Overview
Product Development Manager – Premium DTC Arts & Crafts Brand Jobs in United States at Zazu Digital Talent
Title: Product Development Manager – Premium DTC Arts & Crafts Brand
Company: Zazu Digital Talent
Location: United States
Product Development Manager — Premium DTC Arts & Crafts Brand | Fully Remote (US)
The premium leader in a category that has quietly become one of the fastest-growing in arts and crafts. The customer treats the craft like meditation: hours of immersive making to create something to hang, gift, or collect. The core audience is adult women, with strong intergenerational growth as moms and daughters make pieces together and grandmothers create alongside their grandkids. A 50,000-strong VIP community lives inside a daily-active Facebook group, sharing finished work and telling the brand what to make next.
The brand never copies what other companies in the category are doing. It looks to PopMart, to Sanrio, to the broader collectible and toy world for inspiration, then leads the category by being first. The licensing portfolio is one of the deepest in arts and crafts: Disney, Warner Brothers, Peanuts, Strawberry Shortcake, plus regular artist collabs and new studios being signed. Product formats are constantly expanding from the core canvases into 3D figures, wooden gem houses with LED concepts, advent calendars, gifting, keychains, stickers, and more. 60 to 70 products are in flight at any given time, 300+ ship per year, and the half-year planning horizon is real.
This is the moment to take a major operating role at a brand on a clear path from $50M today toward nine figures within 12 to 18 months, expanding into Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels alongside the DTC engine that already drives the business.
The seat
You report directly to the Co-Founder, who runs creative and product development personally. No committee, no roadmap-by-spreadsheet, no waiting on someone else to make the call. Fast decisions, real ownership, your fingerprints on everything that ships.
You will partner with a fellow Product Development Manager who handles the wholesale and retail flank, plus two full-time graphic designers, a part-time illustrator, freelance CAD support, and a licensing assistant who manages submissions so you can stay in the product.
What you will own
- The end-to-end product development lifecycle, from concept and trend research through prototyping, sampling, costing, packaging, compliance, and mass production
- A constantly expanding product roadmap aligned with brand strategy, licensing timelines, retailer needs, and what the VIP community is asking for
- Daily relationships with the China factory partners. You are the one guiding them on premium standards, not the other way around
- Hands-on sample review: pantone match-ups, mold check-ins, photo-first triage before physical samples, and the instinct to know what is right and what is not
- Material instinct across wood, acrylic, printing finishes, packaging substrates, and the substitution decisions that protect both premium feel and unit economics
- A constant innovation cadence: at least one new product type every quarter, never copying competitors, always looking outside the category for inspiration
- Process discipline that scales: SOPs, a master calendar, tighter tech packs, fewer revisions
- Compliance and testing where applicable to the category and retailer requirements
What success looks like at 12 months
- The product pipeline feels fresher and more inventive than the day you started
- Multiple new product types have shipped under your ownership, ideation through launch
- China factory partners have been onboarded into clearer expectations, with measurable reductions in revision cycles and ambiguity
- You are the dependable owner of the DTC product roadmap, trusted internally and visible to the customer community
- Your taste and instinct on materials, finishes, and product expression are recognised as a leadership asset, not just an execution function
Who you are
- 7+ years in product development, with 3 to 5 of those years inside arts and crafts, toys or collectibles (essential, not a preference)
- A genuine craft sensibility: you make things yourself, you understand what hours of immersive making feels like, you see brands like PopMart and Sanrio as reference points
- Tactile instinct for product quality: you can hold a sample, place a pantone chip beside the print, and know what is wrong in 30 seconds
- A design background or strong design fluency (Photoshop, Illustrator, CAD review) enough to mock up ideas yourself and direct factories visually
- Real experience with overseas factory partners and the rhythm of Asian manufacturing
- Comfortable being the operator in the room: hands-on, proactive, organised, detail-obsessed, prepared to set up systems where they don't yet exist
- Willing to take evening calls with China on most weeknights and travel there one to two times a year
- Mandarin is a bonus but not required. The role is filled by category fit and instinct first
Practical details
- Fully remote, anywhere in the US
- Reports directly to the Co-Founder
- Daily comms run on Asana and Slack, with WeChat for direct factory communication
- China travel one to two times per year for factory work and the occasional trade show
- Strong benefits: 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision; life insurance; 401k; flexible time off
