Manager, Soft Goods Product Design Engineering, Facebook Reality Labs

Facebook Reality Labs’s Soft Goods team is leading the industry with the seamless integration of high-performance textiles and other specialty materials with next-generation consumer electronics products. We are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in order to deliver delightful, approachable, and comfortable experiences for our customers.We are looking for a soft goods-savvy and experienced people manager to lead and grow our team of highly accomplished soft goods product design engineers. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated hands-on experience developing and engineering soft goods products, accessories, and integrated interface elements for consumer electronics. They will be committed to fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment where every team member is empowered to leverage their strengths in order to deliver their best impact. They will also demonstrate strong communication skills, the capacity to connect meaningfully with their direct reports, and the skill with which to drive consensus and collaboration across functional organizations.

• Manage and lead the team of soft goods product design engineers who drive the development, fabrication and ultimate integration of soft goods with hard goods for Facebook’s growing family of hardware products
• Encourage extreme innovation and technical leadership across all areas of soft goods materials, construction and processes
• Establish and build durable, collaborative relationships with vendors and suppliers of soft goods materials and processes
• Foster the growth of each team member’s careers by assigning them to projects tailored to their skill levels, long-term goals, personalities, and work styles
• Identify and encourage the development of technical leaders in the field of soft goods design, fabrication, and electronics integration for consumer electronics
• Support the performance review process and provide critical and constructive feedback
• Drive cross-functional consensus building in a highly ambiguous environment
• Set clear expectations and create a positive, supportive, and inclusive work environment based on individual accountability
• Promote strong, effective communication and collaboration with our cross-functional, technical and non-technical partners
• Champion engineering and operational excellence, establishing metrics and process for regular assessment and improvement
• Synthesize learnings to develop and implement both tactical and strategic team and org-based improvement initiatives
• Evangelize the team’s capabilities and accomplishments across the company and org
• Work closely with Recruiting to grow the team by attracting, interviewing, hiring and onboarding highly-qualified and diverse candidates

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of experience building, managing, or leading teams of at least three (3) full-time designers or engineers
• 7+ years of hands-on experience designing, prototyping, fabricating, and integrating soft goods products for consumer electronics
• Experience using a wide variety of soft goods manufacturing techniques, processes and machines to deliver high-quality products
• Experience with a wide variety of textiles, foams, films, coatings, additives, and adhesives
• In-depth knowledge of fabric and textile constructions and weaves
• Proven track record of building relationships with vendors and suppliers of soft goods materials, manufacturing equipment, and processes
• Proven track record of leading and managing high-functioning design and/or technical teams
• Proven track record of mentorship, career development, strength finding, and team building
• Proven track record of building relationships, fostering collaboration, driving consensus and conflict resolution, and working cross-functionally with multidisciplinary teams
• Experience developing and managing budgets, workloads, external vendor engagements, and long term resource planning
• Demonstrated experience in communicating soft goods design, engineering and implementation challenges to a wide audience including technical and non-technical members

• Proven track record of leading and managing soft goods product design teams focused on the development, integration and launch of cutting-edge consumer electronics products with significant soft goods elements
• Experience with the layer development, molding, and/or shaping of textile-based constructions
• Experience with the design, development and launch of consumer electronic products
• Experience with 3D modeling software (NX, SolidWorks, Creo)
• Experience creating 2D flat patterns from 3D shapes and vice-versa
• Knowledge of circular, flat, and 3D knitting processes

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Through our family of apps and services, we're building a different kind of company that connects billions of people around the world, gives them ways to share what matters most to them, and helps bring people closer together. Whether we're creating new products or helping a small business expand its reach, people at Facebook are builders at heart. Our global teams are constantly iterating, solving problems, and working together to empower people around the world to build community and connect in meaningful ways. Together, we can help people build stronger communities - we're just getting started. Facebook is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Facebook is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations-ext@fb.com.