Happy Worker Toys is looking for a full-time Happy Production teammate to join our small entrepreneurial team. Depending on their experience and talents they would assume the role as a Production Coordinator or as a Production Manager. Their mission: oversee new toy, collectible, and apparel projects, coordinating with our team and factory partners to help our creations be their very best.
We’re looking for a very special kind of person. Someone who enjoys responsibilities and challenges, who’s cool under pressure, eager to jump in on anything and accomplish great things on their own and together with a team. This role is for someone who is super organized and passionate, who enjoys fast-paced work & working on overdrive, is good at noticing & keeping track of all the pesky little details, and is an excellent writer and communicator. They’re well suited to working with other perfectionists, receiving regular constructive criticism and constantly tweaking to make things better. Ultimately they’re a born happy worker and self-starter with a professional-yet-fun attitude!
Hiring 1 New Teammate: While there are 2 titles in this post (Production Coordinator or Production Manager), we are hiring for 1 position. We are looking for the best match for our team and are open to anyone with a little or a lot of experience. Candidates with 3-5+ years relevant experience will be considered for the Production Manager role.
If Production Manager: Managing But Lots of Doing: While a manager position with considerable responsibility, this role is extremely high on “doing”. Like all members of our team you will actively drive projects by creating and editing a plethora of documents, including toy specs/requirements, product blueprints, production guides, checklists, schedules… plus all sorts of other things. You will also be responsible for regular communication with our production and factory partners.
Role & Responsibilities
- Product Documentation (20%): Create and update documents, including product requirements, schedules, request for quotations, checklists, and more. Use photos and diagrams to convey key points visually.
- Team and Factory Communications (20%): Communicate with our teammates and factory partners daily by email, chat, video and phone to clarify requirements and keep deliverables and schedules on track. Help find and vet new factory partners. Treat vendors as partners and improve collaboration with a friendly, professional rapport, while maintaining firm oversight to ensure our expectations are consistently achieved.
- Shipping + Logistics (15%): Quote, arrange, coordinate, create documentation for, track and troubleshoot courier, ocean and air shipments, from small courier packages to LCL/FCL ocean and air shipments.
- Quoting, Purchasing, and A/P (15%): Work with factory partners and team members to create and send new quotations packages. Review and analyze quotes from suppliers and partners to achieve design and cost targets. Create purchase orders, and review invoices and bills for accuracy. Ensure factories and other vendors are paid promptly.
- Review and Improve Samples (10%): Carefully review prototypes and production samples; take photos, make detailed comments, and coordinate changes and improvements.
- Project Coordination (10%): Create and update plans and schedules. Solve challenges and ensure the highest quality products, delivered on-time and on-budget.
- Quality Control and Safety Testing (10%): Create quality checklists for each product. Ensure our products meet and exceed our high quality expectations, investigating root causes for any issues and finding solutions. Arrange and supervise independent inspectors and testing labs.
- NPD Process: Collaborate and lead our team and factory partners, carefully guiding each new product and reorder through our happy toymaking R&D and production process. Continually refine so that each new product is our best ever.
- Costing and Procurement: Analyze potential new products, develop quotation packages, and work with our factory partners to achieve design and cost targets.
- Cheerful Customer Service: Help our team happily support licensors, studios, retailers, and fans, by understanding project goals, participating in meetings and emails, laying out options, and preparing schedules.
- Factory Partners and Travel: As needed travel to China up to several times each year to work with our factories directly. Ensure that our partners and vendors are treated happily and fairly, and that we follow sustainable manufacturing practices. As needed, participate in trade shows worldwide.
- An Integral Team Member: Be a key part of a small, busy, hard-working and energetic team. Work collaboratively with all our teammates and partners around the world. Help pitch in for anything and everything that helps the team.
- Constant Improvements: Make everything that you do, and we do, better!
- Happiness Creating: Bring happiness to all that you do :).
Experience + Talents
- Don’t Have ALL The Experience Below? This is ok! While our “laundry list” of requirements is long, we understand most candidates won’t have all of the experience below. This is ok! If you are passionate and feel you’re a great fit we encourage you to apply even if you don’t have all the experience. We are looking for the best new teammate, who is passionate and motivated to learn, adapt and grow into the role.
- Education: Degree or diploma in business, science, engineering, or “something”, possibly with relevant experience in one or more of the following: office administration, manufacturing, quality assurance, project management, supply chain, or a related business, engineering or scientific discipline.
