Product Manager (Physical Product)

Chilly’s are on the lookout for a visionary Product Manager to define our future product launches and lead the journey from concept to production.

Founded in 2010, Chilly’s are driven by their aim of enabling everyone to have cold water on-the-go, without having to buy single-use plastic water bottles. The result was the Chilly’s bottle, a modern and stylish product designed to combine the convenience of a plastic water bottle with the eco-friendly benefits of a traditional flask.

In pursuit of our mission ‘to accelerate the adoption and everyday use of reusable products’ we have now expanded the range to include a wider selection of reusable products with many more exciting products in development! Our products are created for an active urban lifestyle, with the perfect balance of distinctive style and unrivalled performance.

Chilly’s have a fantastic London office in Shoreditch. We believe in flexibility and value collaboration, and we are all currently working in a hybrid pattern. This role is hands on and will require around 3 days per week in our office

We are at an exciting stage of change and growth, and are looking for a Product Design Lead with an impressive product background to be the champion for all things product and design within the business.

What you’ll be working on:

• Own the product roadmap: Based on trend research, competitor analysis, gaps in existing range, identify commercially viable opportunities for the next products Chilly's launches
  
• Crafting and presenting product development briefs to Senior Leadership Team and holding designers to account in delivering the brief
• Validate Concepts with working prototypes: Work with SW and Technologist to produce prototypes that can validate designs in order to move to tooling. Includes field testing, user testing, surveys
  
• Work with Supply Chain team on product costing: With the RRP/margins targets, ensure products costs are commercially viable and value engineer designs where necessary
• Prepare products for manufacturing: Ensure designs are mass-production-ready and work with suppliers on DFM (design for manufacture) so tooling can be opened
  
• Manage product sampling: Through product quality assessment and functionality testing, get 'T1' sample to 'Gold Seal' sample stage for sign off, ready for production
  
• Manage the development of product packaging: For new designs, develop structural packaging that will protect the product during transit (final validation through drop testing and transit trials)
  
• Briefing wider team (marketing, sales) on product spec, benefits, and commercials to deadline to enable them to build plans
• Ensure products consider sustainability: Work with Sustainability Lead during phases of development to ensure products and packaging consider environmental impact. Potential to explore new materials
  
• Product aftercare: Work with Customer Service team and Technologist to resolve any product issues post-launch
  
• Work collaboratively with our Senior Design Manager, looking for new processes, technologies, finishes that could elevate and differentiate Chilly's products from competitors.

Requirements

Must haves:

• 3-5 years experience in design and product management; specifically in writing briefs and having these executed by others, with further overall experience (6-8 years + overall) in working ideally in both in-house and agency roles
• A good working knowledge of a leading 3D CAD package (Creo, Solidworks, Fusion 360) to help interrogate, capture and share our design intent to both manufacture and retail.
• Experience using Photoshop and Illustrator
• Formal background in Industrial or Product Design
• A strong understanding of general engineering principles and how these shape and define the design development process.
• A comprehensive understanding and experience of the manufacturing processes used across common consumer products and homewares; injection & compression moulding, metal fabrication and stamping, die-casting & painting processes.
• An excellent sense of form and surface with a refined eye for the details; both in design and production.
• Exceptional eye for colour, materials and finishes (CMF), and understanding how these work in the real world in line with the product use cases (durability, fade, wear & safety).
• A hands-on, direct approach to prototyping- and not just the rapid type. Experience in foam modelling and a good working knowledge of general workshop processes that support the product development process. You will need to be comfortable and confident in testing and evaluating production samples and prototypes throughout the development cycle.
• Diligence, organisation and pragmatism.
• A forensic understanding of how things are made, and an obsessive eye for the details that make great products. Experience in homewares and associated manufacturing processes (hydroforming, spinning injection moulding etc.) is helpful, but the ability to quickly get to grips with new processes and methods is even more important.
• A world-class eye for design, and a portfolio that demonstrates not only your design work but the process and thinking behind it. We love to see award-winning design, but also want to hear about the impact your work has had on the businesses behind it too.
• Excited by the opportunities that come with growth, and grounded by the Chilly’s mission
  

Nice to haves:

• A working knowledge of the testing and safety regulations around food contact products, and other durability and wear tests (temperature, corrosion, RoHS/REACH, dishwashing etc.) that often factor in the design of products.
• Experience of leading and mentoring teams
• Experience in estimating, managing and controlling development budgets in a start-up or manufacturing space.
• Experience and and understanding of the supply chain and processes involved in the printing and construction of retail packaging, and the environmental considerations involved (material separations, recycling, ink types)
  

The type of person we’d like to work with:

At Chilly’s, we’re united by a set of values that guide our unique way of working.They are:

Lead the Change

To lead the change we must never settle. It means being brave enough to set standards and, as leaders, ambitious enough to exceed them.

Less but Better

We work deliberately and decisively, focusing on what we believe in and being brave enough to say no to the things we don’t.

Ambitiously Collaborate

We care as much about each other’s contribution as we do our own, so we support one another to grow, and we turn to one another to learn.

Benefits

What we offer:

• Holiday: 25 days plus 1 day for your birthday
• Pension contribution
• Bupa cash plan and Bupa healthcare
• Life Insurance with YuLife
• Employee discounts on all Chilly’s products
• A range of benefits, discounts and deals through our ‘perks at work’ initiative
• Development to support your growth with Chilly’s
• Flexible working culture
• Physical and mental wellbeing support