China Manufacturing Sourcing Specialist – Custom Gaming Electronics Products

We are a UK gaming accessories business looking for an experienced China-based manufacturing sourcing specialist to identify, communicate with, technically qualify and progress suitable manufacturers for TWO custom products currently in development. This is NOT a basic supplier-search or supplier-list job. We have already carried out substantial manufacturer research and communicated with multiple potential suppliers ourselves. We now require an experienced sourcing professional who can take this significantly further and manage detailed manufacturer discussions on our behalf. The selected freelancer will be provided privately through Upwork with detailed requirement/specification documents for both products. These documents must be studied carefully and fully understood before manufacturers are recommended. Due to the confidential nature of the products, detailed product information will not be included in this public job post. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS The products involve a combination of areas including: • Custom consumer electronics • LED/electronic components • PCB/FPC and electronic control components • Custom plastic components • Mechanical integration • Custom product development • OEM/ODM manufacturing • Prototype development • Potential tooling/custom manufacturing Experience across these areas, or access to the appropriate manufacturing network in China, is highly desirable. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY We do NOT want someone who simply searches online supplier directories and provides us with a list of supplier names. You will be expected to: • Study both requirement documents carefully and understand the important technical, mechanical, electronic, dimensional, functional and manufacturing requirements. • Ask us questions where clarification is genuinely required before representing a requirement to manufacturers. • Search broadly across China for appropriate manufacturers, including Chinese-language sources and manufacturers that may not be easily found through normal English-language searches. • Contact potential manufacturers and conduct detailed discussions with them on our behalf. • Communicate with sales representatives AND technical/engineering personnel where necessary. • Explain our requirements accurately rather than simply forwarding a document and asking whether they can manufacture it. • Work through important requirements individually and establish exactly what each manufacturer can and cannot achieve. • Obtain engineering or technical confirmation for important requirements wherever necessary rather than relying solely on a salesperson saying that something can be done. • Determine whether each candidate is an actual manufacturer, trading company, manufacturer/integrator or another type of supplier. • Establish what the company manufactures internally and what components or processes would be outsourced. • Discuss manufacturing methods, materials, electronics, tooling, customisation, prototype/sample development, MOQ, production capability, estimated lead times and indicative pricing. • Determine whether existing manufacturing solutions/components can be adapted or whether custom development/tooling will be required. • Identify technical conflicts, feasibility problems or requirements that manufacturers believe should be modified. • Report these issues to us clearly and obtain our approval before agreeing to any material change to our requirements. • Liaise between us and manufacturers where engineering decisions or specification changes require our input. • Continue discussions until there is a clear technical understanding of the proposed manufacturing solution. • Request appropriate evidence of manufacturing capability where possible, including factory information, relevant previous manufacturing experience, production capabilities/equipment and company credentials. • Identify misleading, unsuitable or incapable suppliers before presenting them to us as qualified options. • Assist with initial price and MOQ discussions and negotiation where appropriate. • Keep organised records of important manufacturer discussions, confirmations and outstanding issues. IMPORTANT – THIS IS DEEP TECHNICAL SOURCING A manufacturer must NOT be presented to us as a recommended candidate simply because they responded positively to an initial enquiry. Before recommending a manufacturer, discussions should have progressed sufficiently for you to establish that they have properly reviewed the relevant requirements and have a credible manufacturing solution. We need to understand: • WHY the manufacturer believes the product can be produced. • HOW they propose to manufacture it. • Which requirements have been technically confirmed. • Which requirements remain unconfirmed. • Which requirements they cannot currently meet. • Which components/processes they can manufacture internally. • Which components/processes would be outsourced. • Whether specialist partner manufacturers would be required. • What tooling or custom development is required. • What prototype process they recommend. • What limitations or engineering risks they have identified. • What changes, if any, they recommend. • Expected MOQ. • Indicative prototype and tooling costs. • Indicative production pricing where reasonably available. • Expected prototype and production lead times. We strongly prefer manufacturing solutions that reduce unnecessary fragmentation. If a capable manufacturer or manufacturing integrator can manage multiple components/processes and provide something close to a complete finished product, this may be preferable to us coordinating many unrelated factories ourselves. However, we understand that specialist components may sometimes require separate manufacturers. Your responsibility is to investigate the available options and determine the most practical, technically credible and commercially sensible manufacturing route rather than forcing everything through one supplier. DELIVERABLE