R&D & Design Head

cult fit; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 6,000,000 - 9,000,000; Full time

Job summary

CultSport is building an in‑house hardware design and R&D capability. We are hiring a senior leader to own our fitness equipment portfolio end to end from product architecture and design through to volume manufacturing with our production partners.

This is a hands‑on, build‑it‑from‑scratch mandate. You will define how our products are engineered, set the technical standards, and build the team that delivers them.

Qualifications

• 10–15 years in consumer hardware, including 3–5 years leading a design or NPD function.
• Track record taking multiple products from concept to mass production.
• Strong mechanical design: high-volume moulding, sheet metal and tubular structures.
• Fluent in SolidWorks, Creo or NX; comfortable with simulations.
• Experience with tooling and working with suppliers.

Responsibilities

• Define scalable engineering platforms across categories to speed up launches and reduce cost.
• Own core product structures, mechanisms, enclosures and ergonomics from concept to detail design.
• Drive tooling, tool development and DFA/DFM to ensure manufacturability.
• Specify, evaluate and integrate motors, drives, batteries, controls and displays.
• Lead testing, certifications and reliability targets; ensure compliance.
• Partner with global design and supply partners; bring capabilities in-house.
• Hire, mentor and lead a senior engineering team; establish design standards.

Skills

Hardware design

NPD leadership

Mass production

Cost awareness

Team leadership

Tools

SolidWorks/Creo/NX

Job description

CultSport is building an in‑house hardware design and R&D capability. We are hiring a senior leader to own our fitness equipment portfolio end to end from product architecture and design through to volume manufacturing with our production partners.

This is a hands‑on, build‑it‑from‑scratch mandate. You will define how our products are engineered, set the technical standards, and build the team that delivers them.

What you will own

• Product architecture. Define a small number of scalable engineering platforms across our categories, so that new models launch faster and at better cost without proliferating complexity.
• Mechanical design. Own the core of the product structures, mechanisms, enclosures and ergonomics from concept and CAD through detailed design, prototyping and design freeze.
• Tooling and DFM. Drive tool design intent, tool development and validation through to first-off-tool, and embed manufacturability into the design from day one.
• System integration. Specify, evaluate and integrate motors, drives, battery settings, controls and displays into reliable finished products, and hold partners to spec.
• Testing and compliance. Build our validation regimen structural and fatigue testing, drop and vibration, thermal, electrical safety and EMC — and own certification and reliability targets.
• Manufacturing readiness. Work alongside our production partners on process definition, fixtures, first article approval, yield and quality ramp. Expect real time on the shop floor.
• Cost ownership. Carry the BOM. Drive should‑costing, teardowns and value engineering as a continuous discipline, not an annual exercise.
• Team building. Hire, mentor and lead a compact senior engineering team, and establish the design and documentation standards it works to.

What you bring

• 10–15 years in consumer hardware, consumer durables or electro‑mechanical product development, including 3–5 years leading a design or NPD function.
• A track record of taking multiple products from concept to mass production. Deep mechanical design strength: part design for high‑volume moulding, sheet metal and tubular structures, mechanism design, DFM/DFA, GD&T and tolerance stack‑up. Fluent in SolidWorks, Creo or NX, and comfortable using simulation to make design calls.
• Genuine tooling experience — you have specified tools, run trials and lived with the consequences. Working knowledge of BLDC motors, drives, gearboxes and battery systems: enough to specify, qualify and challenge a supplier's numbers.
• Strong cost engineering instincts and the judgement to know which engineering decisions actually move the number.
• Experience working across global design and supply partners, and the ability to bring that capability in‑House.

Backgrounds that fit well

Design and NPD leadership from consumer electronics, appliances, power tools, personal care devices, mobility or original design manufacturing environments.