Division Owner, Product Development

• Posted : 4 years ago

Nathan James is looking for a Product Division Owner to join our team in providing strong leadership of Product Design and Development to achieve overall product design strategy, business objectives, and product experience.

People-first company, design-first home.

We are a design-first, home furnishing company focusing on the habits of urban dwellers and first time home buyers. We pride ourselves on the best in class customer happiness, providing the highest possible quality products that are affordable for the majority and assembly that isn't dreadful.

As a people-first company, we understood from day one the importance of being fully distributed. We encourage everyone to work in whichever manner that helps them perform their best.
 

ABOUT THE ROLE:

You’ll be responsible for leading the Product Development, furniture division within the Product function at Nathan James, for developing and managing the growth of our product assortment in order to drive sales and profit objectives. You’ll help in supporting strategy, coaching, defining overarching goals for your categories, executing against tactical plans and managing category performance metrics.

A big part of this role is being a highly analytical, self-motivated person who enjoys coaching and problem-solving with a strong eye for home design. You will lead and grow the Product Development, Furniture division in order to support the company's growth and objectives. You will develop efficient mechanisms with our Director, Product Development in order to simplify and improve the product development cycle. A deep understanding of how to analyze market research, consumer insights, and internal sales data to identify emerging trends and develop strategic assortment plans across multiple sub-categories within home furniture is a requisite for succeeding in this role.

You will manage Product Engineers in order to define product design requirements during development seasons and collaborate with overseas technical teams to bring successful, on-brand products to the market. The Product Development division is subject to grow, you will have the opportunity of building out your team. Current processes are susceptible to continual change, the ideal candidate has the unique ability to quickly learn and teach these procedures.

During training, you’ll be expected to learn about the performance of our current assortment, have the ability to navigate around our current sales data and as well as perform external market research reports at an SKU and sub-category level. Once fully up-to-speed (2-3 months), you will have full ownership to build the assortment plan for future product launches.  You will also assess any hiring needs for our growing team.

Focus:

• Own the full design process, from early discovery and testing to asset delivery and design reviews with engineers.
• Awareness of data and research methodologies to make design decisions. 
• Expert in communicating and collaborating with team members.
• Able to lead initiatives linked to business objectives and KPIs.
• Comprehensive knowledge ranging from furniture construction to design trends
• Understanding of COGs and the ability to set MSRP
• Well-rounded knowledge of the manufacturing process of other categories, sourcing, and marketing.
• Ability to travel overseas within Asia twice a year 
• Demonstrate the ability to understand Nathan James's aesthetic, market, and recognize products that fit our brand. 
• A passion to continuously improve and a strong work ethic. 
• A portfolio of previous work.

ABOUT US:

We have a rhythm to our work and a very low turnover rate — we have yet to have a single team member opt-out. Your voice matters to us. We make change from fresh perspectives and appreciate new viewpoints, so you should feel comfortable speaking up about your values and goals.

We’re ready for the ongoing work that goes into building an inclusive, supportive place for you to do the best work of your career. Our values, workplace, and our benefits are designed to support a sustainable, healthy relationship with your work. Our operating values provide the framework we use in building a healthy, resilient organization.

You can expect a mindful onboarding process with ramp-up and time to learn. You can expect a team that listens, and to be heard. You can expect to give and provide direct feedback. You can expect to work with good people. You can expect to be counted on. You can expect to do your best work and build a career here. 
 

ABOUT YOU:

You thrive at the intersection of design craft and strategy. You’re a curious person who falls in love with problems and enjoys iterating toward a solution. You’re passionate about making an impact and effectively connect data insights, business goals, and users’ needs to set your design direction. You present work clearly and effectively to educate others. You value design that is welcoming, inspiring, and simple. 

In close partnership with our engineers, you’ll drive product cohesion and continuity, ensuring that our products meet market research demands, assortment strategies, price points, and overall best in class product experience. 

We would like to see at a minimum of three years experience in owning a product catalog. You may have a degree or you might not. That’s not what we’re looking for. We care about what you can do and how you do it.

For this role, we do require that your normal workday has at least 4 hours overlap with the Montreal workday (currently UTC-5) without impinging on your personal/family life. 

This is a remote role since we are a remote company! You’re free to work where you work best, anywhere in the world: home office, coworking space, coffee shops, or in Montreal. While we currently have an office in Montreal, you should be comfortable working remotely—most of the company does! That hinges on effective writing, self-discipline, and comfort with open communication.

 

BENEFITS & PERKS:  

We offer competitive salaries, we measure this as your pay being in the 80th percentile (at minimum) for a similar role in the country you will be working from. 

Our benefits are all aimed at supporting a life well-lived both at work and away from work.

We’re all about reasonable working hours, sharing, ample vacation time, wellness, education, comfort, and giving back.

HOW TO APPLY:  

Please submit an application here that speaks directly to this position. There are no right answers or cookie-cutter expectations. A cover letter is not required, but those that clearly demonstrate how Nathan James would be a great fit for you and how you would be a great fit for us will be given full attention and are highly appreciated. 

We’re accepting applications until August 20th, 2020.     

We expect to take two weeks to review all applications. 

You’ll hear from us by August 28th about advancement to a work sample review. You’ll get a chance to see the types of challenges you would be solving in this role. Then on to an interview. Our interviews are one hour, all remote by Whereby video chat (no software needed), with your future colleagues, on your schedule. 

We aim to make an offer by October 21st,  with a start date in late October or early November.

We appreciate your consideration into having Nathan James be part of your career. Our open conversation starts with this post. We look forward to hearing from

Skills

• product design
• product experience
• researcher