Director Product Validation Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Position Overview

This is a leadership role owning quality and product excellence strategy across new product development. This role sits at the intersection of consumer satisfaction, product quality, and commercialization, and carries end-to-end accountability for the 5-star standard - from the earliest stages of development through to launch readiness and in-market performance - across the full NPD portfolio.

Product Excellence's mandate is simple: every product SharkNinja ships should earn and sustain 5 stars. Today, that standard is not universally met, and closing the gap requires a leader who will build and direct a team that champions the consumer, challenges the organization, and holds the line on excellence with no compromise.

This role requires both a challenger and a connector, operating at senior stakeholder level. You will set the strategic agenda for the consumer voice across the NPD portfolio, direct Engineering, Product Development, and Marketing leadership toward resolution of design and quality risk, and ensure the commercial and operational levers are aligned to deliver High Rate of Sale and consumer satisfaction in home.

You will lead a team operating across Engineering, Product Development, and the broader Product Excellence organization - setting the standards for predictive modeling against consumer validation data, lessons learned, and market data, and directing the structured testing, regulatory, and DFMEA processes that underpin every launch. You are accountable for ensuring issues are found before the consumer does, and that every product leaving the NPD pipeline earns its 5 stars across the entire portfolio, not on a program-by-program basis.

You report into the VP, Product Integrity, sit on the extended leadership team for Product Excellence, and work in close partnership with Engineering and Product Development leadership across the NPD portfolio. You will manage and develop a team of quality/product excellence managers and analysts, and represent the function in senior cross-functional and executive forums.

Key Responsibilities5-Star NPD Standard - Portfolio Ownership

• Own and direct the 5-star standard across the entire NPD portfolio - setting the bar, and holding Engineering, Product Development, and Marketing leadership accountable when trajectories fall short.
• Maintain portfolio-level visibility of quality risk, report status and escalations to executive leadership, and make the call on whether a product is on track to hit the 5-star threshold at launch.
• Bring a structured, evidence-based perspective to every build review, and drive the organization toward specific, actionable improvements rather than simply flagging issues.
• Build, mentor, and develop a team of managers/analysts to execute this standard consistently across programs.

EB0 and Pre-MP VEGA Hacks - Program Leadership

• Set the standard for quality input into EB0 build reviews across the portfolio, ensuring product excellence requirements are visible and tracked from the earliest engineering build on every program.
• Direct and scale Pre-MP VEGA Hacks across the organization - establishing the operating model for structured hack sessions that identify and resolve quality and consumer experience issues before mass production lock.
• Ensure findings from EB0 and Pre-MP activities are documented, tracked to resolution, and institutionalized into engineering and design process improvements, not just resolved program-by-program.

Predictive Modeling for 5-Star Performance - Capability Ownership

• Own the predictive modeling capability used to forecast in-market rating performance at each build stage, and direct the team building and refining these models across programs.
• Ensure consumer-validated results are translated into structured, prioritized recommendations for Engineering, Product Development, and Marketing leadership, and drive alignment on what needs to change and why it matters to the consumer.
• Set the standard for tracking model accuracy over time, and drive continuous improvement of the methodology as new consumer data outcomes become available.

Testing Plan, Safety, Regulatory, and Certification Delivery - Cross-Functional Direction

• Own the connection between NPD programs and safety, regulatory, and certification delivery, ensuring all products meet required standards for every market they will launch in.
• Partner at a senior level with Engineering, Testing, and external test labs to ensure safety testing is planned, executed, and closed out on time, escalating and resolving issues before they become program blockers, and building organizational capability to prevent recurrence.

Pre-TRA Goodness - Quality Governance

• Own the quality and completeness of DFMEA governance ahead of TRA across the portfolio, ensuring all design failure modes are identified, assessed, and have credible mitigation actions in place before each gate.
• Set the expectation and hold Engineering leadership accountable for DFMEAs that reflect real-world consumer use, not just theoretical design intent - driving rigor and depth, not box-ticking, across the organization.
• Establish the tracking and governance process for open DFMEA actions through to closure, ensuring nothing is carried forward into TRA without a clear resolution plan and owner.

Who You AreRequired

• 8+ years of experience in product quality, product development, or a related engineering or consumer insights function - ideally within consumer electronics or home appliances - including experience leading and developing a team.
• Deep working knowledge of DFMEA methodology, with a track record of setting and raising DFMEA quality standards across an organization, not just reviewing individual submissions.
• Strong familiarity with safety testing, regulatory standards, and certification processes across at least one major market (e.g., US, EU, UK), with the judgment to direct decisions at a portfolio level.
• Analytical and data-literate - experienced working with IHUT data, building structured outputs, and directing others in translating findings into engineering recommendations.
• Proven ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders and executive leadership constructively, with evidence rather than opinion.
• Structured and organized at scale, with the ability to direct multiple NPD programs simultaneously through a team, without dropping quality rigor on any of them.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience - hiring, developing, and managing managers and/or individual contributors.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience owning or scaling VEGA hack sessions or equivalent structured pre-production quality events across a portfolio or organization.
• Experience building, applying, and directing teams that develop predictive quality models from consumer research or IHUT data.
• Claims development experience, with an understanding of substantiation requirements and the interface between testing, legal, and marketing.
• Multi-market regulatory knowledge across consumer electronics or home appliance categories.
• Experience representing a quality or product excellence function in executive-level forums.