We are NOT setting a target such as “find 20 suppliers.” The objective is to provide us with a SMALL NUMBER OF GENUINELY QUALIFIED MANUFACTURING OPTIONS for EACH of the two products after substantial discussions have already taken place. Quality is significantly more important than quantity. We would rather receive 2–3 genuinely capable and thoroughly investigated manufacturing options for each product than a large number of unverified supplier names. For every manufacturer that reaches the final shortlist, we expect an organised summary covering: • Company/factory details • Factory/manufacturer status • Relevant manufacturing capabilities • Relevant previous experience • Proposed manufacturing solution • Requirements confirmed • Requirements not yet confirmed • Requirements they cannot meet, if any • Components/processes performed internally • Components/processes outsourced • Engineering concerns • Recommended specification changes, if any • Prototype/development approach • Tooling requirements and indicative cost • MOQ • Indicative prototype pricing • Indicative production pricing • Lead times • Important discussions already completed • Evidence obtained regarding capability • Remaining questions or decisions • Your assessment of the manufacturer • Any risks or concerns you have identified We expect the sourcing specialist to remain involved during discussions with shortlisted manufacturers and help us resolve outstanding manufacturing questions before a final manufacturer is selected. The assignment is not complete simply because several potential manufacturers have been identified. The manufacturers presented to us must first have been properly investigated and progressed through meaningful technical discussions. COMMUNICATION Mandarin Chinese language ability is strongly preferred. We want someone capable of communicating directly and in detail with Chinese manufacturers, technical personnel and engineers without important information being lost through poor communication. Good English communication is also essential because you must be able to explain technical discussions, manufacturer responses, problems and recommendations clearly to us. We expect proactive communication throughout the project. If a manufacturer discovers that an important requirement cannot be achieved, we expect to be informed promptly so that we can discuss the available options. We do not want important technical problems saved until the final report. WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR We are particularly interested in applicants with experience in: • China manufacturing sourcing • Consumer electronics • LED/electronic products • PCB/FPC sourcing or manufacturing • Plastic injection moulding/custom plastic components • Custom product development • OEM/ODM manufacturing • Factory qualification • Supplier negotiation • Prototype development • Manufacturing project management • Working directly with Chinese engineers/factories You do not necessarily need to personally engineer the products. However, you MUST be technically capable enough to understand detailed requirements, ask manufacturers the correct questions, recognise incomplete answers, obtain clarification from engineers and accurately report the results to us. CONFIDENTIALITY The products are currently under development. Detailed product specifications, drawings, photographs and requirement documents will therefore be provided privately through Upwork to the selected freelancer rather than published openly with this job post. Information provided to the selected freelancer must be treated as confidential and must not be shared or used for any purpose other than completing this project. BUDGET Fixed-price project: $675 USD. This budget is for properly completing the manufacturer sourcing, communication and qualification work for BOTH products. It is NOT payment for simply providing supplier leads. We are looking for someone who takes ownership of the sourcing process and progresses discussions substantially before presenting manufacturers to us. FUTURE WORK This project is intended to find the right manufacturing solutions for these two products. If the selected freelancer performs to a high standard, there is potential for significant additional paid work as these and future products progress through development, prototyping, manufacturing and the wider supply chain. We would prefer to build a longer-term relationship with a reliable sourcing/manufacturing specialist rather than repeatedly hiring different people. APPLICATION QUESTIONS Please do NOT send a generic copy-and-paste sourcing proposal. Please answer ALL of the following: 1. Where in China are you currently based? 2. What experience do you have sourcing custom consumer electronics or technically complex custom products? 3. What experience do you have communicating directly with Chinese factories and their engineers? 4. Are you fluent in Mandarin Chinese? What is your level of written and spoken English? 5. Give us one example of a difficult custom manufacturing project that you successfully sourced or helped develop. 6. How do you verify that a manufacturer is genuinely capable of producing a product rather than simply accepting a salesperson's claims? 7. How would your approach to this project differ from someone simply searching online supplier directories and providing unverified supplier leads? 8. Are you comfortable studying detailed technical requirement documents and conducting extensive discussions with manufacturers before recommending them to us? 9. How do you normally verify whether a supplier is a genuine manufacturer, a trading company or an intermediary? 10. Are you comfortable contacting multiple manufacturers and continuing discussions until the strongest genuinely capable options have been identified? Please begin your proposal with the words: TECHNICAL SOURCING This confirms that you have read the complete job description. We are looking for thoroughness, technical understanding and quality of manufacturer qualification — not the largest number of supplier contacts.