Product Development Project Manager

Description

STX is seeking a Product Development Project Manager to support the development, testing, certification, and commercialization of protective sporting goods products, with a primary focus on lacrosse helmets, women’s lacrosse goggles/headgear, and protective padding.

This role is centered on project management, cross-functional coordination, testing, certification, and supplier communication. The successful candidate will work closely with Product Management, Design, R&D, Quality, Laboratory, Operations, factories, suppliers, third-party test laboratories, and certification organizations to keep development programs organized and moving forward.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, proactive, and comfortable managing multiple technical development projects at once. A background in product development, sporting goods, protective equipment, or other physical consumer products is strongly preferred, but this is not a traditional engineering role.

Key Responsibilities

Project Management & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead and coordinate development programs for protective equipment including lacrosse helmets, women’s lacrosse goggles/headgear, chest protection, shoulder pads, and other protective products.
• Build and maintain project schedules, milestones, testing plans, certification timelines, and key deliverables.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams across Product Management, Design, R&D, Quality, Laboratory, Operations, Manufacturing, and external partners.
• Lead regular project meetings and maintain clear ownership of action items, decisions, and deadlines.
• Identify schedule risks, missing information, resource constraints, and development issues before they impact key project milestones.
• Ensure teams remain aligned on product requirements, testing needs, certification timing, production readiness, and launch expectations.
• Provide clear project status updates to R&D and company leadership.
• Help improve project-management processes, documentation, and communication across the R&D organization.

Protective Equipment Development

• Coordinate development activities for products such as lacrosse helmets, protective cages, women’s lacrosse goggles, chest protection, shoulder pads, and other impact-protection products.
• Work with Design, R&D, and Product Management to translate product goals into clear development and validation plans.
• Coordinate prototype builds, sample reviews, fit evaluations, impact testing, wear testing, and product validation activities.
• Track product iterations and ensure changes are clearly communicated to internal teams and manufacturing partners.
• Support evaluation of product performance, comfort, fit, durability, and manufacturability.
• Help coordinate corrective actions when testing or product evaluations identify performance issues.

Testing & Validation

• Work closely with laboratory personnel to plan and schedule product testing.
• Ensure test samples, fixtures, documentation, specifications, and acceptance criteria are available when required.
• Coordinate testing related to impact performance, retention systems, coverage, fit, durability, structural performance, and other product-specific requirements.
• Review test results with the appropriate technical team members and help define follow-up actions.
• Maintain visibility of open testing items and ensure retesting or corrective work is completed on schedule.
• Organize and maintain test records, product-development history, approvals, and key project decisions.

Certification & Compliance

• Coordinate product certification activities with third-party laboratories, certification organizations, and governing bodies.
• Support certification programs associated with protective equipment standards, including organizations such as NOCSAE, SEI, ASTM, and other applicable standards bodies.
• Manage certification schedules, test sample submissions, documentation, product changes, and follow-up communication.
• Ensure certification requirements are incorporated into the development schedule early enough to avoid launch delays.
• Coordinate with internal Quality and R&D teams when certification questions or technical issues arise.
• Maintain organized certification and compliance documentation.

Supplier & Factory Coordination

• Serve as a primary project contact for factories, suppliers, and development partners.
• Communicate development timing, sample needs, testing requirements, product changes, and open technical issues.
• Track tooling changes, prototypes, test samples, materials, factory trials, approvals, and production-readiness activities.
• Ensure manufacturing partners understand project priorities and have the information needed to meet development deadlines.
• Follow up on open items and communicate potential delays or risks internally.
• Support factory trials, sample reviews, and production-development activities as

Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Product Development, Project Management, Business, Engineering, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience in project management, product development, program management, or a related role.
• Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional projects involving multiple departments or technical disciplines.
• Experience coordinating team members and stakeholders who may not directly report to the position.
• Strong project planning, scheduling, organization, and follow-through.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple active development programs and competing priorities.
• Comfortable communicating with factories, suppliers, test laboratories, certification bodies, and other external partners.
• Ability to understand and communicate technical information at a project-management level.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in sporting goods, protective equipment, helmets, safety products, or other physical consumer products.
• Experience with product testing, certification, regulatory requirements, or quality systems.
• Experience working with international manufacturers and suppliers.
• Familiarity with standards organizations such as NOCSAE, SEI, ASTM, CSA, or similar organizations.
• Experience managing products involving impact testing, fit validation, structural testing, or protective-performance requirements.
• Formal project-management training or certification such as PMP, CAPM, or similar.
• Experience with project-management platforms such as Monday.com, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, or similar tools.
• Industrial design, graphic design, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or product-visualization experience is a plus.
• Familiarity with CAD and manufacturing processes is helpful but not required.