Quince—Principal Product Manager

Job description

Description: ABOUT QUINCE Quince is a destination for builders, creators, innovators, and operators who want to come together and challenge the status quo. Our mission is simple: make really high quality essentials for really low prices, fairly and sustainably. We deliver on that mission through a unique manufacturer-to-consumer (M2C) model eliminating the layers of traditional retail that add cost and result in consumers paying more than they need to. We find, build relationships with, and work directly with the manufacturing partners behind some of the world’s finest products. From there, our teams design smart, efficient operational processes and build and deploy proprietary technology, AI, and analytics to help us scale fast. What began with a small assortment of elevated basics has quickly grown into a cross-category brand spanning apparel, accessories, home goods, and more. Today, tens of millions of people across a growing number of countries come – and return – to Quince because they trust us to deliver. OUR CULTURE Quince is a culture built for builders by builders. Our way of working starts with a blank sheet of paper. We question conventional thinking, use technology and data to uncover new opportunities, and move quickly to turn ideas into reality. We aren’t interested in replicating how others do retail. We’re building a better way – at a speed and scale unlike anything that’s been done before. - We dream big and chase the hard problems others shy away from. Rejecting long-held assumptions is part of our company's DNA. Where conventional wisdom says you have to choose – soft or durable, speed or rigor, quality or price – we ask why that trade-off has to exist in the first place. - Our pace is fast and the bar is high because our customers expect a lot from us and we refuse to let them down. We believe the best results come from challenging ourselves, learning from one another, and building on each other's strengths. - Here, responsibility is not determined by role, tenure, or seniority. Every team member - no matter their level - has the opportunity to drive our business and shape our trajectory. If you’re someone who likes to imagine new possibilities and build better systems rather than plug-in to outdated ones, Quince is the place for you. THE ROLE We are seeking a Principal Product Manager to lead our Factory Tech within our Sourcing team. Quince is building the operating system for the factories, mills, and vendors that make our products. Factory OS is the software our supply partners run their operations on — planning, scheduling, capacity, quality, and compliance — replacing spreadsheets and disconnected tools with one system of record for how goods actually get made. As Principal PM, you own this platform end to end: the vision, the roadmap, and the hard calls about what we build, for whom, and in what order. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with vendors and mills on the factory floor, and with our engineering, ops, and sourcing teams, to turn messy real-world production workflows into reliable software. This is a builder's role with outsized scope — you're defining a category, not iterating on a mature one. Responsibilities - Own the Factory OS product strategy — from vendor/mill discovery through roadmap, specs, and launch — and be accountable for adoption and measurable operational impact (adoption, on-time production, capacity utilization, quality yield, planning accuracy). - Design the core operational workflows — production planning, scheduling, capacity management, order and material tracking — so they hold up under the reality of a working factory, not just a demo. - Build for compliance and auditability from day one. Factory data touches sourcing, labor, quality, and trade requirements. You'll make compliance, traceability, and auditability first-class product surfaces, not bolt-ons — and ensure the system produces the records our partners and Quince are held to. - Drive real adoption on the floor. A system that vendors and mills won't use is worthless. You'll obsess over onboarding, change management, and the gap between "shipped" and "used daily" - Set the AI and automation thesis. Architect Factory OS for a future where every automatable workflow is executed by an agent, not a person clicking through screens. Decide which steps to automate first, design the human-in-the-loop and exception paths, and treat agents, APIs, and humans as composable actors in auditable, business-grade workflows. - Partner deeply cross-functionally with engineering, ML, design, sourcing, and factory operations — translating ambiguous problem statements into shipped products. Qualifications Required - 10+ years in product management, including senior/principal-level ownership of a complex B2B SaaS or operational software product from zero-to-one or through significant scale - Direct experience building workflow-automation software - you've taken manual, multi-step operational processes and turned them into software that runs them, and you understand the difference between digitizing a workflow and actually automating it. - Domain proximity to manufacturing, supply chain, or factory/operations software (MES/MOM, ERP, planning/scheduling, quality, or sourcing systems). You don't need to have run a factory, but you need to have built for people who do. - A credible point of view on AI and agents in production software - not slideware. You've shipped, or can clearly articulate how you'd ship, agentic and human-in-the-loop automation into a real operational system. - A track record with compliance-sensitive products — you've built software where auditability, traceability, and regulatory or contractual requirements were core to the design. - Hands-on AI fluency — you use AI tools daily for discovery, spec-writing, and prototyping, and you build to think. - Comfort in the field — you'll spend time with vendors and mills, and you're energized (not deterred) by messy, physical, real-world operations Preferred - Experience building software used by external partners/suppliers (not just internal or single-tenant customers). - Background in apparel, textiles, consumer goods, or hard-goods manufacturing supply chains WHY QUINCE? Joining Quince means being part of a mission-driven team reshaping retail. You will work alongside talented colleagues, tackle meaningful challenges, and contribute to building a more sustainable, accessible future for customers and partners alike. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY & HIRING INTEGRITY Quince provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applications for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Quince is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to complete your application or to perform the essential functions of a role at Quince, please let us know by completing this accommodation form. We review all requests individually and will work with you to determine appropriate accommodations on a case-by-case basis. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check. Quince will conduct background checks in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Security Advisory: Beware of Frauds At Quince, we're dedicated to recruiting top talent who share our drive for innovation. To safeguard candidates, Quince emphasizes legitimate recruitment practices. Initial communication is primarily via official Quince email addresses and LinkedIn; beware of deviations. Personal data and sensitive information will not be solicited during the application phase. Interviews are conducted via phone, in person, or through the approved platforms Google Meets or Zoom—never via messaging apps or other calling services. Offers are merit-based, communicated verbally, and followed up in writing. If personal information is requested to initiate the hiring process, rest assured it will be through secure and protected means.