Technical Product Developer

Casual position (3–5 days/week depending on workload)

Pay: Expandable, dependent on skillset

Neve Gear

About Neve Gear

Neve Gear designs premium ultralight outdoor gear for hikers and adventurers, including packs, quilts, and apparel systems. Our focus is lightweight performance, durability, and practical real world functionality.

We’re a small team of hikers, trail runners, cyclists, skiers, and gear nerds who genuinely love designing equipment and refining systems for real world use. Our approach combines practical field experience with thoughtful, highly iterative product development to create ultralight gear that performs reliably in demanding conditions.

The Role

We are looking for an Ultralight Gear Product Developer to take product ideas from concept through to factory ready production specifications.

This is a highly technical soft goods development role focused on manufacturability, construction logic, prototyping, and real world performance.

You will work closely with the lead designer within a small collaborative team to develop ultralight gear systems that are functional, scalable, and reliable in the field.

Ideal Background

This role could suit someone coming from:

• Clothing or fashion design with strong technical and construction knowledge
• Soft goods or sewn product development
• Outdoor equipment or performance apparel design
• Technical apparel development or pattern making

Experience specifically in ultralight gear is not essential, but strong construction logic, sewing literacy, and an interest in outdoor systems design are important.

Core Skills & Requirements

• Strong pattern literacy and soft goods construction understanding
• Intermediate sewing ability for hands on prototyping and testing
• Ability to build functional soft goods prototypes
• Strong understanding of seams, stitch types, materials, and assembly methods
• Adobe Illustrator proficiency for tech packs and technical documentation
• Strong technical problem solving and manufacturing judgment
• Ability to communicate clearly with factories and suppliers

Key Responsibilities

Technical Product Development

• Create production ready tech packs for packs, quilts, and apparel systems
• Define patterns, seam structures, stitch types, material stacks, and construction order
• Ensure products are fully manufacturable and clearly documented for factory execution

Prototyping & Testing

• Build and test early stage prototypes using hands on sewing
• Evaluate construction methods, material behavior, structural integrity, and assembly logic
• Rapidly iterate designs through physical testing and feedback
• Prototypes do not need to be production perfect or visually refined — only functional enough to test and validate ideas
• Assist with occasional repairs and product modifications

Factory Communication & Sampling

• Communicate construction intent and patterns clearly with factories
• Manage sampling rounds and resolve manufacturing issues
• Translate design intent into scalable production specifications

Performance & Quality

• Evaluate products for real world outdoor use
• Identify stress points, failure modes, and durability concerns before production
• Balance weight, durability, usability, and manufacturability in all decisions

Nice to Have, But Not Necessary

• Experience with ultralight materials such as Dyneema, silnylon, or down insulation systems
• Experience working with offshore factories
• 3D CAD experience (CLO 3D, Rhino, or similar)
• Hiking, backpacking, or fastpacking experience

Why Work With Us

We’re a small, passionate team with a highly collaborative culture and none of the layers or restrictions that come with large corporate environments. Because of this, ideas move quickly and product development stays agile, experimental, and hands on.

You’ll have the opportunity to work closely on real product decisions, prototype rapidly, test ideas in the field, and help shape innovative ultralight gear from concept through to production. We care deeply about good design, practical functionality, and building products we genuinely believe in using ourselves.

Pay: From $45.00 per hour

Application Question(s):

• Do you have any outdoor experience or hobbies? If so, please tell us a bit about them.
• What's a sewing project that you've made for yourself that you're most proud of?
• Please tell us how you think your skillset directly applies to/serves this role.

Work Location: In person