Packaging Development Manager

At Our Place, we believe in the power of home-cooking to bring people together. We design thoughtful, beautiful products that make cooking and sharing meals easier and more joyful - and we are building a brand that earns a meaningful place in customers’ homes over time.

We’re looking for a Packaging Development Manager who leads the development of structural and graphic packaging across Our Place's product line, balancing brand experience, protective performance, sustainability, and cost.

In this role, you’ll partner closely with the Product Development, Operations, Supply Chain, and Creative team to bring packaging from concept through production. The ideal candidate combines hands-on packaging engineering expertise with strong cross-functional collaboration skills to keep development timelines, quality, and cost on track. If you’re obsessed with details, excited about building a business, and genuinely excited by packaging - we’d love to hear from you!

We believe some of the best ideas happen when we’re together! Right now, teams come into our beautiful new West LA headquarters on Tuesdays and Thursdays to collaborate and connect. In the future, we may ask teams to come in more often - because some things are just better in person. We’re looking for someone who’s excited about being part of an in-person, collaborative culture and is comfortable with the flexibility that comes with a growing, hybrid workplace

What you'd do at Our Place

• Packaging Development & Structural Design

• Lead structural and graphic packaging development for new and existing SKUs, from concept through production-ready specifications.

• Partner with the Product Development and Creative team to ensure packaging reflects brand identity while meeting functional and protective requirements.

• Manage and maintain packaging specifications, technical drawings, and dielines; manage revisions through final approval.

• Testing & Quality

• Establish and oversee packaging test protocols (drop, compression, vibration, ISTA standards) to validate protective performance.

• Investigate in-transit damage issues; lead root-cause analysis and corrective action with suppliers.

• Own packaging quality standards and inspection criteria; partner with QA on incoming inspections.

• Sustainability & Materials

• Drive sustainable packaging initiatives - recyclable/recycled materials, reduced plastic use, right-sizing - aligned with company sustainability goals.

• Evaluate new materials and vendors for performance, cost, and environmental impact.

• Track and report packaging sustainability metrics to leadership.

• Vendor & Cost Management

• Evaluate and manage relationships with packaging suppliers and manufacturers, domestic and overseas.

• Negotiate pricing, minimum order quantities, and lead times; manage packaging cost-per-unit targets and budgets.

• Own the packaging development calendar to ensure specs are ready to support product launch timelines.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Operations/Supply Chain to ensure packaging specs support efficient fulfillment, warehousing, and parcel shipping (including dimensional-weight optimization).

• Collaborate with Compliance/Legal to ensure packaging meets labeling, safety, and import/export requirements across markets.

• Present packaging strategy, timelines, and cost updates to leadership.

Who you are

• 5+ years of experience in packaging development, ideally within consumer products, housewares, or DTC e-commerce.

• Strong background in mass retail packaging requirements. Solid understanding of Costco packaging requirements and Costco transit testing requirements is an enormous plus.

• Experience with wholesale/retail packaging types: corrugated DTC shipper boxes, color boxes, adhesive retail stickers, paper/cardboard retail color sleeves, and Costco PDQ packaging.

• Experience managing purchase orders, production, and shipping.

• Working knowledge of packaging test standards (ISTA, ASTM) and quality inspection processes.

• Demonstrated experience with sustainable packaging materials and practices.

• Strong vendor negotiation, budget management, and project management skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to align cross-functional stakeholders.

• Experience optimizing packaging for parcel/e-commerce shipping, including dimensional-weight and mailer design.

• Familiarity with international packaging compliance requirements (e.g., California Proposition 65, EU packaging and packaging waste regulations).

• Experience working directly with overseas packaging manufacturers and factories in addition to domestic.

• Ideally fluent in Mandarin Chinese (spoken).

What we offer at Our Place

• Competitive pay and real-deal equity - we want you to have a slice of what we’re building together

• A chance to share in our wins - all full-time team members are eligible for our discretionary annual bonus plan

• Benefits that actually benefit - top-tier medical, dental, and vision to keep you feeling your best

• Plenty of time off - generous PTO, and synchronized time off (we all log off together so you can actually rest)

• We invest in you - $500 a year for learning & development, plus an optional 401k plan so future you is covered

• All the kitchen treats - team member discount, an annual our place gift card, and of course, lots of our place goodies for your home

• A workspace worth leaving your house for - a beautiful office with a creative studio, multiple kitchens, and plenty of room for big ideas

• Tuesday lunches - catered meals so you can catch up with your teammates over something delicious

• A culture of connection - team events, activities, and an annual company retreat because we like hanging out together

• A team full of kind, thoughtful humans who actually care - because the people make this place

This range reflects the good-faith estimate of compensation Our Place reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire.

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