Experienced Smart Furniture Product Design & Technical Development Engineer

Experienced Smart Furniture Product Design & Technical Development Engineer Luxury Upholstered, Solid Wood & Mechanized Furniture DanKen Industries is seeking an experienced smart furniture product design and technical development engineer to help us develop custom high-end luxury furniture products from concept through production-ready documentation. We are looking for someone with strong verified experience designing premium upholstered furniture, solid wood furniture, and preferably smart/mechanized furniture. This role is not only for a visual designer or someone who only creates basic renderings. We need someone who understands furniture construction, technical development, manufacturability, production documentation, and how a furniture concept becomes a real product that can be sampled, manufactured, assembled, and repeated in production. Our primary focus is luxury furniture and smart/mechanized furniture, including sofas, sectionals, recliners, smart sofas, electric recliners, upholstered beds, smart beds, bedroom furniture, home theater seating, solid wood pieces, and other high-end custom furniture products. Some of our products may include smart furniture features such as electric recline systems, motion mechanisms, adjustable headrests, linear actuators, motors, LED lighting, USB/Type-C charging, wireless charging, Bluetooth speakers, control panels, wiring systems, service access areas, and other integrated components. We are looking for a furniture product developer with a strong technical and manufacturing mindset — someone who can help take reference photos, videos, sketches, inspiration images, or general design direction and turn them into complete furniture designs and production-ready packages. The ideal candidate should be able to work from visuals and limited direction without needing every small detail explained. We need someone who can understand the design intent, develop the concept, improve the structure, identify construction requirements, and create the necessary technical documentation for sampling and manufacturing. Key Experience Required The ideal candidate should have strong experience with: - Luxury upholstered furniture design - High-end sofa and sectional design - Recliner and motion furniture design - Upholstered bed and smart bed design - Solid wood furniture design - Furniture frame construction - Upholstery methods and sewing details - Foam, cushioning, springs, webbing, and comfort planning - Load-bearing furniture areas - Internal frame structure - Furniture product development - Design for manufacturing - Production drawings - BOMs and material specifications - Cut lists and CNC files - Assembly process planning - Manufacturing-ready documentation - Sample development support - Furniture factory communication - Mechanism integration into furniture frames - Working with engineers on moving parts, smart components, actuators, or electrical systems Experience with smart/mechanized furniture is strongly preferred, especially products involving electric recliners, actuator systems, motion mechanisms, LED lighting, wiring, speakers, charging modules, or other smart furniture components. Technical Furniture Knowledge Needed This role requires someone who understands the technical side of furniture development. The designer should understand how furniture is actually built, not just how it looks. The candidate should understand: - Furniture construction - Frame structure - Upholstery methods - Foam density, cushioning, springs, webbing, and comfort - Load-bearing areas and support points - Production drawings - BOMs and material specs - Hardware schedules - Fastener requirements - Cut lists / CNC files - Assembly process - DFM — design for manufacturing - How mechanisms fit into furniture frames - How to coordinate with engineers on moving parts and smart components The candidate does not necessarily need to be a licensed mechanical engineer. However, they should have a technical furniture engineering mindset and understand how to design furniture that can actually be manufactured, upholstered, assembled, costed, and repeated in production. Smart / Mechanized Furniture Requirements Some of our products will involve mechanisms, electrical components, and smart furniture features. We understand that complex mechanism design, actuator engineering, linkage systems, and electrical engineering may require a dedicated mechanical or electrical engineer. However, the furniture designer must still understand how these systems fit into the furniture design. We need someone who can help design around: - Recliner mechanisms - Motion systems - Actuators - Motors - Moving sections - Metal brackets and mounting points - Reinforcement areas - Wiring paths - LED lighting placement - Control panel placement - Charging module placement - Speaker placement - Service access areas - Clearances for moving parts - Assembly and installation requirements The goal is to ensure that the furniture design, internal frame, upholstery, mechanism, wiring, and smart components all work together as one complete manufacturable product. 