Production Manager
White Circle · New York City
TL;DR: We care a lot about how White Circle exists outside of the product too — from things we make for our team and customers to objects, merch, events, and physical experiences around the brand. We want to make things people actually want to keep, not standard corporate merch.
About us
White Circle is an AI Safety company building the safety, reliability, and optimization layer for AI systems. At the core of our platform are policies – simple natural-language rules that define what an AI model should and shouldn’t do. We automatically test, enforce, and continuously improve these policies at scale.
We’ve recently raised our Series A funding round, taking our total funding to $70M. Our investors include top funds, founders, and senior leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, HuggingFace, Mistral, DeepMind, Datadog, Sentry, and others
We process over one hundred million API calls every month
We fine-tune and train our own LLMs so they run faster and cheaper than any open or proprietary model
We’re a small, highly focused team. If you want to work deeply on hard problems, see your work ship to production quickly, and influence how AI safety is actually built – you’re the one we need.
What you’ll do
Turn creative ideas from our design team into real physical objects
Figure out how to manufacture things that don't have an obvious supplier or ready-made solution
Find factories, workshops, craftspeople, printers, manufacturers, and other production partners around the world
Work with designers to choose materials, finishes, construction methods, packaging, and production techniques
Request and compare quotes, samples, prototypes, MOQs, timelines, and manufacturing options
Own production from the first prototype to the final delivery
Develop custom merch, clothing, accessories, printed objects, packaging, gifts, event materials, and weird one-off ideas we haven't thought of yet
Find ways to make something completely custom instead of defaulting to existing merch catalogues
Review samples and make sure the final result matches the original design
Manage budgets, production schedules, shipping, customs, and logistics
Build a network of great manufacturers and specialists we can work with repeatedly
You'll fit in if you
Based in the US
Have 5+ years of experience in a similar role
Have experience producing physical products from scratch
Know how to find the right manufacturer when the answer isn't obvious
Are comfortable contacting dozens of suppliers, asking questions, negotiating, and figuring things out independently
Understand materials, printing, manufacturing, packaging, and production processes
Have strong attention to detail and can spot when a sample is slightly wrong
Can translate a visual idea or rough creative brief into production requirements
Can manage several suppliers and production timelines at the same time
Have good taste and understands why the exact material, weight, finish, or packaging matters
Are fluent in English
A big plus
You've worked in fashion, product design, industrial design, publishing, creative production, or a design studio
You've produced unusual merch, collectibles, objects, packaging, or limited-edition products
You already have a network of factories, workshops, printers, or manufacturers in the US, Europe, or Asia
You understand garment production and can work directly with factories rather than print-on-demand merch suppliers
You've worked with brands where physical products are treated as part of the brand, not promotional giveaways
Why White Circle
Meaningful salary and equity package
Paid time off in line with your local regulations
All the hardware, tools, and services you need
A lot of creative freedom to make things that don't look like startup merch
Team off-sites twice a year — we’ve recently been to the Alps and Saint-Tropez
How we hire
Intro call with Talent (25 mins)
Take home test assignment
Interview with Head of Design & Creative
* an additional interview with one or more team members may be added depending on the interview process