proposition.

• Generate and develop concepts, and partner with engineering to turn them into CAD models and prototypes — leading the selection of the ideas worth advancing.
• Own the product’s design direction: form, function, ergonomics, aesthetics, and user experience, alongside target cost and quality. The engineering team handles CAD and detailed design execution; you set the vision, requirements, and design intent, and drive iteration based on feedback and testing.
• Design with manufacturing in mind (design for manufacturability), working with engineering to make smart tradeoffs between what’s ideal and what’s producible — across current and new materials and processes.
• Confirm the concept fits Hirsh’s manufacturing capabilities and philosophy, and flag any new raw materials, components, or capacity the product would require.

• Partner with engineering and our factories to bring designs into production — tooling, process, first articles, and pilot runs.
• Resolve the design, cost, and quality tradeoffs that surface during industrialization, and confirm the product meets its specifications, cost targets, and regulatory requirements before it ships.

• Drive the launch — partnering with sales and marketing on positioning, packaging, point‑of‑purchase, and sales enablement across commercial, retail, and e‑commerce channels.
• Support forecasting and a clean production ramp with sales and production planning.
• Review performance against the business case after launch and feed the lessons back into the next product.

• 5–10 years of product development, product design, or industrial‑design experience for physical, manufactured products (we will also consider candidates with more or less experience who clearly demonstrate the skills below).
• A portfolio or track record of products you’ve taken from concept to launch.
• Strong design sensibility — the ability to balance form, function, cost, and manufacturability — and to give clear design direction to an engineering team (this role sets design intent; engineering does the CAD).
• Comfort working directly with factories and engineering to bring a design into production.
• Commercial and financial acumen — able to size a market, build product cost models and a multi‑year business case, and reason about pricing, margins, and ROI to justify a new product.
• Active user of AI tools with genuine enthusiasm for the space — you already use AI to accelerate market research, competitive analysis, cost modeling, and design exploration, you’re eager to keep learning as the tools evolve, and you enjoy sharing what works with the rest of the team.
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and communication skills, and the ability to lead cross‑functional work without direct authority while managing multiple projects.
• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience.
• Willingness to travel as needed to our manufacturing facilities, customer meetings, and trade shows (roughly 3‑5 trips per year).

• Experience designing durable consumer or commercial products across a range of materials (metal, wood, plastics, composites, etc.) and familiarity with manufacturing, sourcing, and supply‑chain processes.
• Enough familiarity with CAD (e.g., SolidWorks) to collaborate effectively with engineering, plus comfort with Adobe Creative Cloud; you won’t be doing CAD yourself.
• Experience launching products across omni‑channel retail (big‑box, mass, club, e‑commerce) and/or commercial/contract channels.
• Familiarity with a stage‑gate / phase‑gate development process.
• Master’s degree in a design, engineering, or business field.

We’re a lean, collaborative team that moves fast because we make our own products in our own factories. We expect our people to work cross‑functionally — comfortable in a room with design, engineering, operations, and sales, and able to bring them together around a plan. At the same time, we hire people who can run independently: entrepreneurial self‑starters who take strong ownership of their work, act like the business is their own, and don’t wait to be told what to do next. We operate on high trust and low ego — we share information openly, give and take direct feedback, help each other, and care more about getting the product right than getting the credit. If you thrive with real autonomy and real accountability, you’ll fit in here.

This is an in‑person role based at our Des Moines, Iowa headquarters — it is not a remote position. We offer a hybrid schedule, and you’ll need to be in the office at least three days per week. Being on‑site is core to how this job works: it keeps you close to the engineering team, prototypes, and cross‑functional partners who bring products to life.

• Competitive salary based on experience and qualifications
• Bonus and profit‑sharing plan

Hirsh Industries is an equal‑opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of every background and are committed to building a team that reflects the customers and communities we serve. We evaluate candidates on their skills and ability to do the job. Research shows that some people hesitate to apply unless they meet every listed qualification — if you’re excited about this role and meet most of the “Required” items, we encourage you to apply.

If you need a reasonable accommodation at any point in the application or interview process, please contact us and we’ll be glad to help.