3D Renderings / Visuals Ability to create high-quality 3D renderings is a strong plus. We would prefer someone who can provide realistic, high-end visuals that show: - Realistic upholstery texture - Leather, microfiber leather, velvet, fabric, or wood finishes - Stitching details - Trim details - Luxury aesthetics - Color variations - Material variations - Lifelike 3D / 4K / AI-assisted renderings - Realistic lighting and shadows - Room or lifestyle settings if needed Photorealistic rendering ability is preferred but not strictly required if your technical furniture development and production documentation skills are very strong. Full Deliverables Needed The selected designer should be capable of providing a complete furniture design and production-development package depending on the product and project scope. Deliverables may include: 1. Design Concept, Development & Visual Package - Product design concept and development brief - Reference analysis and design direction - Final exterior furniture design - 3D CAD model - Realistic renderings and view package - Front, side, rear, top, perspective, and detail views - Color, material, and finish direction 2. Upholstery, Comfort & Material Development Package - Upholstery design package - Sewing details and seam layout - Pattern and fabric cutting guidance - Foam, cushion, webbing, spring, and seat-support recommendations - Comfort and ergonomic development notes - Material specification sheet - Fabric, leather, trim, and finish recommendations 3. Frame, Structure & Manufacturing Documentation Package - Internal frame design - Frame construction drawings - Component drawings - Exploded views - Assembly drawings - Cut lists - DXF / CNC cutting files if required - Nested templates and cutting documentation if required - Hardware schedule - Fastener schedule - Full BOM / bill of materials 4. Smart Furniture, Mechanism & Component Integration Package - Mechanism integration notes - Smart component placement notes - LED lighting placement notes - Wiring route / cable routing considerations - Control panel / charging module placement notes - Service access planning - Clearances for moving parts - Assembly and installation considerations for smart components 5. Factory, Sample & Production-Ready Documentation Package - Assembly SOPs - Factory work instructions - Sample-build guidance - Testing and validation recommendations - Packaging recommendations - Final production-ready file package - Revision support for sample development where agreed Not every item will apply to every product, but we are looking for someone capable of supporting complete design-to-production development. Type of Designer We Are Looking For We are looking for someone who is: - Experienced - Detail-oriented - Technically strong - Creative - Practical - Manufacturing-minded - Comfortable working from visuals and limited direction - Able to understand luxury design language - Able to develop original custom furniture concepts - Able to create production-ready documentation - Able to communicate clearly - Able to work with engineers, sourcing specialists, and manufacturers - Able to support ongoing product development - Able to work with a lean startup budget in the beginning We are not looking for someone who only creates basic furniture models without construction knowledge. We need someone who understands how furniture is built and how to prepare designs for real manufacturing. Work Volume and Long-Term Opportunity DanKen Industries has a large amount of furniture design and development work planned. This is not intended to be a one-time project. For the right designer, there will be continuous and steady work across multiple product categories, including sofas, sectionals, recliners, beds, smart beds, bedroom sets, home theater seating, and other luxury furniture products. We are looking for a long-term design partner who can help us maintain consistent design quality across the brand. Because we are a new startup, we need someone who can be lean and flexible with compensation in the beginning. We are looking for a fair flat-rate structure that allows us to develop multiple products while controlling early-stage costs. As the company grows, samples are approved, production is established, and product development volume increases, there may be room to revisit compensation, increase rates, and create a longer-term working relationship. The main opportunity is consistent ongoing work, long-term partnership, and the possibility of becoming one of our primary furniture design and product development partners. Preferred Compensation Structure We prefer a flat-rate structure per design or per furniture set. We are a startup and need to keep early-stage costs lean. However, we are serious about building a real furniture company and are looking for someone who values long-term consistent work over one-time high pricing. First Trial Project We would like to begin with one trial project to evaluate workflow, communication, design quality, technical ability, documentation quality, and overall fit. The first trial may involve a smart sofa or recliner-style furniture set with premium upholstery, motion/mechanism considerations, smart component integration, and production-readiness requirements. If the first project goes well, we would like to continue with steady ongoing work. To Apply Please provide: - Examples of luxury furniture designs you have completed - Examples of upholstered furniture work - Examples of solid wood furniture work - Examples of smart/mechanized furniture work if available - Examples of production drawings or manufacturing documentation - Examples of BOMs, cut lists, CNC files, or assembly documents if available - Examples of realistic renderings if available - Explanation of your furniture construction and manufacturing knowledge - Your preferred design software - Your general flat-rate expectations - Your availability for ongoing work We are looking for someone experienced, reliable, technically capable, and interested in growing with a startup from the early stage into long-term production.