Leather & Soft Goods Lead

Overview

Lostine is seeking an experienced leatherworker and sewer to lead our Leather & Soft Goods department, overseeing the daily production of high-quality leather goods and components for our line of products. This role combines hands-on craftsmanship with team leadership — running and overseeing cutting, stitching, and assembly work while training and leading a small team, coordinating schedules, and ensuring consistent quality across the department.

The ideal candidate has strong leatherworking and/or sewing experience, including hand and machine stitching, cutting, and different types of assembly (riveting, nailing, gluing, etc) and is comfortable operating and setting up leatherworking and sewing equipment. This person should be ready to take ownership of a small team's daily output, help train newer associates, and troubleshoot issues as they arise, while still being hands-on with the work themselves.

Lostine has a high-mix production shop where every member plays a crucial role and cross-training is essential. This is a great fit for someone with solid leatherworking and sewing skills who is ready to grow into a leadership role, or someone with prior supervisory experience in a similar production environment looking to bring that expertise to a growing department.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Oversee daily leather and soft goods production output, running processes directly as needed to support throughput.
• Lead leather preparation, cutting, hand and machine stitching, and assembly of leather and soft goods components to established specifications.
• Provide machine setup and adjustment for leather and soft goods equipment, including the waterjet, sewing machines, and leather splitter.
• Oversee, train, and provide day-to-day direction to Production Associates within the Leather & Soft Goods department.
• Coordinate leather and soft goods production scheduling on a daily to weekly basis, sequencing jobs to balance throughput, material availability, staff availability, and deadlines.
• Perform in-process quality checks and troubleshoot minor issues during production, escalating process-level issues to the Production Manager.
• Maintain consumables and materials inventory (leather hides, hardware, thread, adhesives, etc.), notifying the purchasing team of needs as they arise.
• Support preventive and routine maintenance of leather and soft goods machines and tools.
• Ensure compliance with shop safety procedures within leather and soft goods processes, notifying the Production Manager of any issues.
• Coordinate with the Production Manager and other department leads on part and material handoff and timing for hybrid products.
• Assist with the creation and maintenance of training documentation and Standard Operating Procedures for leather and soft goods tasks.

Requirements

• Proven experience working with leather or fabric, including cutting, stitching, and assembly, ideally in a production or small-batch manufacturing setting.
• Comfortable operating and setting up leatherworking equipment (sewing machines, leather splitter, waterjet, or similar).
• Prior experience training, directing, or supervising other production staff — or clear readiness to take on a leadership role.
• Strong organizational and scheduling skills, with the ability to sequence work across staff, materials, and deadlines.
• Detail-oriented with a commitment to quality and consistency across repetitive production work. Good communicator, comfortable coordinating across departments and escalating issues appropriately.
• Coachable and adaptable, with the ability to problem-solve in a fast-paced, high-mix production environment.

Desired But Not Required Qualifications

• Familiarity with wood, brass, or other materials used in hybrid leather/wood/metal products.
• Familiarity with wood finishing and hand or woodworking tools.
• Familiarity with upholstery techniques.
• Experience creating or maintaining SOPs, work instructions, or training materials.
• Familiarity with lean manufacturing principles

Physical Requirements

• Ability to stand for long periods of time and work in a manufacturing environment.
• Ability to lift 50+ lbs.

Hours

• 8am – 4:30pm, Monday – Friday

Benefits

• Health insurance program
• Sick, vacation, and holiday paid time off
• 401K matching
• Employee discount