Job: Director of Product Development & Sourcing (Mountain Bikes)

Objective

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Product Development and Sourcing will be a part of the company’s leadership team, and responsible for managing the day-to-day product development operations.  He / She will work alongside the CEO and leadership team to identify, articulate, and implement product development and sourcing improvements necessary for the business to scale.

The Director of Product Development and Sourcing will directly manage the product development and management team and help build a scalable set development and sourcing infrastructure to support a $100MM+ mountain bike company.  He / She will act as a trusted partner to run day-to-day product development.  This includes implementing product development best practices for ideation, supplier relations, development, testing, quality control, and post-sale warranty to support significant growth, scale, and incremental profitability.  He / She is expected to use existing teams in Carbondale and Taiwan and expand those teams as needed to support company growth. He / She will lead a team of 5+ people and would be based out of company headquarters in Carbondale, CO.

Ideal Profile

Our ideal Director of Product Development and Sourcing has significant experience working in the bicycle or outdoor industry, and especially has significant skills working in Asia and managing global product development teams. The candidate also has the skills and experience to help scale an early growth stage company to a $100MM+ organization and beyond. He / She should have a clear understanding of the development and sourcing requirements and insights into how the company can optimize product development and sourcing to scale this business.  This is a vital leadership role that will drive results, spur growth, and increase the overall efficiency of the company and continue to elevate the brand image through high quality, innovative and products.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the CEO and leadership team to set and drive the product development strategy & tactics and develop scalable R+D capabilities.
• Translate strategy into actionable goals and performance management.
• Day-to-Day responsibility for for product development, sourcing, and supplier relationships in both Colorado and Taiwan,. This includes basic operational results, AND performance improvement efforts.
• Improve upon existing product development processes in place and establish and execute on new processes as needed to create a world-class product development team. Create effective measurement tools to gauge the efficiency of internal and external product development processes.
• Help support the growth and development of the integrated leadership team.
• Evaluate and implement PLM/document control to support the growth and scale objectives.
• Drive and improve company’s operational and financial results (product costs, development costs, systems, reporting and controls) while balancing creativity and innovative product development.
• Provide leadership to staff and the organization that aligns with the company’s business plan and overall vision.
• Assist leadership team members in creating, growing, and building a world class, industry leading organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations, Engineering, Law, Management, or related area, or commensurate demonstrated experience.  Master’s preferred.
• 8+ years of experience with product development in the cycling industry. Working with global manufacturers, especially in China / Taiwan is required.
• Extremely strong and deep product development and sourcing experience developing infrastructure to support extreme growth.
• Ability to get in the weeds, understand the details / data of the business, prioritize, articulate, plan, and execute.
• Ability to think creatively and leverage limited resources within a small company to create and source extremely high end, innovative, and forward-thinking products.
• Experience in organizational development and personnel management and development, budget and resource development and strategic planning, and collaborating with and influencing others.
• Prior success in leading high-performance teams, achieving results through others, and being a strong team player.
• Superior ability to develop people through coaching and empathy leading to a high organizational commitment with leaders throughout the organization equipped to effectively manage their areas and ability to grow.
• Strong analytical and data-driven mindset that translates into leadership skills.
• Possessing a “can-do” and “will-do” attitude with respect to accomplishing goals and satisfying the needs of internal and external customers.
• An effective communicator who is self-motivated and able to inspire confidence and respect, motivating both direct and indirect reporting organizations
• Nimble and entrepreneurial in nature, with past success in an environment with limited resources and genuine excitement for the company mission.
• Player coach – ability to work at the ground level to generate results.
• Appreciated previous titles: Head of Product Development, Director of Sourcing, Senior Product Manager
• Appreciated previous experience: Bikes (Cannondale, Giant, Scott, Specialized, Trek…), Outdoor Sports companies like VF Corp (The North Face…), Jarden (Marmot, K2, Volkl…), Columbia Sportswear, Amer Sports (Arc’teryx, Salomon…), Wolverine (Merrell, Patagonia..), American Rec, Black Diamond…