High-End Mattress Design, Engineering & Product Development Specialist Needed
DanKen Industries is seeking an experienced mattress design, engineering, and product development specialist to help develop a high-end, high-quality mattress line as part of our luxury furniture and home products business.
We are an early-stage company focused on developing premium furniture and home furnishing products, including upholstered beds, smart beds, bedroom furniture, mattresses, sofas, sectionals, smart furniture, and complete bedroom/home furnishing solutions.
Mattresses will be an important part of our product line, so we are looking for someone with real, detailed, hands-on experience in mattress construction, comfort engineering, material selection, product development, manufacturing methods, and production-readiness.
This is not just a visual design role. We need someone who understands how high-quality mattresses are actually engineered, layered, tested, manufactured, and brought from concept to sample production.
Product Focus
We are interested in developing high-end mattresses that can compete with premium mattress brands in terms of comfort, support, durability, materials, construction quality, appearance, and customer experience.
Potential mattress categories may include:
- Hybrid mattresses
- Pocket spring mattresses
- Memory foam mattresses
- Latex mattresses
- Pillow-top mattresses
- Euro-top mattresses
- Luxury hotel-style mattresses
- Smart bed-compatible mattresses
- Mattresses designed to pair with upholstered beds and smart beds
- Multiple firmness levels, such as plush, medium, firm, and luxury firm
Responsibilities
The selected specialist may assist with:
- Mattress concept development
- Mattress structure and layer design
- Foam layer planning
- Pocket spring / coil system recommendations
- Latex, memory foam, gel foam, high-density foam, comfort foam, and support foam selection
- Firmness and comfort-level development
- Edge support design
- Pressure relief and spinal support planning
- Motion isolation considerations
- Breathability and cooling design
- Quilting, ticking, cover fabric, and surface material recommendations
- Fire-retardant material considerations
- Durability and compression-resistance planning
- Mattress height and profile recommendations
- Product specification sheets
- BOM development or review
- Sample development planning
- Manufacturing-readiness documentation
- Quality-control checklist development
- Supplier and material evaluation
- Guidance on cost-effective production methods
Desired Experience
We are looking for someone with proven experience in one or more of the following:
- High-end mattress design and development
- Mattress engineering
- Mattress manufacturing
- Foam and comfort-layer development
- Pocket spring / coil system design
- Hybrid mattress construction
- Luxury hotel mattress development
- Mattress material sourcing
- Mattress prototyping and sample development
- Mattress quality control and testing
- Mattress production documentation
- Mattress factory operations or production support
Experience with premium mattresses, hotel mattresses, luxury bedding products, or mattresses for smart beds is strongly preferred.
Key Questions
Please include answers to the following in your proposal:
1. What types of mattresses have you helped design, engineer, develop, or manufacture?
2. Do you have experience with high-end or luxury mattresses?
3. Do you have experience with hybrid mattresses, pocket spring systems, memory foam, latex, gel foam, high-density foam, pillow-top, Euro-top, or hotel-style mattresses?
4. Can you help determine the proper internal mattress structure, including foam layers, spring systems, support layers, edge support, comfort layers, quilting, and cover materials?
5. Can you help create or review mattress specifications, BOMs, material requirements, production notes, sample requirements, and quality-control standards?
6. Do you have experience working with mattress factories, suppliers, or contract/toll manufacturing partners?
7. Are you able to help guide sample development from concept through prototype, testing, revision, and production-readiness?
8. Do you understand U.S. mattress requirements, safety expectations, labeling, fire-retardant considerations, quality standards, or other compliance-related issues?
9. Can you help us develop different mattress comfort levels and product tiers, such as plush, medium, firm, luxury firm, and premium hotel-style options?
10. Can you provide examples of mattress products, specifications, designs, sample-development work, factory projects, or production documents you have worked on?
Engagement Structure
DanKen is still in the early startup and development stage, so we prefer to begin with a practical, phased structure.
The first phase may focus on reviewing our mattress goals, recommending mattress types and construction options, helping define product tiers, advising on materials and specifications, and outlining what would be needed to produce initial samples.
If the working relationship is successful, this can develop into a longer-term role supporting mattress development, supplier evaluation, production planning, sample reviews, and product-line expansion.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate understands mattresses from both a comfort and manufacturing perspective. We are looking for someone who can help us develop mattresses that are not only visually premium, but also comfortable, durable, properly engineered, cost-effective to produce, and ready for real manufacturing.
We want someone who can think through the full product-development process, including materials, construction, comfort, support, durability, cost, supplier capability, sample production, QC, and long-term product quality.
Please provide your background, relevant experience, examples of past mattress projects, and how you would approach helping DanKen develop a premium mattress line from the ground up.
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