Head of Product Development Premium Affordable Luxury Gentlemen Accessories

Job Description

Disclaimer: This position is advertised by ZenART Supplies (ECOMTRADE Ltd) on behalf of our partner company, Scriveiner. The role is specifically within the premium/luxury gentlemen’s accessories category in which Scriveiner operates.


About Scriveiner

Scriveiner is a multi-award-winning affordable luxury men’s accessories brand built on British design, precision engineering, and uncompromising quality. Our awards include the King’s Award for Enterprise and six product design awards. We are founder-led, highly profitable, and growing fast.

We are expanding beyond writing instruments into a broader gentlemen’s accessories world, and we need someone to build and lead the product development engine that makes that expansion happen with discipline, quality, and commercial rigour.

We have built a pen brand that wins awards and earns serious customer loyalty. What we do not yet have is the product development infrastructure to scale that brand into new categories without the founders carrying the operational load personally. There is no pipeline management system. There is no stage-gate process. There is no design authority outside the founding team. That is what this role builds: from scratch, with full authority and direct founder partnership. The first 18 months will define what Scriveiner is capable of becoming.

The Role

The most important thing about this role is whether the whole machine works. This role owns the product development engine end-to-end. You will define the pipeline, build the processes, manage the supplier relationships, enforce the commercial discipline, and drive the launches while also being the design authority who ensures every product feels unmistakably Scriveiner. Design excellence is not optional in this role it is the foundation. But design alone is not enough. What separates this role from a pure design position is the expectation that you also own the system: the stage gates, the roadmap, the costing discipline, the handoff standards, the cadences. You build the machine, and you run it.

Requirements

The Person We’re Looking For

We are looking for someone who has operated as the sole product development owner in a small, fast-moving premium consumer goods business the kind of person who had to handle the design direction, the factory communication, the costing, and the pipeline management themselves because there was no one else. These people tend to have come from small premium DTC brands, accessories start-ups, or been the first product hire at a growing business that moved fast and expected a lot. We recognise that the full combination of deep design instinct and genuine operational discipline is rare. We know that. If it describes you accurately not aspirationally, but accurately we very much want to hear from you.

If your strengths lie primarily in design and you are less confident about building the operational framework around it, our Senior Product Designer role may be a better fit for where you are now.

What You’ll Own

Pipeline and roadmap

• A live 12–24 month product roadmap with clear stage gates, risk flags, owners, costs, and target launch windows
• A stage-gate process that enforces discipline without bureaucracy implemented in Notion and embedded in team cadences
• Definition and enforcement of ‘handoff-ready’ standards so channel teams can execute launches without ambiguity

Design direction and specification

• Full design authority for new product categories: CMF, proportions, weight, tactile quality, packaging and gifting experience
• Factory-executable specifications: dimensions, tolerances, materials, finishes, acceptance criteria
• Sample assessment and iteration management decisive, written, measurable feedback that drives progress

Commercial and supplier discipline

• Costing feasibility from the earliest stage: target factory cost, margin awareness, MOQs, lead times, risk flags
• QC plans, inspection criteria, and defect standards for each product category
• Complete handoff packs that give channel teams everything needed to execute a launch without returning to product

System and cadence building

• Templates and standards: product briefs, spec sheets, sample feedback formats, QC plans, handoff packs
• Governance cadences: weekly pipeline review, monthly quality and CX feedback loop, quarterly roadmap refresh
• A closed feedback loop from CX and returns data back into product improvements

What Success Looks Like (12–18 Months)

• A reliable product development engine delivering 6–10 high-quality launches per year with design excellence and commercial discipline
• A pipeline that runs predictably no ambiguity about what is in progress, what is blocked, and what is next
• Every product at launch is on-brand, manufacturable at target cost, QC-defined, and handed over with a complete launch pack
• A design language established for Scriveiner beyond pens that is coherent, premium, and scalable
• A product development system the business can rely on as it scales not dependent on founders to function
  

Must Haves

• Proven, hands-on experience taking physical consumer products from concept through sampling to production readiness
• Strong design instinct for premium and luxury cues within an affordable luxury value equation
• Demonstrated ability to build product development systems from scratch: stage gates, pipeline tracking, templates, handoff standards
• Direct factory communication capability: clear written specifications, measurable sample feedback, QC thinking
• Commercial realism: cost targets, margin discipline, lead times, and trade-off decision-making
• Exceptional organisation and follow-through you build the machine and you keep it running
• Comfortable as a senior individual contributor: no direct reports, high personal accountability
• AI-native working style we are a lean, AI-enabled business and expect this role to use AI as a genuine force multiplier
• Business-level fluency in spoken and written English is essential. You will discuss complex design concepts, material specifications, commercial trade-offs, and quality control decisions in real time often across time zones, with factory teams and founders simultaneously. You need to be precise, fast, and confident in English under pressure. This is a working requirement, not a formality.
  

Strongly Preferred

• Experience in gentlemen’s accessories, stationery, gifting, leather goods, metal goods, or closely adjacent categories
• Experience with global manufacturing ecosystems and quality control
• Strong packaging and gifting sensibility
• Familiarity with affordable luxury positioning and the discipline it requires

Benefits

Compensation & Benefits

• Senior leadership-level compensation salary range shared at shortlist stage with a performance bonus tied directly to launch cadence, product quality, and pipeline health. Open to employment or contractor arrangements.
• Significant annual performance bonus tied directly to launch cadence, product quality, and pipeline health, this is a meaningful part of the total package
• Paid annual leave and paid sick leave
• The tools and support you need to do the job properly
• Welcome gift: a curated selection of Scriveiner products

Why Join

• Direct access to founders who are deeply engaged with product quality and will be genuine partners in the work

• A brand with real proof: King’s Award for Enterprise, six design awards, profitable, growing, and ambitious
• The satisfaction of building a product development function from scratch and owning it fully
• A product canvas that is just opening up you will shape what Scriveiner becomes beyond pens
• Meaningful financial upside through performance bonus if the engine delivers