Position Overview:

We are looking for an experienced Manager New Product Development (Appliances) to lead the end-to-end development and launch of new home and kitchen appliance products. The ideal candidate must have strong hands-on experience in the appliances category, including product development, vendor/OEM management, product specifications, sampling, testing, costing, compliance, commercialization and new product launches. The role will work closely with vendors and internal cross-functional teams to bring creative, reliable, protected and commercially viable appliance products to market.

Key Responsibilities:

- Appliances Category Development: Drive current product development specifically for home and kitchen appliances, with a strong understanding of product functionality, consumer use cases, category trends, and technical requirements.
- Market Research & Consumer Insights: Conduct market research, analyze customer feedback, ratings, reviews, complaints and category trends to identify new product opportunities and improvements to existing products.
- New Product Launch Management: Own and coordinate end-to-end new product launches from concept identification and product specification through sampling, validation, commercialization and market launch.
- Product Specification Development: Define detailed product specifications including wattage, voltage, capacity, material, motor or heating performance, safety features, accessories, functionality and user requirements.
- Competitive Benchmarking: Benchmark competitor appliances across features, specifications, technology, performance, design, price points, customer ratings, reviews and pain points to develop differentiated products.
- Vendor / OEM / ODM Development: Identify, evaluate, onboard, and manage domestic and international appliance manufacturers, OEMs, and ODM partners based on capability, quality, cost, capacity, compliance and delivery performance.
- Vendor Management & Coordination: Maintain strong vendor relationships, follow up on development timelines, resolve technical and commercial issues, and ensure timely completion of samples, tooling, pilot production and bulk production.
- Sample Development & Validation: Manage multiple sample iterations, coordinate testing, capture feedback, drive design and engineering corrections,



and ensure final golden-sample approval before commercialization.
- Technical Evaluation & Product Testing: Work closely with QA and vendors to evaluate product performance, durability, electrical safety, usability, reliability and functional consistency prior to launch.
- Compliance & Certification: Coordinate applicable regulatory and compliance requirements for electrical appliances, including BIS/ISI, product safety, testing, labeling, packaging and other statutory requirements as relevant.
- Costing & Commercial Negotiation: Work with vendors on BOM understanding, target costing, tooling and mould costs, MOQ, lead time, payment terms and commercial negotiations to achieve desired cost and margin targets.
- Pilot & Mass Production Readiness: Coordinate pilot batches, pre-production validation, manufacturing readiness, quality checkpoints and smooth transition from development to mass production.
- Quality & Reliability Improvement: Analyze product failures, customer complaints, returns, warranty concerns, ratings, and reviews to identify root causes and implement corrective and preventive actions with vendors.
- Return Reduction: Develop product-level actions to reduce customer-initiated returns by addressing quality, functionality, usability, packaging and expectation-related issues.
- Packaging & Branding Coordination: Collaborate with packaging, brand, and design teams to ensure appliance packaging protects the product, communicates specifications clearly, complies with labeling requirements and optimizes cost and volumetric weight.
- Innovation & Product Roadmap: Identify emerging appliance technologies, features, consumer needs, and category opportunities to build a strong new product pipeline and long-term category roadmap.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with QA, Procurement, Packaging, Ecommerce, Marketing, Supply Chain, Customer Care,



Finance and other stakeholders to ensure successful product commercialization.
- Project Management: Manage multiple appliance development projects simultaneously with clear milestones, timelines, risk tracking, dependencies, stakeholder updates and launch ownership.
- Post-launch Performance Monitoring: Track early-stage product performance, customer feedback, defects, reviews, service issues and returns after launch and drive timely improvements wherever required.

Mandatory Experience & Qualifications:

- Bachelors degree in Engineering, Electrical / Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Business Administration, Product Management, or a related field.
- Minimum 5-10 years of experience in New Product Development / Product Management, with mandatory hands-on experience in the Home / Kitchen Appliances category.
- Candidates must have worked on appliance products such as mixer grinders, blenders, choppers, induction cooktops, electric kettles, air fryers, rice cookers, OTGs or similar electrical home appliances.
- Proven experience in handling end-to-end new product launch initiatives from concept / sourcing stage through commercialization and market launch.
- Strong experience in vendor, OEM, or ODM management, including vendor evaluation, development follow-up, negotiation, quality coordination and production readiness.
- Good understanding of appliance specifications, product testing, electrical safety, regulatory requirements, quality parameters and manufacturing processes.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, negotiation and project-management skills.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to work effectively across cross-functional teams.
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment while maintaining strong attention to detail.

Preferred Exposure:

- Experience working with consumer durable, D2C, ecommerce, kitchen appliance, or home appliance brands.
- Exposure to domestic and/or international supplier sourcing and product development.
- Experience in cost optimization, value engineering, tooling, mould development and product improvement projects.

Understanding of customer reviews, return data, and post-launch product performance as inputs for NPD decisions.

📌 Manager - New Product Development - Appliances (Chennai)
🏢 The Indus Valley
📍 Chennai