At Joseph Joseph we love solving everyday problems through intelligent design to create distinctive, functional products that are a pleasure to own and use. We are one of the world’s leading houseware brands with a global presence spanning over 100 countries, available in most major department stores and independent houseware stores worldwide as well as our rapidly growing ecommerce channel.

Joseph Joseph has been manufacturing products in China for the past 17 years. There is now a fantastic opportunity to further bolster our ‘on the ground’ support team in China to work closely with the New Development and Technologist colleagues at the London (UK) Head Office. This Product Development Co-ordinator (PDC) role will report to the Head of Quality & Product Compliance at the company head office in London.

The successful candidate must work very closely with the new product development team, technologist and suppliers in China to successfully execute the product development process and deliverables after the handover stage from New Product Development and Technologist. With two large seasonal launches per year, the role requires a highly proactive, attentive and organised individual to take ownership of the quality of Joseph Joseph’s products from handover by the NPD team through to mass production.

What you will be doing:

• New Product Development (NPD):
• Gain in-depth knowledge of the current product development process from end to end.
• Educate new and existing suppliers in Joseph Joseph’s quality standards and processes.
• Proactively drive co-operation between NPD, Technologists and Suppliers to identify, remove and /or escalate issues preventing successful execution of development process and compliance.
• Make recommendations to continuously improve processes both in China and also during product development and identify cost saving initiatives were appropriate.
• Gain in-depth understanding of products within specified categories.
• Providing ‘on the ground’ support as and when required.
• Support includes:
• Assisting NPD and Technologist to understand the limitations of the supplier’s capabilities on specific projects.
• Assisting NPD and Technologist to drive suppliers to find new manufacturing solutions to problems identified during development.
• Chase missing technical information, such as datasheets and bill of materials
• Ensure critical path deadlines are met for all products
• Pilot Production Run:
• Lead and own the preparation for pilot-run and mass production.
• Responsibility for Pilot Product Run (PPR) including:
• Face-to-face meeting with supplier to review Quality specification documents. All tolerances to be agreed prior to pilot run.
• Ensure correct tooling is used during pilot run (including documenting and photograph tooling), including sub-suppliers
• Ensure correct materials are used for pilot run, checked against the BOM & Datasheets
• Ensure key production parameters are fully documented
• Perform AQL QC Inspection on pilot run (product & packaging), issue inspection report to NPD Design Manager, Packaging Manager & Technologist
• Select samples from Pilot run (if quality meets specified standards), and approve against the approved Pre-Pilot run samples.
• Mass Production:
• Perform Gold Seal Selection & Sign-off once 10% of first order is produced and packed
• Oversee first QC inspection with JJ QC Inspectors in China
• Full hand over of products to QC Inspection Team for on-going QC inspections and On-going Production
• Investigate Critical and Major product issues raised by Suppliers, NPD and Technologists and own the critical path and deadlines to resolve the issues and minimise disruption to the business and growth.

What we need from you:

• An assertive and decisive individual who is able to quickly identify, assess situations/ problems and offer viable, flexible and commercial solutions covering all areas that fall within their remit.
• Must be action orientated and driven to help the business succeed.
• Delivering projects on time in line with the critical path.
• Highly organised with excellent attention to detail
• Able to use own initiative, be proactive and work independently
• Able to translate effectively technical and specification information and requirements.
• Communicate effectively on: complex issues, specifications with suppliers, technical issues with colleagues in new product development and engineers.
• Flexible and able to work on various projects simultaneously and under pressure
• Able to engage easily with others.
• Must be resident in Southern China, close to factory base predominantly in Guangdong province.
• Previously worked for Innovative Western owned brands
• Previously worked with or reported to head office functions based overseas.
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience within product development, engineering or production and quality assurance teams working on consumer products, with a good understanding of product safety.
• Strong written and spoken English.

What you’ll get from us:

• Competitive Salary
• Working Hours: Monday – Friday (Friday inclusive), 09:00 – 18:00
• Holiday Allowance: 15 days holiday per year (excluding Chinese Public Holidays)