Job Description

Technical Project Manager – Furniture / Manufacturing

Location: Whittier / Southeast Los Angeles, CA
Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Working Pattern: On-site

Please Read Before Applying

This is not an IT or software Project Manager position.

We are looking for someone who understands the journey of a physical manufactured product from customer order through engineering, production, delivery and installation – and who can continue owning the customer relationship through aftermarket support and warranty resolution.

You'll ideally have experience within:

Commercial Furniture | Workspace Products | Architectural Millwork | Cabinetry | Modular Products | Architectural Products | Design-Led Manufacturing

This role combines technical project management, customer service and problem solving.

If you like understanding how products work, coordinating people, dealing directly with customers and personally driving problems through to resolution, we'd like to hear from you.

The Opportunity

Broadreach Recruitment is supporting an established international design and manufacturing business in the appointment of a Technical Project Manager for its Southern California operation.

The role sits at the centre of the customer journey:

Order → Technical Coordination → Manufacturing → Delivery → Installation → Handover → Warranty → Aftermarket

You'll become a key point of ownership for customers, coordinating across Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Supply Chain and Installation.

You won't necessarily design the product or manufacture it yourself.

But you will need to understand enough about each stage to ask the right questions, identify potential problems and make sure somebody owns the solution.

The philosophy is simple:

Own the project. Own the customer experience. Own the resolution.

What You'll Be Doing

Project & Customer Delivery

• Take ownership of projects following commercial handover

• Review project scope, specifications, drawings and customer requirements

• Establish milestones, actions, responsibilities and critical dates

• Coordinate Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations and Supply Chain

• Maintain project trackers, actions and risk visibility

• Identify technical, manufacturing and delivery risks early

• Coordinate project changes and communicate their impact

• Keep customers informed with clear and realistic updates

• Coordinate delivery and installation requirements

• Manage snagging, punch-list items and project close-out

• Drive outstanding actions through to resolution

You should always be able to answer:

Where are we? What's outstanding? What's at risk? Who owns it? When will it be resolved?

Technical Coordination

This isn't an engineering design position, but you need to be technically credible around manufactured products.

You'll:

• Read and interpret product and manufacturing drawings

• Understand product configurations and assemblies

• Coordinate technical queries between customers and Engineering

• Identify potential manufacturability and installation issues

• Coordinate technical changes and revisions affecting projects

• Ensure Production and Installation have the correct information

• Work with Product Engineering on BOM, component and configuration issues

• Help investigate the root cause when products don't manufacture, install or perform as expected

We're looking for somebody who is comfortable asking "why?" rather than simply forwarding the problem to another department.

Customer Service

Customer experience is a significant part of this position.

You'll be expected to:

• Become a knowledgeable and trusted customer contact

• Respond quickly to technical and delivery queries

• Provide proactive updates rather than waiting for customers to chase

• Coordinate internal teams to get answers

• Manage difficult conversations professionally

• Set realistic expectations and timescales

• Maintain ownership until issues are genuinely closed

• Build relationships with dealers, specifiers, installers, contractors and end customers

Great customer service in this environment isn't simply about being helpful.

It's about taking ownership and getting things resolved.

Warranty & Aftermarket

Your responsibility doesn't finish when the product is delivered.

You'll help manage the post-installation customer experience, including:

• Warranty and aftermarket enquiries

• Gathering photographs, drawings and product information

• Assessing reported issues

• Coordinating technical investigations

• Working with Engineering, Quality and Manufacturing

• Determining whether issues relate to product, manufacture, installation, transport or another cause

• Arranging replacement components and remedial work

• Coordinating installers and service partners

• Keeping customers informed

• Tracking open warranty cases through to closure

• Identifying recurring issues

• Feeding aftermarket information back into Engineering and Operations

The objective isn't simply to process warranty claims.

It's to solve the immediate problem and help prevent it happening again.

What We're Looking For

Your current title might be:

Technical Project Manager | Project Manager | Project Engineer | Customer Project Manager | Technical Operations Manager | Installation Project Manager | Aftermarket Project Manager

You'll ideally bring experience across several of the following:

• Technical project management

• Manufactured products

• Customer project delivery

• Engineering coordination

• Manufacturing

• Installation

• Warranty / aftermarket

• Technical customer service

• Root-cause problem solving

Particularly Relevant Industries

Experience in commercial furniture or workspace products would be particularly attractive.

We'd also like to hear from candidates from:

• Architectural millwork

• Cabinetry

• Modular furniture

• Architectural products

• Interior systems

• Configurable products

• Other design-led manufacturing environments

Technical Skills

You should be comfortable with several of the following:

• Reading technical drawings

• Manufactured product assemblies

• Product specifications

• BOM awareness

• ERP/MRP systems

• Engineering revisions

• Manufacturing processes

• Installation requirements

• Root-cause analysis

• Technical documentation

Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central would be useful but isn't essential.

The Person

Technical ability alone won't make somebody successful here.

We're looking for someone who is:

• Customer-focused

• Technically curious

• Highly organised

• Calm under pressure

• Collaborative

• Comfortable taking ownership

• Clear and confident in their communication

• Pragmatic and solutions-focused

• Commercially aware

• Prepared to challenge when something doesn't look right

You'll enjoy bringing different people together and creating order when projects become complicated.

Culture & Ways of Working

The business combines design, creativity and manufacturing, with a strong focus on how its products ultimately affect the people who use them.

We're therefore looking for someone who believes in:

Ownership – stay involved until the problem is resolved.

Collaboration – Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Installation and the customer are part of one delivery journey.

Quality – the service surrounding the product should match the quality of the product itself.

Listening – understand what the customer is actually trying to achieve.

Continuous improvement – recurring problems should lead to better products, processes or ways of working.

Practical creativity – find solutions that work for the customer while remaining manufacturable and commercially sensible.

What Success Looks Like

You'll know you're succeeding when customers have a clear point of ownership, projects have better visibility, technical issues are identified earlier, installation and warranty problems are resolved faster, and recurring problems are being fed back into the business and prevented.

Most importantly:

Customers should feel that the business is easy to work with – even when something goes wrong.

Why Join?

This is a broader opportunity than a conventional Project Manager position.

You'll have visibility and influence across the complete customer journey:

Customer → Engineering → Manufacturing → Supply Chain → Installation → Aftermarket

For someone from furniture or another design-led manufacturing environment who enjoys the combination of products, projects, people and problem solving, it offers a chance to make a genuine impact on both project delivery and customer experience.

 

Apply with your résumé or contact Broadreach Recruitment for a confidential discussion.

Broadreach Recruitment is acting as recruitment partner on this appointment.