Job Title:
New Product Development (NPD) & Design Manager
Position Summary
The NPD & Design Manager drives innovation from concept to production readiness. This role leads cross-functional coordination with sales, planning, production, quality, and customers to ensure new product designs are feasible, manufacturable, profitable, and delivered on time. The position also supports market growth, customer relationships, and revenue targets.
Key Responsibilities
1. Product & Process Innovation
- Design innovative production techniques and support existing techniques for new design rollouts.
- Generate ideas for new products and research feasibility in terms of profitability, resources, and compliance.
- Maintain complete development history and documentation throughout the NPD process.
- Produce new jobs in sample cutter to support and guide production at project start.
2. Cross-Functional Coordination
- Coordinate with Sales & Planning for order details and forecasting.
- Work with QC/QA for job/process approval and quality standards.
- Coordinate with Production Planner/Scheduler for workflow and lead times.
- Ensure customer requirements are clearly communicated to production and QA teams.
3. Customer & Market Management
- Establish and maintain customer relationships to ensure high satisfaction.
- Engage customers for quotations, first article approval, pilot lot, and mass production transition.
- Identify revenue opportunities, achieve monthly order booking targets, and explore new markets.
- Manage customer complaints and resolve issues with corrective actions and management communication.
4. Documentation & Compliance
- Prepare and maintain data, files, and records per company and ISO9001 procedures.
- Review FMEA, control plans, countermeasures, and critical parameters for new parts.
- Ensure accuracy in drawings, BOMs, design changes, and project meeting records.
5. Leadership & Team Support
- Lead and mentor junior designers and cross-functional resources.
- Provide performance expectations, evaluations, and day-to-day direction.
- Train juniors on design fundamentals, costing, drawings, BOM accuracy, and procedure compliance.
- Resolve issues independently and deliver in-depth analysis.
6. Sales & Business Development
- Maintain current customer relationships and identify potential new customers.
- Conduct sales visits, competitor and market intelligence reporting.
- Negotiate to secure favorable terms and company advantage.
- Support company revenue and profitability through new product introductions.
7. Management Interaction
- Report project status, challenges, competitor intelligence, and opportunities to top management.
- Follow additional instructions from Managing Director as required.
Required Skills & Competencies
✔ Excellent understanding of customer needs
✔ Strong knowledge of engineering drawings, manufacturing processes, and Bill of Materials (BOM)
✔ Customer relationship and sales coordination skills
✔ Strong communication, interpersonal, presentation, and facilitation skills
✔ Negotiation, influencing, and problem-solving skills
✔ Result-oriented, quality-focused with high accountability and dependability
✔ Ability to work cross-functionally and lead teams