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Pinch is seeking a production and quality coordinator to join its team in London.

Pinch is one of the UK’s most prestigious, creative and successful furniture brands, created by Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon. Since 2004 we have been designing and distributing our award-winning, contemporary furniture and lighting to a global audience.

We are a company with an uncompromising idea of what makes a perfect piece of furniture, and our customers rely on us to deliver impeccable product and personal service. We are looking for a quality-literate, detail-oriented, energetic individual who will be instrumental in making sure we provide products that delight and exceed expectations. We are a company of furniture lovers who love to make well and are looking to grow our close team to deliver that ambition.

We work with a growing roster of UK and European manufacturers, producing large quantities of stock products and a significant amount of custom design and production. We also run a continuous cycle of new product development and are looking for an extremely capable, production-savvy and multitasking individual to join our production team. Based at our design studio in Kennington, this role will report to our production manager and head of buying. Working with the design and buying teams, the production team ensures our furniture and lighting is manufactured to meet our very high-quality control standards, is well sourced, delivered on time, to budget and is efficiently procured in all aspects.

This is a very hands-on and practical role, requiring smart thinking, strong organisation and confident furniture production knowledge, ideally with proven experience at the higher end of furniture making. The individual must have a constant ambition to seek improvements to our production process, with a keen eye for detail so we deliver an exceptional product.

Additionally, the production quality co-ordinator will assist in matters beyond quality check, relating to internal product finishing, the management of ancillary inbound/outbound goods from studio, contributing to off-site exhibition build and/or shoot set build, as well as helping with display rotation and installation at our Pimlico Road shops.

Alongside production knowledge, the winning candidate will have a strong understanding of commerciality and good people skills, with an ability to work collaboratively in business that moves quickly, and has high expectations of our designs, our products, our service and our own ability to enjoy the process as we go along.

Indicative areas of activity

Quality control:

• ensure production quality, material nuances and design integrity are all met
• supplier liaison and quality control workshop visits
• captures and updates to production records
• managing supplier challenge and pushback where QC is compromised
• supporting production manager in resolving customer issues
• supporting production manager in resolving and logging supplier issues
• constantly championing and working to build PINCH quality levels
• record QC status in PINCH ERP system

Production admin and planning:

• support the production manager with weekly supplier schedules updates
• well-organised filing of all QC imagery and reports on the shared system and on QC app
• ensure all relevant departments are up to date with QC status of products
• maintenance of internal design development documentation
• maintain and update weekly production KPIs
• report weekly production KPIs

Internal production:

• assisting in studio assembly/finishing of studio prepared goods
• receiving, quality checking and recording components in
• issuing and recording components out to workshops
• managing goods for fulfilment and dispatch from studio (packing and crating/photography)
• some preparation of branded labels/preparation of branded POS
• attending to any in-house furniture requiring upkeep or maintenance

New product development:

• support the production manager in taking approved prototypes into first production

Projects and premises:

• production specification input for custom projects
• working alongside design team to build exhibition stands as required
• assisting with shoot set build and shoot set up
• supporting shop team with product changeover/install
• supporting shop team with creative display
• packing and checking out/back in press loans and returned goods
• sharing maintenance of studio presentation and cleanliness
• maintaining studio warehouse organisation (NB main warehouse is managed externally)
• monitoring stock returns to the hospital section, and ensuring they are resolved promptly
• occasional trips to warehouse to ensure PINCH packaging and storage standards are met
• ad hoc client visits/aftersales care – may be required to repair furniture on site

Key skills:

• knowledge of high-end production quality standards and process
• two–three years’ experience working in high-end furniture (and lighting ideally)
• Furniture Design degree or equivalent experience in design-related education
• super organised with an ability to multitask and prioritise
• excellent verbal and written communication skills, internally and externally
• practical, motivated thinker, with a flexible, can-do approach
• great eye for detail
• experienced and confident in a workshop environment – past workshop experience a bonus
• hands-on and self-assured with tools whilst complying to safety protocol
• able to build strong relationships with workshops
• physically energetic and willing to get hands dirty
• clean and orderly working manner
• Apple Mac and Microsoft Office proficient, confident with Adobe Creative Suite an advantage
• fluent in English
• full clean UK driver’s license

Expected approach and attitude:

• an appreciation of quality and professionalism, and things done well
• ability to prioritise and efficiently manage own time and workload
• professional, enthusiastic attitude, both internally and externally
• collaborative and supportive to wider team
• comfortable taking ownership and initiative
• engaged with responsibility of issuing high value goods
• engaged with responsibility of looking after our valued customers
• motivated by working in a team of good people, to a shared goal

Training offered:

• brand training
• product training
• internal systems training
• QC programme
• workshop training

This is a Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm position based in our Kennington Studio with some travel to workshops expected (mostly in UK with limited European trips).

Hours will be expected to be kept flexible at key but rare moments in the calendar (eg shoots, occasionally some QC travelling may sit outside core working hours).

Contract: permanent

Holiday: 20 days per annum, excluding bank holidays and the Christmas closure

Mid-level role with salary offered according to relevant experience.

Start: ASAP

To apply for this role please submit your CV or portfolio, noting the role you are applying for, with a cover letter explaining why you think you and your experience would make a great addition to our team via the apply for job button below.

www.pinchdesign.com