Head of Design & R&D Fitness Hardware

Cult is building an in-house hardware design and R&D capability. We are hiring a senior leader to own our fitness equipment portfolio end to end — from product architecture and design through to volume manufacturing with our production partners.

This is a hands-on, build-it-from-scratch mandate. You will define how our products are engineered, set the technical standards, and build the team that delivers them.

What you will own

• Product architecture. Define a small number of scalable engineering platforms across our categories, so

that new models launch faster and at better cost without proliferating complexity.

• Mechanical design. Own the core of the product — structures, mechanisms, enclosures and ergonomics

— from concept and CAD through detailed design, prototyping and design freeze.

• Tooling and DFM. Drive tool design intent, tool development and validation through to first-off-tool, and embed manufacturability into the design from day one.

• System integration. Specify, evaluate and integrate motors, drives, battery systems, controls and

displays into reliable finished products, and hold partners to spec.

• Testing and compliance. Build our validation regimen — structural and fatigue testing, drop and

vibration, thermal, electrical safety and EMC — and own certification and reliability targets.

• Manufacturing readiness. Work alongside our production partners on process definition, fixtures, first article approval, yield and quality ramp. Expect real time on the shop floor.

• Cost ownership. Carry the BOM. Drive should-costing, teardowns and value engineering as a continuous discipline, not an annual exercise.

• Team building. Hire, mentor and lead a compact senior engineering team, and establish the design and documentation standards it works to.

What you bring

• 10–15 years in consumer hardware, consumer durables or electro-mechanical product development,

including 3–5 years leading a design or NPD function.

• A track record of taking multiple products from concept to mass production.

• Deep mechanical design strength: part design for high-volume moulding, sheet metal and tubular structures, mechanism design, DFM/DFA, GD&T and tolerance stack-up. Fluent in SolidWorks, Creo or NX, and comfortable using simulation to make design calls.

• Genuine tooling experience — you have specified tools, run trials and lived with the consequences.

• Working knowledge of BLDC motors, drives, gearboxes and battery systems: enough to specify, qualify

and challenge a supplier's numbers.

• Strong cost engineering instincts and the judgement to know which engineering decisions actually move the number.

• Experience working across global design and supply partners, and the ability to bring that capability in-house.

Backgrounds that fit well

Design and NPD leadership from consumer electronics, appliances, power tools, personal care devices, mobility or original design manufacturing environments.