New Product Development - Project Manager

Scope

End-to-end ownership of the new product launch calendar. Works closely with Design, sourcing, manufacturing partners, quality, operations and revenue.

Why this role exists

• The next phase of growth is a product story before it is a marketing one it means launching into new categories more often, without loosening design quality or safety standards.

• Every launch already depends on a long chain of moving parts: design iterations, overseas tooling and sampling, regulatory certification, packaging, production, shipping, inbound inventory, and catalogue readiness across a D2C store and multiple marketplaces. Any one of them can move the launch date, and nobody owns that chain end to end today.

• This role does. You own the launch calendar from the point a concept is approved to the point operations has sellable inventory and the revenue team has a live, listed product. You will not manage most of the people you depend on, which makes this a job about clarity, foresight and follow-through rather than authority.

What you will own

The launch calendar and the critical path

• Own the master NPD calendar across every product in development, with one current, committed launch date per product.
• Work backwards from each launch date across every step — design freeze, tooling, sampling, certification, PO, production, shipping, inbound and listing — and know which step is most at risk.
• Run a clear checkpoint process: what has to be true before a product moves to the next stage, and the confidence to hold it back when it is not ready.
• Escalate early. A three-week tooling delay raised in week one is a schedule change; the same delay raised in week eight is a missed season.

Development and supplier execution

• Drive the development cycle with design, sourcing and manufacturing partners across India and Asia — brief, sample, review, iterate, approve.
• Track sample rounds, tooling timelines and final sample sign-off, holding partners to committed dates and flagging slippage as it happens.
• Track costing against target margin through development, so cost surprises surface early rather than at launch.
• Plan around the constraints that actually bite: factory shutdowns, shipping lead times, and seasonal demand windows.
• Support category and competitor benchmarking — market visits, portfolio gaps and pricing — to inform what gets developed next.

Quality, safety and compliance

• Treat certification as a launch gate, not paperwork. This category carries live regulatory requirements that must be tracked and planned for from day one.
• Coordinate the certification timeline with sourcing, quality and external partners.
• Coordinate QC protocols, pre-dispatch inspection and defect thresholds with the quality and sourcing teams.

Handover to operations

• This role is judged on the handover. Give operations a genuinely launch-ready product: confirmed specs, packaging and carton detail, barcodes, SKU codes, weights, dimensions and inbound schedule.
• Work with operations and supply chain on launch quantities, warehouse readiness and inbound planning.
• Make sure documentation arrives with the product, not chasing it.

Working with revenue

• Partner with the revenue and marketplace teams on launch readiness across D2C and marketplace channels — catalogue copy, imagery, listing setup, pricing and go-live dates.
• Align launch timing with marketing so campaigns land against inventory that actually exists.
• Feed launch performance and consumer research findings back into the next development cycle.

Process and reporting

• Own the single source of truth for NPD status — one tracker, always current, that leadership, operations and revenue all read from.
• Run a weekly launch review — what moved, what slipped, what changes — and strengthen the templates and checklists as launch volume grows.

What we are looking for

• 3–6 years in new product development, product marketing, project management or sourcing within consumer products — houseware, hardgoods, kids, appliances or similar physical goods.
• Hands-on involvement in taking physical products from concept to market — briefing design, coordinating development, packaging and in-market launch.
• Experience working with manufacturing partners on samples and production timelines. Overseas sourcing exposure is a plus, not a requirement.
• Organised by instinct — you hold timelines, dependencies and follow-ups in one place, and chase before things slip.
• Awareness of Indian product compliance and certification, ideally BIS or ISI. The detail can be learned here.
• Comfortable with numbers and spreadsheets — cost sheets, margins and forecasts as a daily tool.
• The temperament to chase without friction — you depend on people who do not report to you.
• Useful but not essential: exposure to D2C and marketplace launches.