- Production Experience:
- Production Coordinator: some prior eperience in a high intensity environment, ideally in a role related to production
- Production Manager: 3 to 5+ years of experience in: handling projects in a high intensity production-oriented environment, preferably with aesthetic products or collectibles. Demonstrated experience leading key projects and supervising teammates.
- Geek Culture, Gaming, Toys and Collectibles: Have an understanding of and appreciation for geek culture, gaming, comics, pop culture, toys, and collectibles.
- Detail-Driven Organizer: Great memory for details; you ensure every “t” is crossed and “i” dotted. Great at setting and managing priorities, task lists and schedules.
- Expert Problem Solver: Able to find solutions to difficult challenges, exhibiting good judgment and making the impossible happen.
- Excellent Communicator: Excellent business writing and speaking skills in English. Nice to have, but certainly not required: working fluency in Mandarin (Putonghua) and/or Cantonese.
- Eye for Aesthetics and Fine Details: Able to tell when a crisp detail has softened, when a color is close but not right, and when the fine details aren’t as fine as they need to be.
- Great with Numbers: Knows how to calculate things like volumes, imperial to metric conversions, gross profit margins, and costs-per-unit; can create and manage excel spreadsheets chock full of #'s and $'s.
- Software: Capable with general formulas in Excel, able to use basic image editing to create diagrams in Powerpoint or Photoshop, familiar with collaboration software like MS Teams
- Photography: Some experience with photography, lighting and basic image editing
- Entrepreneurial, Thrives on Responsibility: Excited to lead and be responsible for numerous projects and initiatives.
- Diverse Work Experience: We’d appreciate seeing a resume that lists all of your previous work experiences – not just the recent positions or the ones you feel relate most to this role.
- Comfortable in Fast-paced Environments: A quick worker who’s practiced at handling lots of to-dos and keeping track of lots of details, without dropping balls. Thrives on responsibility, and on being accountable for numerous projects and initiatives. Please tell us about your busiest work experience in your cover letter.
- Other Unique Talents: Extreme papercrafting? Duct tape artistry? Hikaru dorodango? If you decide to apply, let us know what other special talents or know-how you’d bring to Happy Worker. Anything goes!
- Something we want to know: Please let us know your favorite toy and your favorite snack food.
More About the Role
- Employment Type: This is a full time, permanent position.
- Location / Remote and In-Office: Toronto, Canada. Our team works predominantly from home, with some of our team in-office ~2 days a week and others on an as-needed basis. Initial training will be in-person for the first few weeks / months. Due to the nature of this role, it is expected that this teammate will be in-office at least 2 days a week to review samples and coordinate with others.
- Start Date: New team member may begin immediately, or within a few weeks of being hired.
- *Work Hours*: Flexible hours, but please note: this role is demanding. Our teammate needs to be available during much of the work day to review and discuss projects and collaborate with Toronto teammates, and regularly available on evenings and weekends during our factories’ work day to check-in, coordinate and keep things on-schedule.
- Salary + Compensation:
- Production Coordinator: $42,500 - $55,000 CAD depending on experience
- Production Manager: $60,000 - $80,000 CAD depending on experience
- Medical and dental benefits after 1 year.
About Happy Worker
Happy Worker has been creating (great!) toys and collectibles since 2003. Our small team is passionate about doing our best work, getting all the little details right, and delivering happiness.
- What We Do: Happy Worker designs and manufactures toys and collectibles together with many of the world’s best video game studios, entertainment studios and corporate brands. Our creations are often designed for grownup collectors and video game fans.
- Our Culture: Hardworking, communicative, reliable, fun, honest, self-critical, entrepreneurial, and, of course, happy.
- What Motivates Us: Making our next toy our best toy ever; spreading happiness to toy and game fans, and everyone else we come in contact with.
- Locations / Work from Home: Our core team is in Toronto, with collaborators located across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Most of our factories are in China.
- For More Info: please visit www.happyworker.com.
Applying to Become a Happy Worker
To apply, please send an e-mail with your resume and cover letter to teammate@happyworker.com with the subject line: “I’d like to be a Happy Production Coordinator (or) Production Manager!”. Please also include links to or sneak peeks at anything else you're really proud of. Pretty please ensure email is less than 10 MB.
In your cover letter, please answer the following 3 bonus questions:
- Why do you want to be a part of the Happy Worker team?
- Where do you see yourself in 2-3 years?
- In past jobs/work, talk about a time when you performed beyond expectations.
Shortlisted candidates will be notified, and offered a short paid project that is completed at home.
