Project Manager - Jellycat Labs
Jellycat · London, United Kingdom · hybrid
For a quarter of a century, the Jellycat family have brought joy, wonder and playful fun to people of all ages, in every part of the world. Utterly original and in a class of their own, they are currently among the most loved and collected toys of their kind. How has this gentle tribe endeared themselves to so many? Perhaps it is their whimsical expressions. Or the deliciously soft fabrics. Or the beautiful way in which they sit in your hand. Whatever it is, there is something magical and unmistakeable about each one of them.
Jellycat Labs is Jellycat's innovation division, working with factory, mill and research partners to bring automation, AI quality control and process innovation to how our products are made, contributing to the long term future of the Jellycat brand.
This role is for a highly organised and hands on Project Manager who thrives on getting into the detail of delivery. Working within Jellycat's Global Projects team and embedded in Jellycat Labs, the role takes ownership of Labs projects across automation, AI vision quality control, process innovation and enabling technologies, from initiation through to closure, applying Jellycat's project governance and methodology consistently and reliably.
Working directly with our Jellycat Labs team, the role requires an individual who can manage several concurrent projects at pace - translating requirements and plans into tangible progress, keeping stakeholders informed, and flagging risks and issues early.
The role spans a diverse portfolio, so the successful candidate will be equally comfortable running a feasibility study with a university or technology partner, taking a proof of concept through to a pilot, and running a trial at a partner factory through to handover to Production. They will adapt their approach to suit each project, applying stage gated, predictive and iterative techniques as appropriate.
This role is designed for someone who thrives on structured delivery, is comfortable managing multiple work-streams simultaneously, and takes pride in seeing a project through cleanly from kick-off to benefits realisation. The ideal candidate is highly organised, detail-oriented, and confident working directly with stakeholders at all levels to keep projects on track.
The role includes occasional travel to UK universities and research institutes and, as the role develops, opportunities to attend trade shows in Europe and Asia and visit our factory partners in Asia.
The Jellycat Labs Project Manager will manage projects across four core areas:
- Automation and robotics: fabric handling, single-ply separation and sewing automation, from feasibility through proof of concept to pilot cell.
- AI vision quality control: inspection trials and proofs of concept with technology vendors and integrators.
- Process innovation with factory partners: pilots and trials at partner factories in Vietnam, Indonesia and China, including data capture and line monitoring, with handover to Production on success.
- Enabling technologies: materials and process research such as gravimetric stuffing, 3D weft knitting and fabric inspection, run with mills, universities and specialist partners.
You'll be:
- Project Delivery: Taking ownership of assigned projects from initiation through to closure, developing and maintaining project plans, schedules and budgets, and ensuring delivery on time, within scope and to the agreed quality standard. Embracing hands-on involvement in all project phases, actively engaging with team members, stakeholders and vendors to maintain project momentum.
- Governance & Methodology: Applying Jellycat's project management methodology, templates and governance consistently, ensuring every project has a clear scope, business case, RAID log and benefits tracking, and progressing projects through agreed stage gates.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Building strong working relationships with project sponsors, business stakeholders and delivery partners, providing clear, regular updates on progress, risks and decisions needed.
- Risk & Issue Management: Proactively identifying, logging and managing project risks and issues, escalating promptly to Jellycat Labs leadership for decisions and to the Global Head of Projects for methodology and resourcing support.
- Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinating work across business, technical and third-party teams involved in each project, ensuring dependencies are understood and tracked, and that everyone involved knows what's expected of them and by when. This includes working closely with the Labs Senior Innovation Project Engineer in Vietnam and with Jellycat's Vietnam and Korea teams on factory-based trials and pilots.
- Tailored Delivery Approach: Selecting and tailoring the right delivery approach for each project, including stage-gated approaches for feasibility and pilot work, iterative and test-and-learn approaches for early-stage innovation, and agile or hybrid approaches for data and digital elements, while staying within Jellycat's governance framework.
- Technical & Partner Coordination: Working hand-in-hand with Jellycat's quality, production, sourcing, operations, product and technology teams, as well as external partners including factories, mills, universities, research institutes, technology vendors and integrators, to manage trials, samples, prototypes, testing and their dependencies.
- Quality, Compliance & Readiness: Ensuring each project meets the relevant quality, product safety, regulatory and technical standards, planning testing and validation activities and confirming operational readiness before handover to Production.
- Uncertainty & Decision Points: Managing projects with high levels of uncertainty by setting clear hypotheses, milestones and go/no-go criteria, and bringing the right evidence to sponsors so decisions can be made quickly.
- Reporting & Continuous Improvement: Owning the Labs master project and partner tracker in Monday.com and keeping status reporting accurate and up to date. Preparing project content for the Labs Steerco and biweekly CEO sprint review. Contributing to the continuous improvement of Jellycat's project methodology and ways of working, sharing lessons learned at project closure.
- Partner, Contract & IP Management: Managing the Labs partner portfolio, including NDAs, scopes of work, contracts and IP terms. Running supplier onboarding through Omnea, supporting tenders with the Procurement team, and managing purchase orders and spend tracking against approval limits. Protecting confidential and partner-sensitive information, and keeping master partner, contact and contract records accurate, securely stored and audit-ready.
You'll have:
- Proven experience delivering projects end-to-end, ideally within a fast-paced, multi-project environment covering a mix of project types.
- Demonstrable experience managing projects in at least two, ideally more, of the following areas, with an understanding of the delivery considerations across all five:
- Research & Development: Experience managing feasibility, prototyping, testing and validation with universities, research institutes or technology partners, ideally within consumer products, textiles or manufacturing.
- Manufacturing: Experience working with suppliers and factories, including overseas, on process change, trials or production readiness, with an understanding of sampling, quality control and supply chain lead times.
- Innovation: Experience delivering early-stage or exploratory initiatives, using proof of concept, pilots and stage-gate decisions to manage uncertainty.
- Technology: Experience delivering automation, robotics, machine vision or digital projects with technical teams, vendors and integrators.
- Software: Experience delivering system or digital projects with technical teams and vendors, including requirements, testing/UAT, cut-over and go-live.
- A working knowledge of recognised project methodologies, both pr