Furniture Fabrication Lead & Shop Manager- Full Time/Salaried + PTO and health benefits

$60,000-70,000/ year

Location: Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles

KEITA is a small, Los Angeles-based furniture design and fabrication studio, looking for a skilled and organized Furniture Fabrication Lead & Shop Manager to join our team.

This is a hands-on role for an experienced woodworker who is creative, flexible, and organized. We’re looking for someone who enjoys solving unusual fabrication challenges and is excited by the opportunity to bring non-traditional and ambitious furniture designs into reality. Our work doesn’t always follow conventional furniture-making approaches, so curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to experiment are important.

Working closely with our design team, you’ll help translate unique furniture designs into practical fabrication and machining processes. You’ll be directly involved in furniture fabrication and assembly while also overseeing shop workflow, directing assistants, managing materials and inventory, maintaining equipment, and developing systems as the studio grows. Our shop is small, with no more than three people working at one time. Strong craftsmanship and attention to detail are essential, as is the ability to work independently, delegate, take initiative, and make sound decisions in a small-shop environment.

What You'll Do

In this role you will translate design drawings into practical and efficient fabrication and machining processes, while building and assembling furniture alongside a small shop team. The role requires strong knowledge of woodworking, joinery, machining, jig making, and pattern cutting, as well as the ability to identify fabrication challenges and develop practical solutions with the design team. You’ll also direct and coordinate shop assistants across various projects, organize shop workflow and priorities, and maintain a safe, clean, organized, and efficient workspace. In addition, you’ll manage lumber, hardware, finishing materials, and other shop inventory; track purchasing, material usage, and supply budgets; and maintain woodworking machinery and equipment, including maintenance and repair records. As KEITA grows, you’ll help develop and improve shop systems, production workflows, and documentation, while using Notion and similar tools to track projects, tasks, inventory, and shop operations. You’ll work closely with the design and operations team (Chris and Hannah) to communicate project status, production needs, and potential issues.

Preferred / Bonus Experience

  • CNC machinery and CNC-based furniture fabrication

  • Machinery maintenance and repair

  • Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, SketchUp, Rhino, AutoCAD, or similar design and modeling software is also helpful 

  • Experience managing a furniture, woodworking, or fabrication shop; developing production or inventory systems

  • Experience supervising a shop or team is valuable, but we are also interested in candidates who have demonstrated strong initiative and leadership within a hands-on fabrication environment.

  • Experience with Notion or similar project-management software is preferred but not required.

What Success Looks Like

You’ll become an important link between design and fabrication, helping turn ambitious furniture designs into beautifully made, efficiently produced pieces. Success means the shop is organized, productive, well maintained, and projects are consistently moving forward.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to be hands-on in the shop while also taking ownership of how the shop operates and grows.

Please direct all resumes and inquiries to hannahpeck@keitadesign.com