Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Hulken is a fast-growing, family-run brand known for its innovative rolling tote, and they are seeking a Product Development Manager to lead the end-to-end product lifecycle. This role involves overseeing product development, managing overseas manufacturing, and ensuring timely and quality launches across various retail partners.
Responsibilities
- End-to-end product development. Own the full lifecycle: concept, design, prototype, sampling, production, and improvement. Take new ideas from zero to shelf-ready, and keep the roadmap aligned with where the business is headed
- Vendors and manufacturing. Work directly with our overseas factories and suppliers. Own sampling, revisions, and production readiness, and hit quality, cost, and timeline targets consistently — not heroically at the last minute
- Process (build it, make it better). Create simple, repeatable development processes that people actually use, with clear timelines, checkpoints, and quality gates, so design, samples, artwork, and approvals stop colliding at the finish line. Move faster without cutting corners, and use AI to make the work sharper and quicker
- Product quality and performance. Sweat the details: durability, usability, real-world performance. Build and refine testing standards, spot issues early, and fix them fast — before they reach a customer or a retailer
- Retail and launch readiness. Partner with brand, marketing, and ops so every product has what it needs to launch, from samples and specs to packaging and pack-shot-ready assets, on time and to spec across Target, The Container Store, MoMA, and a growing wholesale pipeline
- Cross-team connective tissue. Be the go-to owner for product development. Proactively communicate status, surface blockers early, and close the loop, so no one has to chase you, and nothing falls through the cracks
Skills
- 5+ years bringing physical products to market, consumer goods preferred, ideally soft goods (bags, luggage, apparel) or another materials-driven category
- A proven track record of owning products end to end, working directly with overseas manufacturers, and shipping on time and to spec
- Process-driven, but adaptable and scrappy. You bring structure as a natural strength, not as your entire identity, and you're comfortable building it from scratch in a place that doesn't have it yet
- Strong instincts for materials, construction, and quality. You see the details others miss, and you follow through every single time
- Genuinely obsessed with how things are made. You care about product because you love it, not just because it's your job
- Independently driven and proactively communicative. You don't wait to be asked for an update — you keep people informed, flag risks before they become problems, and make your work visible
- Strong-willed and calm under pressure. You can hold a line on quality and timelines with factories, agencies, and internal teammates alike, and do it with zero ego and a genuinely good attitude
- Comfortable picking up the tools this runs on. We work day to day in Slack and Google Workspace; the rest of the stack is flexible, and picking up new tools fast is what matters most. Experience with a PLM system, Adobe Illustrator (or a similar design or tech-pack tool), and Notion is a plus. We're an AI-forward team and expect you to actively use tools that make your work faster and smarter
- New York City preferred, and we're open to remote for the right person. Either way, the team operates on EST and communicates primarily over Slack, so staying looped in and responsive during working hours matters. Comfortable working across time zones with overseas partners, and open to occasional travel for factory or team needs
- Experience with soft goods (bags, luggage, apparel)
- A background in sourcing and factory production
- Experience improving or scaling an existing product line — bringing order to something that grew faster than its process
Benefits
- Health insurance: medical
- PTO: unlimited
Company Overview