Product Development Director

U.S. Based | Sky Castle Toys Inc.





Position Summary

The Product Development Director leads the end-to-end development of Sky Castle Toys' product portfolio, from concept through mass production. The role bridges U.S. creative, marketing, licensing, and sales teams with the China-based development, engineering, and production organization. The Director owns timelines, technical execution, and team management across multiple concurrent product lines.





Job Responsibilities

• Manage the design and development process for both new and existing toy products from initial concept through final production readiness.

• Collaborate with internal creative, marketing, licensing, and sales teams to translate product concepts into commercially viable products.

• Oversee product development timelines, ensuring all milestone dates, approvals, and deliverables are achieved on schedule.

• Build and maintain detailed development calendars and tracking systems for all active projects.

• Coordinate the creation and refinement of product specifications, packaging requirements, artwork files, and engineering documentation.

• Serve as the primary liaison between U.S.-based teams and China development, engineering, and production staff.

• Manage the transfer of approved designs and technical specifications to the China manufacturing team to ensure accurate execution and product quality.

• Review prototypes, engineering samples, pre-production samples, and production submissions to ensure consistency with approved designs and quality standards.

• Work closely with China sourcing and engineering teams to troubleshoot development issues, improve manufacturability, and identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising product integrity.

• Track product development progress across multiple projects simultaneously and proactively identify risks or delays.

• Candidates need to be very detail-oriented, and this is our filter. In the LI application are screening questions. Start your answer for screening question #1, labeled "What is the Secret password", with "803" otherwise your application will not be reviewed or considered.

• Maintain development schedules across the full project portfolio.

• Work with the China team to create RFQs and assist in vetting new factories.

• Work with the Compliance team to set strict protocols for monitoring product specs and requirements in pre-production, inline, and post-production phases.

• Oversee and manage various roles within the product development department, including but not limited to graphic designers, product designers, engineers, project managers, and illustrators.

• Participate in ideation sessions and contribute innovative product ideas, features, and play patterns aligned with market trends and brand objectives.

• Work with external inventors to develop concepts that have been optioned by the company. Assess new product concepts for feasibility and design, and develop concepts into viable products.



Qualifications

• Firm understanding of the U.S. toy competitive landscape, with a keen eye for branding and product engineering.

• Proven track record managing toy product development from concept through mass production.

• Experience leading distributed teams across U.S. and Asia.

• Strong project management skills, with the ability to track multiple programs simultaneously.

• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, founder-led, entrepreneurial environment.



Travel

• Role requires 4 to 6 trips to China per year, with each trip consisting of 7 to 14 days based out of our Shenzhen office.



Reports To

CEO



Manages

U.S. and Hong Kong based product and packaging design teams.