Product Development / Sourcing Manager

About Oberon
Oberon Design and Manufacturing is a San Francisco-based supplier of premium furniture and home furnishings, with established production facilities in Vietnam and China. We design, engineer, and manufacture wood and metal furniture, mirrors, medicine cabinets, and decorative accessories for leading U.S. specialty retailers. Our work is defined by rigorous quality standards, disciplined execution, and long-term partnerships with our clients and factories.
Position Summary
The Product Development / Sourcing Manager serves as the primary liaison between our San Francisco-based team and our manufacturing partners in Vietnam. This role owns new product development from concept through production approval, manages vendor relationships and costing, and ensures that development milestones, quality standards, and ship windows are met. The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on knowledge of wood and metal furniture construction with strong project management discipline and clear, proactive communication across time zones.
Key Responsibilities
Product Development
• Manage new product development from initial concept, drawings, and specifications through prototyping, revisions, and final production approval.
• Review technical drawings, bills of materials, and construction details with factory engineering teams; verify feasibility and recommend design or construction improvements.
• Oversee sample development, inspect prototypes against specifications, and communicate detailed, photo-documented feedback to the U.S. team.
• Coordinate finish development and approvals for wood stains, lacquers, plating, powder coat, and specialty metal finishes.
Sourcing and Vendor Management
• Identify, evaluate, and onboard new factories and component suppliers for wood, metal, glass, stone, and hardware, including capability assessments, capacity confirmation, and compliance review.
• Lead costing exercises and price negotiations; analyze quotations at the level of raw materials, labor, finishing, packaging, and container loading.
• Own the Time and Action (T&A) calendar across all active developments; flag risks early and drive corrective action to protect ship windows.
• Monitor factory conditions, holidays, material availability, and regional developments that may affect production, and communicate impacts to the U.S. team.
Quality and Compliance
• Partner with factory QC teams on inline and final inspections for pilot runs and first production; ensure adherence to approved samples and specifications.
• Coordinate product testing (structural, finish, packaging drop tests) with factories and third-party labs, and ensure testing protocols and documentation requirements are met.
• Support factory compliance activities, including social and environmental audits and client-specific requirements.