Production Operator

Chemring Australia; Ballarat; On-site; AUD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Flexible working options

Onsite restaurant

Wellness centre

Onsite childcare

Employee discounts

Wellbeing support

Job summary

Cotton On Group is seeking a Production Specialist to join the Cotton On Global Support Centre in Ballarat. You will drive end-to-end production from order placement to shipping, coordinating suppliers and cross-functional teams to ensure on-time delivery, quality and cost targets.

You will partner with Design, Buying, Planning and Quality, manage critical path milestones, and support in-season production decisions to support trading performance.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in apparel production, sourcing or supply chain.
• I n-depth knowledge of end-to-end production processes and critical path management.
• Experience working with suppliers to deliver cost, lead time and quality outcomes.
• Strong commercial awareness including cost negotiation and margin impact.
• Understanding of compliance, sustainability and quality standards in production.
• Excellent stakeholder collaboration across Design, Buying, Planning and Quality.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive mindset.
• Demonstrated ability to coach others within a team.

Responsibilities

• Execute end-to-end production from order placement through to shipment, ensuring accuracy and on-time delivery.
• Manage supplier relationships day-to-day, driving performance across cost, lead time, quality and compliance.
• Negotiate and support commercial outcomes across cost, MOQ and production timelines.
• Own production tracking and critical path management, proactively identifying risks and solutions.
• Ensure all pre-production and bulk milestones are achieved, including approvals, testing and compliance.
• Partner cross-functionally with Design, Buying, Planning and Quality to deliver product outcomes.
• Support component and material decisions in line with design direction, cost and performance requirements.
• Contribute to flexible, in-season production decisions to support trading performance.

Skills

End-to-end production

Supplier relationship management

Cost negotiation

Quality & compliance

Cross-functional collaboration

Project tracking

Planning & scheduling

Problem solving

Coaching & mentoring

Job description

Production Specialist - Cotton On Global Support Centre

Do you speak fashion? We're hiring, let’s chat!

ABOUT US

Born in Australia, loved around the world. At Cotton On, we know good style goes well beyond what's in your wardrobe. We’re here to inspire, spark joy and bolster self-expression and creativity. We want our community to feel seen, heard and celebrated, and as a brand, we want to use our voice to make a positive difference in people's lives. We’re playfully rebellious and always optimistic. Join our world and let's do good things together.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We’re looking for a commercially driven and detail-focused Production Specialist to join our Cotton On team working within the Denim category on a 6 month fixed-term contract.

In this role, you’ll bring product to life at scale — executing production from order placement through to delivery, ensuring our product is delivered on time, on cost and to the highest quality standards.

You’ll play a key role in connecting teams and suppliers, balancing speed, cost and quality to deliver strong customer outcomes.

You will:

• Execute end-to-end production from order placement through to shipment, ensuring accuracy and on-time delivery
• Manage supplier relationships day-to-day, driving performance across cost, lead time, quality and compliance
• Negotiate and support commercial outcomes across cost, MOQ and production timelines
• Own production tracking and critical path management, proactively identifying risks and solutions
• Ensure all pre-production and bulk milestones are achieved, including approvals, testing and compliance
• Partner cross-functionally with Design, Buying, Planning and Quality to deliver product outcomes
• Support component and material decisions in line with design direction, cost and performance requirements
• Contribute to flexible, in-season production decisions to support trading performance

If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, love problem-solving and are passionate about bringing product to life behind the scenes, we’d love to meet you.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Proven experience in apparel production, sourcing or supply chain within a global sourcing environment
• Strong understanding of end-to-end production processes and critical path management
• Experience working with suppliers to deliver across cost, quality and lead time outcomes
• Strong commercial awareness, including cost negotiation and margin impact
• Understanding of compliance, sustainability and quality standards in production
• Excellent stakeholder collaboration across Design, Buying, Planning and Quality
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple priorities and timelines
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive, solutions-focused mindset
• Demonstrated ability to support or coach others within a team environment

BENEFITS

• Competitive salary
• Flexible working options & people-first leave initiatives
• Access to our world-class Support Centre, with an in-house restaurant & state-of-the-art wellness centre featuring free gym & holistic health services
• Subsidised onsite childcare centre
• 50% off our Brands | Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Rubi Shoes, Typo, Factorie & Supre
• 24/7 Wellness support - mental health, relationships, family + more
• Local & Global career growth
• Discounts for you & your family - medical, travel, financial + more
• Performance & Peak incentives to reward +recognise our team
• Returnity - Paid program for new parents heading back to work
• Bring your dog to work
• Recognition, team connection moments & more!

Cotton On’s purpose is to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Born in Australia, Cotton On is a global fashion and lifestyle retailer with eight brands across 22 countries and 1,500 stores. Powered by 20,000 team members, who together with our customers, are making a positive impact through one life-changing Foundation. Taking their Aussie lifestyle to the world and delivering Good along the way, Cotton On brands offer youthful fashion and lifestyle products across women's, men’s, kids, body, accessories and stationery.

We are proud of our diverse global workforce of 20,000 team members from countless nationalities, and we strongly welcome and encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply with us.

We are focused on bringing more voices, experiences and backgrounds to our workforce as we drive diverse and inclusive outcomes for our team and our customers.

If you have any individual needs in order to fully participate in the recruitment process, please contact us at so we may support you in completing the job application process.