Made In Cookware Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

At Our Place, we believe the strongest connections are made over a home-cooked meal. That’s why we create products that simplify home-cooking, and why we share stories about how all our identities intersect at the kitchen table.

We’re looking for an organized, experienced, and passionate Product Development Manager to lead product development efforts from concept to launch for a selection of our kitchen or appliances projects. This role will also play an integral role in supporting the entire product development team as we build processes, tools, and share learnings across departments.

In this role, you’ll work extremely collaboratively with counterparts spanning Product Development, Design, Engineering, Sourcing, Production, Quality, Marketing, Creative, Customer Experience, and Operations teams. You will also be responsible for managing the development process with external partners and factories. If you’re ready to lead projects from concept to launch, are passionate about setting the trajectory for one of the fast growing kitchenware brands, and are hoping to make a huge and lasting impact somewhere — we’d love to hear from you!

What you’d do at Our Place

• Conduct thorough competitive analysis, research, and merchandising strategies for owned product developments & general category to set the stage for new product launches.

• Communicate daily with domestic and international suppliers, independently leading and managing the full lifecycle of new development projects, from concept to launch.

• Collaborate daily with internal design, engineering, supply chain, consumer insights, and marketing partners, to develop, design, and perfect the Our Place product line. 

• Create and maintain detailed timing & action calendars, WIPs, costing grids, and product briefs. 

• Lead competitive reviews, pricing strategy, and provide IMU & contribution margin analyses internally. Ability to offer creative solutions for improvement or strategically weigh concessions or changes that may be required vs their impact.

• Troubleshoot development and timeline issues using creative thinking while maintaining a positive and calm attitude as the project’s leader.

• Partner with Brand, Creative, Marketing, and Customer Experience teams on samples for photoshoots and end-to-end marketing and customer experience efforts relating to products offered.

• As required: attend trade shows and visit manufacturing partners internationally.

Who you are...

• The right candidate will have at least 3-5 years experience developing products in cookware, kitchenwares, appliances, or other relevant hard goods categories.

• Have a strong design POV with the ability to translate and communicate trends and competitive learnings into actionable ideas or suggestions that fit the Our Place aesthetic and customer.

• Have experience with margin and assortment analysis and familiarity with e-commerce merchandising best practices.

• Demonstrate strong communication skills with ability to liaison and lead projects across many teams and internal/external stakeholders. 

• Strong presentation skills with ability to persuade and garner support with well-supported and clearly communicated proposals.

• Passionate about product and solving design challenges, big and small. Passionate about food/cooking and excited to use-test regularly.

• Thrive at developing strong vendor relationships domestically and internationally — ability while simultaneously managing day-to-day development communications.

• Have experience with (or understanding of) product compliance and testing. 

• Have the ability to be flexible and wear multiple hats in a fast-growing and rapidly-evolving organization. 

• Skilled in building processes and tools to support cross-functional communication.

• Be based in the LA area or willing to relocate. 

• Excited to travel internationally in the future. 

• A strong bonus: being able to speak Mandarin or multi-lingual.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.