How to apply for Production Manager

About White Circle

White Circle builds a safety, reliability, and optimization layer for AI systems. It has raised $70M total, processes over 100 million API calls per month, and fine-tunes its own LLMs. The team is small and focused, and this role is about shaping the physical brand presence beyond the product.

About the role

As Production Manager, you will turn design team concepts into real physical objects, source factories and craftspeople, and solve manufacturing problems that do not have obvious suppliers. You will help create merch, objects, and physical experiences that people want to keep, not standard corporate giveaways.

A typical day

You might spend the morning reviewing design files and contacting factories or craftspeople for quotes. In the afternoon you could be solving a material or production issue, tracking samples, and updating the design team on timelines. The work is remote and focused on moving physical objects from idea to delivery.

Who White Circle is looking for

• Experience finding and vetting manufacturers, workshops, printers, and craftspeople for custom or non-standard products.
• Able to take a rough design idea and figure out materials, production methods, costs, and timelines without a ready-made supplier.
• Comfortable working remotely and coordinating with a small design team across time zones.
• Track record of producing physical goods that feel considered and worth keeping, not generic corporate merch.

Tips for this application

• Show specific examples of physical products you have produced from concept to delivery, including the suppliers or makers you worked with.
• Explain how you solved a production problem where no obvious supplier or off-the-shelf solution existed.
• Name the materials, processes, and factories you have experience with, because the job requires finding makers for unusual objects.
• Reference White Circle's product and brand directly, and say why physical objects matter for an AI safety company.
• Keep your application focused on production and sourcing, not general operations or marketing.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your hands-on experience sourcing and managing production for custom physical objects.', 'A concrete example of turning a design idea into a finished item with no obvious supplier.', 'How you think about making objects people keep, not standard corporate merch.', 'Why you want to work at a small AI safety company that is building its physical brand presence.']

Research before applying

• Read White Circle's website and any public writing about their policies, platform, and AI safety work.
• Look up the company's Series A announcement and the investors listed, including leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind.
• Find examples of physical objects, merch, or events that White Circle has made, if any are public.
• Understand what White Circle's design team has produced so far, so you can speak to how you would support them.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Walk through a physical product you produced from design handoff to delivery, including how you found the supplier.
• How would you approach manufacturing an object that has no obvious supplier or ready-made solution?
• What factories, workshops, or craftspeople have you worked with, and how do you vet them?
• How do you manage cost, quality, and timeline when producing small runs of custom objects?
• Why does physical brand presence matter for an AI safety company like White Circle?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Submitting a generic operations resume that does not show physical product production or sourcing experience.
• Focusing on corporate merch or promotional giveaways instead of objects people want to keep.
• Ignoring the AI safety context and treating this as a standard production role at any company.