Director, Product Development (Women's Apparel)

Reformation; Vernon (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Commuter benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

Reformation in Vernon, CA is seeking a Director of Product Development to lead end-to-end women's apparel development, from concept through production. This on-site leadership role partners with Design, R&D, Merchandising, and Production to optimize margins and speed to market.

You will build and mentor a high-performing team, own the calendar, negotiate with suppliers, and ensure compliance and quality across both import and domestic development while aligning with sustainability commitments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in apparel product development with people-management experience
• Proven costing negotiations, margin targets, and budget management
• Experience building supplier and vendor relationships with direct negotiation on cost, quality, and capacity
• Experience managing both import and domestic development with calendar constraints
• Familiarity with PLM/ERP and BOM data maintenance across product lifecycle

Responsibilities

• Oversee the entire product development lifecycle from concept to production as the single accountable owner of the calendar
• Run the fast lane calendar and chase timelines for domestic and import development
• Collaborate with design to translate direction into manufacturable product with early feasibility/costing signals
• Own costing across channels and negotiate with suppliers to hit margin goals
• Develop and manage the department's product development and production budget
• Lead, mentor, and develop the product development team
• Align development plans with merchandising and planning to reflect business goals
• Ensure compliance and quality standards before pass-off with QA collaboration
• Improve productivity and processes across the team
• Handle special projects as needed

Skills

Product development leadership

Costing negotiations

Budget management

Vendor relations

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentoring/people management

Tools

PLM/ERP systems

BOM management

Job description

Director, Product Development (Women's Apparel)

Vernon, CA

Who We Are:

Being naked is the #1 most sustainable option. We're #2.

None of this work is possible without the incredible people behind it. We're a mission-based company that invests in an inclusive culture, so we can innovate together and ensure everyone has the space to grow, thrive, and belong.

And starting right now, we want to do all that with you.

Work Location/ Schedule: Full time, on-site at our Vernon HQ

The Role:

We're looking for a Director of Product Development to own execution across our Import and Domestic product development — from pass-off to production. Reporting to the VP, Product Development & Production, this is one of the most consequential leadership roles in our Product organization: the person in this seat directly shapes our margin performance, our speed to market, and how well design ambition survives contact with real-world sourcing and production.

You'll partner closely with Design, R&D, Merchandising, Tech Services, and Production to keep product moving on time and on margin, while building and mentoring the team that gets us there. Your cost engineering and vendor negotiation decisions flow straight through to company-level financial performance, and your calendar and process discipline is what lets us move fast without compromising quality or our sustainability commitments. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who wants real ownership over how product gets made — not just how it's tracked.

What You'll Do:

• Oversee the entire product development lifecycle in scope — concept, tech pack hand-off, sampling, costing, fit, and pass-off to production — as the single accountable owner of the calendar.
• Run the fast lane calendar, holding the team to established chase timelines for both domestic and import development.
• Work closely with the design team to translate creative direction into viable, manufacturable product, surfacing feasibility, costing, and timeline constraints early.
• Partner with R&D on fabric and trim selection to avoid margin or retail-price disconnects downstream.
• Own costing across all channels in scope, holding suppliers to target cost and margin goals through negotiation.
• Develop and manage the department's product development and production budget, tracking spend against plan and flagging variances early.
• Establish and maintain strong, accountable relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, and vendors in scope.
• Own vendor performance conversations — cost, quality, delivery — and bring recommendations on capacity allocation and vendor mix.
• Own the deadstock and trim sourcing process, balancing development speed, sustainability commitments, and data integrity.
• Maintain style bill of materials and product data accurately in PLM/PIM across the full product lifecycle across the teams managed.
• Align development plans with merchandising and planning so the calendar reflects business goals and allocation-to-plan, not just internal PD capacity.
• Ensure every style in scope meets compliance and quality standards before pass-off, partnering with QA on garment care, testing, and labeling requirements.
• Work with Fit Tech to maintain the fit approval schedule and own final fit-to-production sign-off for styles in scope.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing product development team.
• Build and manage the org structure needed to execute, proposing changes to the VP as the business evolves.
• Drive productivity tracking and process improvement across the team, owning the metrics behind it.
• Take on special projects outside the standard calendar as the business requires.

Who You Are

• 10+ years in apparel product development, with prior people-management experience at the manager or associate director level or above.
• A track record of owning costing negotiations, margin targets, and budget management — not just calendar or process oversight.
• Experience building and retaining supplier and vendor relationships, with direct negotiation experience on cost, quality, and capacity.
• Comfortable managing both import and domestic development processes, with an understanding of how calendar and capacity constraints differ by geography.
• