Ready to join one of the most successful fashion brands on the high street? Do you have a passion for fashion? Driven to achieve? United to win? If your answers are yes, please read on…
Job Purpose:
The Product Technology department at our client’s busy head office supports the Buying and Design teams to ensure product fit and quality is in line with the brand strategy and values and is compliant in all markets/ channels in which they trade. This is achieved through strong Buying team, Design team and Supplier relations. A strong commercial awareness and application is essential.
As Technical Manager, you will be accountable for the delivery of all technical requirements of your Division/ categories. Application of your excellent knowledge of fit, product construction, manufacturing, performance and safety requirements as well as your awareness of market and industry trends will ensure management of risk in product and/ or production and that delivered product meets the Client’s standards. Strong relationships with your counterparts in the Product and CSR Teams enables alignment with the business priorities.
Key Accountabilities:
• Provide technical leadership and direction across the Divisional Technical Team, Design, Buying, Supply Base, maintaining a commercial perspective.
• Manage a team effectively, setting the direction and objectives to be achieved for your division, ensuring the team is aligned and working towards those objectives, and providing timely feedback and support to enable each person to work to the best of their abilities.
• Deliver a Talent Pipeline for Technical through providing learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring.
• Build and maintain strong internal and external networks to develop broad perspective and identify future opportunities.
• Review and propose Technical strategy and priorities for the division, in line with the Division and company strategy/ initiatives, and emerging developments and trends in the industry.
• Drive the development and approval processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness
• Pro-actively challenge status quo, current standards and processes to identify opportunities that benefit the business. Requires collaboration with peers to ensure a consistent approach across the company.
• Focussing on continuous improvement, establish and maintain fit and quality standards in line with customer expectations. Consistency across the Division is required in order to ensure customer confidence and that unnecessary customer returns are minimised.
• Drive regular review of current blocks, key shapes and grade rules to identify opportunities. Collaboration with buying and design counterparts is essential for alignment with business priorities.
• Establishing, reviewing and communicating standards and manuals in collaboration with peers on the Tech team, ensuring they are clear to all stakeholders and consistent across the Brand.
• Monitor and review trends in customer returns and store / web feedback as part of an ongoing review of all standards. Ensure Buying teams are regularly updated and identify and implement, at Divisional level, relevant initiatives / recommendations that reduce future returns.
• Maintain a knowledge of current and changing global legislation – and ensure implementation into our product.
• Develop excellent Supplier Relationships to ensure understanding of and commitment to delivery of client’s standards
• Understand technical capabilities/limitations of Suppliers and supply chain to optimise delivered quality and minimise risk to production/ delivery. Collaborate with suppliers to establish realistic action plans that enable improvement to delivered standards.
• Facilitate a smooth on-boarding process with minimal risk to the business of new suppliers and factories, in line with defined criteria.
• Provide Buying /Merchandise teams with supporting information required in negotiations for losses arising out of poor fit, quality or non-compliance.
• Contribution to the Division / Company Supplier Strategy ensuring the Product team are aware of weakness in the existing supply base and opportunities for mitigation of risk.
• Sustainability – provide support to the Sustainability Lead in the delivery of the business strategy
• Support the ethical team in achieving their objectives
Key experience required:
• Previous experience as a Technical Manager or Senior Technologist with Management experience, in a Retail or Manufacturing Technical environment is required.
• Strong knowledge of sizing, pattern making / grading and of construction methods
• Extensive multi-product experience
• Extensive experience / knowledge of working across multiple sourcing locations
• Substantial supply chain management experience
• Extensive product testing and compliance experience with a solid understanding of technical and legal standards
Job role competencies:
• Excellent people management and development skills
• Good coaching and mentoring skills
• Supports and encourages the empowerment of team
• Excellent interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence
• Builds genuine relationships with peers, highly collaborative
• Agility and flexibility; adaptable
• Forward thinking, pro-active – a self-starter
• Challenges the Status Quo
• Demonstrates good judgement and excellent commercial application
• Strong negotiation skills
• Highly organised, good prioritisation skills, decisive
• Curious, continuous learning mindset