Product Development Manager - Bedding

Job description

**ABOUT QUINCE** Quince is a destination for builders, creators, innovators, and operators who want to come together and challenge the status quo. Our mission is simple: make really high quality essentials for really low prices, fairly and sustainably. We deliver on that mission through a unique manufacturer-to-consumer (M2C) model eliminating the layers of traditional retail that add cost and result in consumers paying more than they need to. We find, build relationships with, and work directly with the manufacturing partners behind some of the world’s finest products. From there, our teams design smart, efficient operational processes and build and deploy proprietary technology, AI, and analytics to help us scale fast. What began with a small assortment of elevated basics has quickly grown into a cross-category brand spanning apparel, accessories, home goods, and more. Today, tens of millions of people across a growing number of countries come – and return – to Quince because they trust us to deliver. **OUR CULTURE** Quince is a culture built for builders by builders. Our way of working starts with a blank sheet of paper. We question conventional thinking, use technology and data to uncover new opportunities, and move quickly to turn ideas into reality. We aren’t interested in replicating how others do retail. We’re building a better way – at a speed and scale unlike anything that’s been done before. - We dream big and chase the hard problems others shy away from. Rejecting long-held assumptions is part of our company's DNA. Where conventional wisdom says you have to choose – soft or durable, speed or rigor, quality or price – we ask why that trade-off has to exist in the first place. - Our pace is fast and the bar is high because our customers expect a lot from us and we refuse to let them down. We believe the best results come from challenging ourselves, learning from one another, and building on each other's strengths. - Here, responsibility is not determined by role, tenure, or seniority. Every team member - no matter their level - has the opportunity to drive our business and shape our trajectory. If you’re someone who likes to imagine new possibilities and build better systems rather than plug-in to outdated ones, Quince is the place for you. **THE ROLE** We are seeking a **Product Development Manager, Bedding** to join our growing team at Quince. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring products are launched in a timely manner while achieving the highest quality standards. **Role Overview** The **Product Development Manager** is a hands-on, factory-based execution role embedded directly within Quince’s vendor ecosystem. Operating primarily on-site at finished-goods and materials factories, this role owns real-time coordination, follow-up, and issue resolution required to keep development moving at speed and with precision. The role is accountable for on-the-ground execution—driving accelerated sample development, validating documentation handoffs, expediting approvals, and ensuring development milestones are met without delay. By spending the majority of time in factories, the **Product Development Manager** enables faster decision-making, strengthens alignment between Quince and its vendors, proactively identifies development risks, and ensures products move efficiently from concept to production while meeting Quince’s quality, cost, and timeline expectations. **What success looks like:** ● Accelerated time-to-market for new products, color/size extensions, and partner transitions. ● Reduced product development cycles from 28 weeks to 16 weeks. ● Perfect technical hand-offs to both raw material and finished good vendors. ● Streamlined sample development with sample rounds dropping from 2.4 to 2.0 per product, ensuring high approval rates. ● Achieve a 7 day average sample turnaround time ● Coordinator and manage efficient, robust product testing to uphold high-quality standards. ● Seamless and timely coordination across all teams. ● Replicate quality execution development for all re-sourcing of existing products to new vendors **Primary Accountabilities** ● Development Timeline Ownership & Acceleration Own and actively manage the day-to-day product development timeline across new products, color and size extensions, vendor transitions, and refreshes. Ensure programs progress within the 16-week cycle target by tracking milestones, escalating risks early, and driving timely decision-making across teams. ● Cross-Functional Workflow & Orchestration Serve as the central point of coordination across Merchandising, Sourcing, Fit, Technical Development, Materials, QA, Creative, and Vendors. Ensure all parties are aligned on development status, next steps, and dependencies at every stage of the lifecycle. ● Build Sheet Handoff and Coaching Ensure all required product documentation is accurate, complete, and ready prior to vendor handoff. This includes technical specification sheets, build documentation, testing requirements, fit inputs, and any supporting materials needed for vendor execution. Ensure vendors understand and translate it correctly. ● Sample Development & Tracking Discipline Coordinate and track all sample requests, shipments, inbound reviews, fit requests, and revisions. Drive efficiency in sample development by maintaining momentum, minimizing rework, and supporting the target of ≤2.0 sample rounds per product. ● Approvals, Feedback Loops & Testing Coordination Facilitate timely product reviews and approvals by Merchandising, Fit, and Technical teams. Track testing requests and results, ensuring products complete required performance or quality testing and that outcomes are clearly communicated to all stakeholders. ● In-Country Development Trip Management Run in-person country development trips with Global Merchants and Global Fit teams to accelerate decision-making, resolve issues at the source, and strengthen vendor execution. ● Production & Launch Readiness Coordination Support timely staging of materials and finished-goods production in partnership with Sourcing. Coordinate on-time delivery of photo samples to Creative teams to ensure marketing readiness and launch timelines are met. ● Tools, Systems & Process Hygiene Maintain clean, accurate, real-time data across all product development systems,including the Product Catalog and tracking tools. Ensure systems reflect current status, ownership, and next actions to support transparency and fast execution. Travel Expectations (Core Role Requirement) This role is factory-based with heavy travel and requires consistent presence at vendor sites. ● Travel Frequency: Up to 4 days per week on-site at factories ● Regions: Key sourcing regions, depending on vendor base ● Duration: Ongoing, embedded travel rather than occasional trips Work Style: Hands-on, in-person coordination within sample rooms and factory offices **This role is not suited for remote or primarily office-based candidates**. Required Experience & Skills ● >8 years in product development or factory-facing roles ● Strong category expertise ● Strong experience working directly with factories and sample rooms ● Comfortable operating independently on-site ● Highly organised, detail-oriented, and execution-focused ● Clear communicator across language, cultural, and functional boundaries **WHY QUINCE?** Joining Quince means being part of a mission-driven team reshaping retail. You will work alongside talented colleagues, tackle meaningful challenges, and contribute to building a more sustainable, accessible future for customers and partners alike. **EQUAL OPPORTUNITY & HIRING INTEGRITY** Quince provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applications for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Quince is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to complete your application or to perform the essential functions of a role at Quince, please let us know by completing [this accommodation form](https://forms.gle/DpJ11jHa1WbqfUWB9). We review all requests individually and will work with you to determine appropriate accommodations on a case-by-case basis. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check. Quince will conduct background checks in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. *Security Advisory: Beware of Frauds* At Quince, we're dedicated to recruiting top talent who share our drive for innovation. To safeguard candidates, Quince emphasizes legitimate recruitment practices. Initial communication is primarily via official Quince email addresses and LinkedIn; beware of deviations. Personal data and sensitive information will not be solicited during the application phase. Interviews are conducted via phone, in person, or through the approved platforms Google Meets or Zoom—never via messaging apps or other calling services. Offers are merit-based, communicated verbally, and followed up in writing. If personal information is requested to initiate the hiring process, rest assured it will be through secure and protected means.