Mattress Product Manager (Travel Required)

The Mattress Product Manager is responsible for leading the development, commercialization, compliance, and lifecycle management of mattress products for the North American market. This position serves as the central technical and business liaison between Sales, Product Design, Engineering, Sourcing, Manufacturing, Quality, and Regulatory teams to ensure products meet customer expectations, U.S. regulatory requirements, quality standards, and cost targets.
The role requires strong expertise in mattress construction, fire retardant (FR) systems, U.S. mattress regulations, supplier qualification, and new product development. Although reporting to the Engineering Director, this position operates with a high degree of independence and provides technical leadership across global cross-functional teams.
This role is intended to be a technical product leader rather than a traditional marketing Product
Manager. The ideal candidate combines expertise in mattress engineering, U.S. regulatory compliance (especially 16 CFR Parts 1632 and 1633), FR system design, supplier development, and global product commercialization, while effectively coordinating engineering, sourcing, manufacturing, compliance, and commercial teams across Asia and the United States.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Product Development & Commercialization:
- Lead new mattress product development from concept through mass production.
- Collaborate with U.S. Sales and Product Design teams to translate market requirements into
commercially successful products.
- Develop innovative mattress constructions that optimize comfort, durability, manufacturability,
compliance, and cost.
- Evaluate new technologies, components, and materials for future product development.
- Support product roadmap planning and strategic category development.
2. Fire Retardant (FR) Construction & Regulatory Compliance:
- Serve as the subject matter expert for U.S. mattress regulatory compliance.
- Develop and maintain compliant mattress FR constructions that meet federal and customer requirements.
- Ensure products comply with applicable regulations including:
+ 16 CFR Part 1632
+ 16 CFR Part 1633
+ Flammability requirements
+ Labeling requirements
+ Traceability requirements
+ Customer-specific compliance standards
- Work with suppliers to qualify FR materials and maintain approved constructions.
- Manage regulatory documentation and compliance records.
- Coordinate third-party laboratory testing and certification.
3. Material Development & Supplier Management:
- Partner with Material Sourcing to identify and qualify new suppliers.
- Evaluate new foam, fabric, FR barriers, adhesives, spring systems, covers, and other mattress components.
- Approve material specifications and performance standards.
- Develop material qualification processes.
- Support supplier audits and technical capability assessments.
- Drive continuous material innovation while maintaining regulatory compliance.
4. Manufacturing & Process Development:
- Collaborate with Asia Product Engineering and manufacturing teams to develop efficient production processes.
- Ensure mattress designs are manufacturable across multiple factories.
- Support process validation during pilot and production launches.
- Troubleshoot manufacturing issues related to construction, materials, or compliance.
- Improve manufacturing efficiency while maintaining quality and compliance standards.
5. Finished Goods Vendor Development:
- Support onboarding of new mattress manufacturing partners.
- Evaluate factory technical capabilities.
- Establish manufacturing standards and product specifications.
- Work with sourcing teams to ensure vendor readiness.
- Support supplier performance improvement initiatives.
- Maintain approved vendor technical documentation.
6. Cross-Functional Leadership:
Serve as the primary technical interface among:
- U.S. Sales
- Product Design
- Product Engineering
- Asia Finished Goods Sourcing Office
- Manufacturing Vendors
- Asia Product Engineering
- Quality Assurance
- U.S. Compliance Team
- Regulatory Affairs
- Material Suppliers
Coordinate product launches while ensuring alignment across all stakeholders.
7. Quality & Continuous Improvement:
- Partner with Quality teams to investigate field issues.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions.
- Monitor product performance after launch.
- Drive continuous improvements in durability, quality, and customer satisfaction.
- Establish product validation standards.
8. Documentation & Product Lifecycle Management:
Maintain:
- Product specifications
- Construction documentation
- Bills of Materials (BOM)
- Material specifications
- Compliance documentation
- Product change records
- Engineering change management
- Regulatory traceability records