Associate Product Developer

Job Title: Associate Product Developer

Department: Product

Reports To: Director of Product Development

Summary:

It is a Product Developer’s responsibility to maintain the development of their assigned styles by serving as the liaison between the Category Merchandising Manager, Designer, Sourcing Team, and the vendor.

PD’s are responsible for the timely and accurate creation of tech packs and Bill of Materials (BOMs), and for the day to day/style by style communication with select vendors, and to hand these tools over to Production (with the approval and guidance of the Category Merchandising Manager) complete, accurate, and on time.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Duties:

·      Identifies garment construction and product functionality that supports designer vision, key costing requirements, and technical integrity.

·      Maintains all product details within the PLM system and various stages of prototype samples.

·      Manage the entire development process and maintains BOM’s from initial tech pack build out to production ready styles.

• Work to pre-cost new styles and endeavor to achieve cost savings in line with product margin goals set by the Category Merchandising Manager.

·      Ensures product fit and consistency based established specification and block patterns and achieved through concise and in-depth fit analysis and communication to vendors.

• Measuring and recording garment measurements and conducting on form and model fit reviews. They will assist vendors in patterning for improved fit as appropriate.

·      Record and deliver all prototype comments and factory communication, track cost impacts of changes, communicate changes to all appropriate parties and plan for next steps.

·      Executes to the product development calendar for optimum efficiency while partnering with Design, Merchandising and Operations.

·      Plan and track to the development schedule to ensure timely completion of each stage of product deliverables.

·      Analyze detail cost sheets to confirm accuracy including yields, adherence to BOM details and to ensure the assigned products are meeting margin goals by estimating pre-costs and driving cost goals in collaboration with product managers and vendors.

• Achieve commercial viability of designs through collaboration with Merchandising, Design, Raw Mat and Ops department

·      Work with sourcing leadership and vendor partners to successfully collaborate throughout the development process and provide guidance and vendor knowledge to determine the sourcing strategy for the season.

Responsibilities

• Ensure the accuracy and timeliness of: tech packs, matrices, margin reports and seasonal buy plans
• Stay in tune with the industry needs and customer base
• Stay up on the state of the Ski and Outdoor market
• Stay up on the competition’s product
• Stay in tune with the rules & regulations that go along with production of our product
• Be prepared for potential travel to work on seasonal development with vendors (international and domestic)
• Be prepared for potential travel to attend sales meetings and select tradeshows

Competencies:

·      Strong knowledge of technical garment construction, fit, pattern-making, product creation, material construction, and the development lifecycle process a plus

·      Knowledge of costing process and evaluation

·      Understanding of Design and Merchandising roles in product lifecycle

·      Excellent problem solving, communication skills and strong written communication skills

·      Ability to multi-task, manage multiple projects, prioritize and meet deadlines

·      Highly detail-oriented, organized, and meticulous with follow-up

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience:

• 2-4 years’ experience in a design, production, or merchandising department and/or a full-time internship with a respected brand.
• A Design and/or Development Bachelor’s degree is preferable and appreciated.

Language Skills:

Individual must have ability to:

·      Read and interpret documents such as department memos, rep-reports and pertinent periodicals and books. 

·      Write routine reports and correspondence. 

·      Speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.

·      Communicate clearly enough to translate vision to a party who’s first language may not be English

Reasoning Abilities:

Individual must have ability to:

• Solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Computer Skills:

To perform the job successfully, an individual should be at the following levels for the below software programs

• Intermediate - Word, Excel, Powerpoint
• Intermediate to Advanced – Illustrator 11
• Beginning to Intermediate – Mac OSX, etc.