What are the responsibilities and job description for the Product Development Manager position at SBH Fashion?
Job Title: Product Development Manager
About The Role
We're looking for a Product Development Manager to join our growing team and play a key role in bringing our product vision to life — across apparel, home, and lifestyle categories. Reporting to the VP/Director of Product, this role owns the end-to-end development process from initial concept through production-ready handoff, with a strong focus on fabric and trim sourcing, vendor relationships, and expanding our product offering in a thoughtful, brand-right way.
This is a role for someone who is equally detail-obsessed and big-picture minded — someone who can geek out over a fabric hand feel in the morning and contribute to a category expansion conversation in the afternoon.
What You'll Do
Product Development
About The Role
We're looking for a Product Development Manager to join our growing team and play a key role in bringing our product vision to life — across apparel, home, and lifestyle categories. Reporting to the VP/Director of Product, this role owns the end-to-end development process from initial concept through production-ready handoff, with a strong focus on fabric and trim sourcing, vendor relationships, and expanding our product offering in a thoughtful, brand-right way.
This is a role for someone who is equally detail-obsessed and big-picture minded — someone who can geek out over a fabric hand feel in the morning and contribute to a category expansion conversation in the afternoon.
What You'll Do
Product Development
- Own the product development process from tech pack creation and sample development through fit approvals and production handoff
- Partner closely with design, merchandising, and production to ensure products are developed on time, on cost, and to quality standards
- Manage and maintain development calendars across multiple categories, flagging risks and driving resolution proactively
- Review and approve samples at each stage of development, ensuring design intent is preserved through final production
- Support the VP/Director of Product in identifying and evaluating new category and product expansion opportunities — from initial research and vendor identification through first-adoption development
- Help build out development infrastructure for new categories (home, lifestyle, accessories, etc.) as the brand grows, including identifying and onboarding new suppliers and factories
- Bring a merchant mindset to product expansion — balancing brand vision with commercial viability and operational feasibility
- Stay current on market trends, competitive landscape, and emerging materials/techniques relevant to the brand's evolving category mix
- Manage day-to-day relationships with a portfolio of domestic and international vendors, factories, and mills
- Evaluate new supplier and factory partners as needed to support growth and category expansion
- Ensure vendor compliance with brand standards around quality, lead times, and ethical sourcing practices
- 4–6 years of product development experience within a women's apparel, lifestyle, or multi-category consumer brand — ideally with exposure beyond apparel into home or accessories
- Hands-on fabric and trim sourcing experience, with a strong understanding of materials, construction, and quality standards across categories
- Demonstrated involvement in product or category expansion initiatives — from ideation through development execution
- Strong project management skills — able to manage multiple development tracks simultaneously and keep cross-functional partners aligned and on schedule
- Experience reading and creating tech packs, managing sample review processes, and communicating technical details to both design and factory partners
- Comfortable working with domestic and overseas vendors; experience navigating international sourcing and production timelines
- A collaborative, solutions-oriented approach — you flag issues early and come to the table with options, not just problems
- Proficiency in PLM systems, Google Suite, and Excel/Sheets; experience with Airtable or similar project management tools a plus
Salary : $90,000 - $105,000