ASSOCIATE MATERIALS MANAGER

Kohl's; Menomonee Falls (WI); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Kohl’s is seeking an Associate Materials Manager to lead global materials sourcing for Private and Exclusive brands, driving cost, quality, and timely delivery with technical rigor. The role partners with Design/production and mills to develop materials for consolidation, newness, and sustainability goals.

You will maintain fabric libraries, manage material testing standards, and support seasonal and long-range mill strategy.

Qualifications

• 2+ years in textiles, product development, sourcing, or related retail functions.
• Textile construction knowledge with a global supply chain perspective.
• Experience in development, sourcing, costing, or material commercialization.
• Strong analytical, organizational, communication, project management, negotiation and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence and build relationships with internal and external partners.

Responsibilities

• Develop materials to support consolidation, fabric strategy and newness.
• Guide CFT on partner mills and execution.
• Maintain fabric library to support innovation and trend.
• Work with mills to develop materials within cost, quality, and sustainability expectations.
• Manage material libraries and recommend existing qualities.
• Support material testing standards and pass ratings.
• Maintain PLM and development tools related to seasonal materials.
• Execute sourcing strategies by category, brand, gender, and mill.

Skills

Textiles

Sourcing

Product development

Supply chain

Vendor relations

Analytical skills

Communication

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Textiles

Tools

Microsoft Office

Google Workspace

Data reporting tools

Job description

About the Role

As Associate Materials Manager, you will execute global materials sourcing strategies for Kohl’s Private and Exclusive brands to deliver optimal supply chain value, including quality, cost, speed and on-time delivery with technical proficiency.

What You’ll Do

• Partners with Design/production to develop materials to support consolidation, fabric strategy and newness
• Shares any relevant intel from mill/garment partners and helps guide CFT on which partners to utilize for execution
• Creates and maintains fabric library to support innovation, newness and trend for CFT utilization
• Works directly with mills to develop materials within cost, IMU, quality, performance, and sustainability expectations.
• Manages physical and digital material libraries and recommends existing qualities when appropriate.
• Supports material testing standards, test methods, and pass ratings
• Maintains PLM and development tools related to seasonal materials, palettes, commercialization, and status updates.
• Executes materials sourcing strategies by category, brand, gender, and mill to support cost, quality, speed, lead-time, and merchant financial goals.
• Supports seasonal and long-range mill strategy, including mill matrix intent, mill projections, scorecards, and capability assessments.
• Supports cost execution through competitive costing events, seasonal negotiations, cost analysis, benchmarking, and mill/program awards.
• Manages and optimizes Service Level Terms, consumption charts, yarn/greige positioning, and inventory risk escalation.
• Builds and maintains cost reporting using internal data sources and other reporting tools.
• Supports company sustainability goals related to materials and sourcing.
• Serves as a key liaison across Sourcing, Design, Production, QAPI and external partners (Mills/Vendors)
• Supports seasonal brand matrix and projection processes by mill, brand, category, and gender.
• Builds knowledge of supplier, mill, and COP capabilities, competencies, and expertise.
• Supports training, development, and process guidance for peers and Materials Coordinators.
• Drives documentation best practices, training resources, process improvements, data management, and presentation development for leadership decision-making

Additional tasks may be assigned

What Skills You Have

Required

• 2+ years of experience in textiles, product development, sourcing, production, supply chain, or related retail functions.
• Textile construction knowledge with a global supply chain perspective.
• Experience in development, sourcing, costing, or material commercialization.
• Strong analytical, organizational, communication, project management, negotiation and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence and build relationships with internal and external partners.
• Detail-oriented, self-starting, agile, and able to manage complex priorities.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, Google platforms, and data/reporting tools

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in Textiles, Design, Sourcing, Business, or a closely related field.
• Previous experience in textile manufacturing
• Ability to successfully operate in an international environment

This role is based at our Corporate Office in Menomonee Falls, WI. You’ll work onsite from Monday through Thursday, with the option to work remotely on Fridays.