Production Manager

White Circle Job OpportunityTL;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 UsWhite 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 raised $11M from top funds, founders, and senior leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, HuggingFace, Mistral, DeepMind, Datadog, Sentry, and othersWe process over one hundred million API calls every monthWe fine-tune and train our own LLMs so they run faster and cheaper than any open or proprietary modelWe'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 DoTurn creative ideas from our design team into real physical objectsFigure out how to manufacture things that don't have an obvious supplier or ready-made solutionFind factories, workshops, craftspeople, printers, manufacturers, and other production partners around the worldWork with designers to choose materials, finishes, construction methods, packaging, and production techniquesRequest and compare quotes, samples, prototypes, MOQs, timelines, and manufacturing optionsOwn production from the first prototype to the final deliveryDevelop custom merch, clothing, accessories, printed objects, packaging, gifts, event materials, and weird one-off ideas we haven't thought of yetFind ways to make something completely custom instead of defaulting to existing merch cataloguesReview samples and make sure the final result matches the original designManage budgets, production schedules, shipping, customs, and logisticsBuild a network of great manufacturers and specialists we can work with repeatedlyYou'll Fit In If YouBased in the USHave experience producing physical products from scratchKnow how to find the right manufacturer when the answer isn't obviousAre comfortable contacting dozens of suppliers, asking questions, negotiating, and figuring things out independentlyUnderstand materials, printing, manufacturing, packaging, and production processesHave strong attention to detail and can spot when a sample is slightly wrongCan translate a visual idea or rough creative brief into production requirementsCan manage several suppliers and production timelines at the same timeHave good taste and understands why the exact material, weight, finish, or packaging mattersAre fluent in EnglishA big plusYou've worked in fashion, product design, industrial design, publishing, creative production, or a design studioYou've produced unusual merch, collectibles, objects, packaging, or limited-edition productsYou already have a network of factories, workshops, printers, or manufacturers in the US, Europe, or AsiaYou understand garment production and can work directly with factories rather than print-on-demand merch suppliersYou've worked with brands where physical products are treated as part of the brand, not promotional giveawaysWhy White CircleMeaningful salary and equity packagePaid time off in line with your local regulationsAll the hardware, tools, and services you needA lot of creative freedom to make things that don't look like startup merchTeam off-sites twice a year — we've recently been to the Alps and Saint-TropezHow We HireIntro call with Talent (25 mins)Test assignmentInterview with Head of Design & Creative, Elena (45 mins) * an additional interview with one or more team members may be added depending on the interview process