Head of Product

Mural-Group; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Mural Group is seeking an executive Head of Product for its Southern California on-site operation. This role targets an engineer-first product leader who has shipped physical goods from concept to market and can talk fluently with engineering, tooling, materials, and manufacturing teams.

You will own the product line from concept to launch, define the roadmap, and partner with international contract manufacturers.

Qualifications

• Engineering background in mechanical, industrial, or materials science.
• 7–12 years of combined engineering and product management experience.
• Full lifecycle ownership on physical consumer goods.
• Experience with contract manufacturers or OEM partners, ideally international.
• Ability to evaluate samples, read tolerances, and discuss with a manufacturing engineer.
• Based in or willing to relocate to the greater Los Angeles area; this role is fully on-site.

Responsibilities

• Own the product line from concept through launch.
• Set roadmap and drive development lifecycle.
• Collaborate with manufacturing partner on materials, production feasibility, cost, and quality.
• Align product development with brand positioning and go-to-market strategy.
• Define performance specs and conduct rigorous testing.
• Build processes and stage-gate frameworks for a product team being built from the ground up.

Skills

Engineering

Product management

Lifecycle ownership

Contract manufacturers

Materials/Manufacturing

Performance mobility

Los Angeles relocation

Job description

Head of Product | Southern California (On-Site) | Premium Performance Brand

Mural Group is conducting a search on behalf of a premium performance brand entering a significant growth phase in the US market. This is a direct hire, executive-level role for a product leader who is an engineer first and a product manager second. Someone who has taken physical goods from concept to market at scale and has the technical depth to engage at the material and manufacturing level, not just the spec level.

The Company

A performance-focused consumer brand in the mobility and active lifestyle space, backed by one of the largest manufacturing operations in the category globally. The US business is a ground-up relaunch with a small, high-output team and a blank-slate mandate to build the product line the right way. The team is in-office in the Los Angeles area and the CEO is hands-on. This is not a role where you inherit someone else's roadmap.

The Role

You will own the product line from concept through launch. That means setting the roadmap, driving the full development lifecycle, collaborating directly with an advanced manufacturing operation abroad, and making the calls that determine what the brand stands for in the market. You report directly to the CEO. You will be the connective tissue between design intent and production reality, which means you need to speak the language of engineers, tooling, materials, and manufacturing process -- not just features and positioning.

What You Will Do

• Own the product roadmap and prioritize development against market opportunity, consumer demand, and manufacturing capability

• Lead the full product lifecycle from brief through tooling, sampling, validation, and launch

• Collaborate directly with an advanced global manufacturing partner on material selection, production feasibility, cost optimization, and quality standards

• Work closely with the Head of Design and commercial leadership to align product development with brand positioning and go-to-market strategy

• Define performance specifications and conduct rigorous testing and validation with engineering rigor

• Build the internal processes, documentation, and stage-gate frameworks for a product team that is being built from the ground up

What We Are Looking For

An engineer who crossed over into product. The bullseye profile is someone who started their career in mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or materials science, developed a genuine fluency in how things are made and why, and then moved into product ownership because they wanted to shape what gets built, not just how it gets built.

You have worked on physical consumer goods or performance equipment that reached the market at scale. You understand what it takes to get a product from a sketch to a factory to a shelf or a showroom floor. You have worked with overseas manufacturing partners and can have substantive conversations about tolerances, material substitutions, tooling constraints, and lead times.

The category matters. This brand operates in the performance mobility and active lifestyle space -- think cycling, powersports, action sports, outdoor recreation, or athletic hardgoods. If your background is in a high-performance physical product category where the consumer is technically sophisticated and authenticity with the core customer matters, this translates. If your background is purely in digital product, it likely does not.

Requirements

• Engineering background (mechanical, industrial, materials, or similar): degree or equivalent demonstrated depth through career trajectory

• 7 to 12 years of combined engineering and product management experience, with meaningful tenure on the product side

• Full product lifecycle ownership on physical consumer goods: you have taken products from concept through production and market launch, not just managed a backlog

• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers or OEM partners, ideally internationally

• Comfort engaging at the material and production level: you can evaluate a sample, read a tolerance stack, and have an informed conversation with a manufacturing engineer

• Experience in performance mobility, active lifestyle, outdoor recreation, powersports, or a closely adjacent category

• Based in or willing to relocate to the greater Los Angeles area; this role is fully on-site

What Makes a Candidate Stand Out

You have a product in the market that you are genuinely proud of. Something that performed better than expected, gained traction with a demanding consumer base, or changed the direction of a brand. You can point to a specific decision you made about materials, form factor, or manufacturing process that directly affected market outcome. You understand the difference between designing for a general consumer and designing for someone who knows the category inside and out and will immediately spot a shortcut.