Production Manager

White Circle; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary & equity

Paid time off

Hardware & tools

Creative freedom

Team off-sites

Job summary

White Circle, an AI Safety company, seeks a production-focused creator to translate design concepts into tangible merch, objects, and packaging. You will scout global factories, assess materials and production methods, and negotiate with suppliers to deliver high-quality outputs that align with the brand.

You’ll collaborate with designers to push boundaries while staying feasible and cost-conscious. You’ll manage production from first prototype to final delivery, overseeing budgets, timelines,

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a similar role producing physical products from scratch.
• Ability to source and manage manufacturing partners worldwide.
• Strong negotiation and supplier communications skills.
• Deep understanding of materials, finishes, packaging, and production processes.

Responsibilities

• Turn creative ideas into real physical objects with production feasibility.
• Find and vet factories, workshops, and printers; manage quotes, MOQs, timelines.
• Lead material selection, finishes, construction methods, and packaging decisions with designers.
• Own budgets, schedules, shipping, customs, and logistics for production runs.
• Build and maintain a network of reliable manufacturers for repeat collaborations.
• Ensure samples match the original design and maintain quality throughout.

Skills

Manufacturing

Supplier relations

Project management

Materials knowledge

English fluency

Negotiation

Tools

Network of factories

Job description

TL;DR: We care a lot about how White Circle exists outside of the product too — from things we make for our team and customers to objects, merch, events, and physical experiences around the brand. We want to make things people actually want to keep, not standard corporate merch.

About us

White Circle is an AI Safety company building the safety, reliability, and optimization layer for AI systems. At the core of our platform are policies – simple natural-language rules that define what an AI model should and shouldn’t do. We automatically test, enforce, and continuously improve these policies at scale.

• We’ve recently raised our Series A funding round, taking our total funding to $70M. Our investors include top funds, founders, and senior leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, HuggingFace, Mistral, DeepMind, Datadog, Sentry, and others

• We process over one hundred million API calls every month

• We fine-tune and train our own LLMs so they run faster and cheaper than any open or proprietary model

We’re a small, highly focused team. If you want to work deeply on hard problems, see your work ship to production quickly, and influence how AI safety is actually built – you’re the one we need.

What you’ll do

• Turn creative ideas from our design team into real physical objects

• Figure out how to manufacture things that don't have an obvious supplier or ready-made solution

• Find factories, workshops, craftspeople, printers, manufacturers, and other production partners around the world

• Work with designers to choose materials, finishes, construction methods, packaging, and production techniques

• Request and compare quotes, samples, prototypes, MOQs, timelines, and manufacturing options

• Own production from the first prototype to the final delivery

• Develop custom merch, clothing, accessories, printed objects, packaging, gifts, event materials, and weird one-off ideas we haven't thought of yet

• Find ways to make something completely custom instead of defaulting to existing merch catalogues

• Review samples and make sure the final result matches the original design

• Manage budgets, production schedules, shipping, customs, and logistics

• Build a network of great manufacturers and specialists we can work with repeatedly

You'll fit in if you

• Based in the US

• Have 5+ years of experience in a similar role

• Have experience producing physical products from scratch

• Know how to find the right manufacturer when the answer isn't obvious

• Are comfortable contacting dozens of suppliers, asking questions, negotiating, and figuring things out independently

• Understand materials, printing, manufacturing, packaging, and production processes

• Have strong attention to detail and can spot when a sample is slightly wrong

• Can translate a visual idea or rough creative brief into production requirements

• Can manage several suppliers and production timelines at the same time

• Have good taste and understands why the exact material, weight, finish, or packaging matters

• Are fluent in English

A big plus

• You've worked in fashion, product design, industrial design, publishing, creative production, or a design studio

• You've produced unusual merch, collectibles, objects, packaging, or limited-edition products

• You already have a network of factories, workshops, printers, or manufacturers in the US, Europe, or Asia

• You understand garment production and can work directly with factories rather than print-on-demand merch suppliers

• You've worked with brands where physical products are treated as part of the brand, not promotional giveaways

Why White Circle

• Meaningful salary and equity package

• Paid time off in line with your local regulations

• All the hardware, tools, and services you need

• A lot of creative freedom to make things that don't look like startup merch

• Team off-sites twice a year — we’ve recently been to the Alps and Saint-Tropez

How we hire

1. Intro call with Talent (25 mins)

2. Take home test assignment

3. Interview with Head of Design & Creative
   * an additional interview with one or more team members may be added depending on the interview process