Production Team Lead

Location: 100% Remote (Global)
Timezone / Hours: Flexible / Overlap with our China-based sourcing team and the team in EU/US
Engagement Type: Full-Time Independent Contractor

🚀 The Vision: Building the Operating System for Product Creation

Since 2013, THE/STUDIO has been building the definitive operating system for product creation. We are combining modern SaaS technology with custom manufacturing to make producing physical goods as seamless, fast, and scalable as launching software.

We operate two core platforms: Customize Now (our best-in-class, on-demand manufacturing platform) and Source Anything (our new SaaS product that enables customers to seamlessly work with global factories beyond our own network).

We are a profitable, previously Silicon Valley-backed, fully remote company, and we are not just looking to improve manufacturing, we are looking for a visionary operator to help us truly revolutionize the global supply chain.

💻 The Role

We’re looking for a hands-on Production Team Lead to run our sourcing team day to day. You’ll own daily task management, SOP compliance and the order pipeline, so every order ships on time and the Manufacturing Manager can focus on strategy. This is a player-coach role: alongside leading the team, you’ll also handle daily sourcing rep work.

Why This Role Is Exciting:

• Direct Access to Leadership: You will have the opportunity to work directly with our CEO and executive team, giving you high visibility, direct mentorship, and a seat at the table.

• Product & Strategic Influence: We operate with flat hierarchies. Your daily insights from the ground level will directly shape our product roadmap, workflows, and company strategy.

• Rapid Scale & Career Trajectory: We are growing rapidly. Joining us right now means high autonomy, minimal red tape, and massive room for personal and professional acceleration.

🎯 What You’ll Do

• Lead and develop the team: Lead, mentor and develop a team of sourcing specialists through regular 1-on-1s, ongoing training and performance coaching.

• Run daily operations: Make sure the team follows our SOPs for order tracking and fulfillment. Run daily audits of platform communication and flag anything that could frustrate a customer.

• Protect on-time delivery: Monitor the global order pipeline, spot bottlenecks early and fix them right away.

• Own escalations: Be the first point of escalation for complex order exceptions, QC failures and factory delays, and resolve them independently.

• Manage our factory network: Evaluate our manufacturing partners and route production to reliable, high-quality suppliers.

• Fix root causes: Analyze operational data and the root causes of delays, then design and roll out lasting process improvements.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with our global Sales, Design and Support teams to streamline communication and improve the customer experience.

💡 The Profile We’re Looking For (Our Core Pillars)

Our Founder/CEO defines our top performers by three distinct traits. If this describes how you operate, you will thrive here:

1. Raw Intelligence & Problem-Solving: High processing power, business acumen, and logical reasoning. You can think on your feet, connect complex ideas, and break down ambiguous problems quickly.

2. "Give a Shit" Energy (Extreme Ownership): You take 100% accountability for your domain and outcomes. You don't make excuses or blame external factors. You look inward, find solutions, and push across the finish line.

3. Rapid Adaptation & Radical Candor: You embrace blunt, constructive feedback and pivot instantly without ego. You excel in a fast-moving environment where you need to act with urgency without waiting for hand-holding.

Requirements:

• Experience: 3+ years of direct experience in manufacturing, supply chain management or product sourcing.

• Leadership: Proven experience managing, training and evaluating a team, including 1-on-1s and holding people to KPIs and SOPs.

• Problem-solving: A track record of handling order exceptions, factory delays and QC issues independently.

• Workflows and data: Experience running operational workflows and tracking tools (order trackers, ERP systems) to deliver on time.

• Hands-on: Comfortable being in the weeds every day: this role manages trackers and operational details, not just strategy.

• Communication: Exceptional, professional-level English proficiency (C1/C2) with clear, concise, and articulate communication skills.

• Independent Contractor Mindset: Highly disciplined, self-motivated, and comfortable operating as a full-time, dedicated independent contractor in a 100% remote setting.

• Remote Infrastructure: Reliable setup including a fast computer, noise-canceling headset, and a rock-solid, stable internet connection.

Nice to Have:

• Fluent Mandarin, to work directly with China-based sourcing staff and factory partners.

• Hands-on process improvement experience (e.g. Lean, Six Sigma).

• Data analysis or dashboard skills to improve visibility of metrics like on-time delivery.

💰 Compensation & Terms

• Flexible & Competitive: We offer competitive, outcome-driven compensation packages tailored to the candidate's level of impact.

• Engagement Type: Full-time, exclusive independent contractor role.

🔎 Our Hiring Process

1. Submit Application: IMPORTANT! Please submit your resume/CV in English

2. Initial Screening

3. Hiring Manager Interview: Deep dive into your manufacturing experience, how you lead a team, and how you handle delays and QC issues.

4. Assessment / Case Study: Practical demonstration of your capabilities.

5. Final Executive Interview: Conversation with key team members. (If applicable for the role)

6. Reference Checks: Verification of past performance with former leaders and CEOs.

Note that every role is different, so the process may vary depending on the requirements of the role. Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive, we may not be able to provide feedback to all applications.

THE/STUDIO is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive, high-performance culture free from discrimination.