Director of Overseas Manufacturing
Chefman · Mahwah · $165,000–$195,000 (stated in the posting)
Director of Overseas Manufacturing and Quality
Chefman | Product Development | Mahwah, NJ
About Us
Chefman is one of North America's leading brands of small kitchen appliances, committed to building best-in-class products that make cooking accessible and enjoyable. In 2020, we launched CHEF iQ, an ecosystem of connected smart kitchen appliances designed to transform how the world cooks through intuitive guided cooking experiences and IoT-enabled technology.
About the Role
As Chefman continues to scale, we're looking for a Director of Overseas Manufacturing and Quality to elevate how we partner with our overseas manufacturing network and ensure our growing product portfolio is built with the consistency and precision our customers expect.
This is not a desk job. We need a leader who has personally run a factory floor, someone who can walk into an assembly line, spot a process problem before it becomes a quality escape, and work directly with factory teams to fix it. You'll serve as the critical bridge between our design and product development teams here in Mahwah and our manufacturing partners in China, helping ensure that what we design translates seamlessly into what gets built at scale.
We're looking for a leader with deep, sustained manufacturing expertise, ideally 10 to 15 years building that expertise with one organization, who is ready to bring that experience to a fast-growing, entrepreneurial consumer brand. This role requires extensive travel to China and a genuine passion for being present where products come to life.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead manufacturing strategy and execution across our overseas partner network, from tooling and assembly process design through high-volume mass production
- Partner early and often with Product Development and Industrial Design teams, bringing manufacturing expertise directly into design decisions to support manufacturability, cost efficiency, and quality from day one
- Champion consistency and best-practice alignment across factory SOPs, assembly procedures, and quality control standards across all manufacturing partners
- Maintain a strong, regular presence on assembly lines, staying close to daily production and building the kind of trusted, collaborative relationships with factory teams that drive continuous improvement
- Build and maintain rigorous reporting and documentation systems that give leadership clear visibility into yield, quality performance, and production trends across all partner sites
- Lead structured root-cause investigations (8D, 5-Why, Fishbone) when quality or performance opportunities arise, partnering closely with factory teams to implement durable, lasting solutions
- Serve as the senior point of contact for resolving complex production challenges, balancing quality, cost, and delivery priorities
- Build and develop a team of manufacturing and quality engineers to support the company's growing production needs
- Evaluate and help develop new manufacturing partnerships and capacity as the business scales
- Own the manufacturing cost and efficiency relationship, driving continuous improvement in profitability alongside quality
Qualifications
- 10-15+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience, ideally with significant tenure at a single organization producing consumer electronics, small appliances, or similar consumer hardware products
- Direct, hands-on experience running or closely overseeing factory floor operations
- A demonstrated track record of driving measurable improvements to product quality, yield, and profitability through close factory partnership
- Deep, working-level understanding of injection molding, sheet metal, electromechanical assembly, and tooling processes, built through genuine hands-on experience
- Strong background in structured root-cause problem solving and driving continuous improvement initiatives with manufacturing partners
- Experience developing and aligning SOPs and best practices across multiple factory sites
- A natural inclination to stay close to product design conversations and offer manufacturing perspective early in the process
- Strong reporting and documentation discipline
- Willingness and ability to travel extensively to China, including extended stays as needed
- A career history reflecting deep, sustained expertise built over time
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field
- Mandarin fluency strongly preferred
- Experience with connected/IoT consumer products is a strong plus
What We Offer
- The opportunity to lead manufacturing strategy for one of North America's fastest-growing kitchen appliance brands, with direct, visible impact on products used by millions of home cooks
- A senior leadership seat where your expertise directly shapes both product quality and company growth
- Relocation assistance to the Mahwah, NJ area
- Potential sign-on bonus
- Competitive compensation, international travel support, and the opportunity to build and lead a growing team
Salary Range: Commensurate with experience
The base salary range for this role is provided below. Compensation is determined based on job-related factors such as experience, skills, and internal equity, in accordance with New Jersey pay transparency requirements.