Technical Engineering Manager (Soft Accessories)

Burberry; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A luxury fashion brand in London is seeking a leader to head their Product Engineering team for Soft Accessories. This role will focus on managing the technical team to ensure product quality and adherence to specifications. Candidates should have experience in product engineering within the fashion industry, strong leadership abilities, and an understanding of lean methodologies. The position offers an opportunity to drive innovation and enhance operational excellence across product processes.

Qualifications

• Experience in the apparel/non-apparel sector, preferably in fashion.
• Experience leading multi-functional teams.
• Excellent organization and delivery focus.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Product Engineering team in Soft Accessories category.
• Ensure products meet quality standards in collaboration with teams.
• Monitor team performance against KPIs and objectives.
• Champion innovation and technology for process improvements.
• Manage the product testing process with external partners.

Skills

Product engineering experience

Leadership skills

Communication skills

Lean methodology

Proficiency in MS Office

Job description

INTRODUCTION

At Burberry, we believe creativity opens spaces. Our purpose is to unlock the power of imagination to push boundaries and open new possibilities for our people, our customers and our communities. This is the core belief that has guided Burberry since it was founded in 1856 and is central to how we operate as a company today.

We aim to provide an environment for creative minds from different backgrounds to thrive, bringing a wide range of skills and experiences to everything we do. As a purposeful, values-driven brand, we are committed to being a force for good in the world as well, creating the next generation of sustainable luxury for customers, driving industry change and championing our communities.

JOB PURPOSE

To lead the Product Engineering team for the Soft Accessories category, responsible for managing the technical team to work in collaboration with the product design, development and raw materials teams to ensure that products are executed to specification by internal partners and external vendors to ensure that Burberry’s quality standards are adhered to.

This role reports into the Senior Manager, Product Development Softs.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the team to identify opportunities to achieve operational excellence, benchmarking against competitors, supporting and encouraging the team to embrace organizational change, continuous improvement and lean projects
• Continuously review opportunities for process improvements and champion the use of innovation and technology
• Monitor and review the teams weekly/monthly performance against agreed KPIs and objectives. Work with individual team members to agree and review objectives and agree personal development plans, taking action as needed to rectify under-performance
• instigating actions to rectify under-achievement as appropriate
• To champion communication, diversity and inclusion initiatives and continuously seek to improve levels of engagement and wellbeing across the team
• Collaborating and building relationships with corporate cross-functional teams
• Lead the team to support the end to end process from launch to delivery in terms of quality, fit, grading and construction while taking full accountability from showroom/ market stage for industrialisation.

• Undertake risk assessments for all product safety and global legislation requirements for materials and assess suitability in relation to construction and functionality.
• Understand CHW safety regulations SRA , TOP sample process is adhered by vendors to ensure compliance
• Measuring products and entering comments and technical specifications into the PLM system, and provide clear guidance to vendors how to carry out any required alterations
• Responsible for sending accurate and timely technical comments, graded specs for production, technical sketches, diagrams and liaising with vendors on daily basis at pp and production stage
• Identifying opportunities for cost engineering to help improve and/or maintain margin
• Management of the Product testing process with external test houses during development to advise care label/disclaimers and resolution of test failures, reviewing previous approvals and returns data as evidence for decision making
• Ensure consistency of quality across the category and throughout size range
• Attend and lead meetings, working cross-functionally with teams including design, product development, merchandise and sourcing
• Creation and updating product construction and standards manuals for key product families
• Monitor returns from stores, Hub failures, and sales feedback, NPS. Establish reasons for returns and implement lessons learnt to prevent re-occurring issues.
• Respond to customer complaints within SLA directly in C4C system to maintain CSAT scores

PERSONAL PROFILE

• Product engineering experience within the apparel/non-apparel sector, ideally within the fashion industry
• Previous experience of leading a multi-functional team
• Familiar with “lean” ways of working & methodology
• Proficient in MS Office applications
• Strong leadership & coaching skills
• Excellent communication, influencing and listening skills
• Organised, efficient and delivery focused
• Commercial approach
• Ability to develop strong relationships with peers and cross-functional business partners

FOOTER

Burberry is an Equal Opportunities Employer and as such, treats all applications equally and recruits purely on the basis of skills and experience.

Posting Notes: United Kingdom || Not Applicable || London || SC CENTRAL OPERATIONS || RMM - RAW MATERIALS MANAGEMENT || n/a ||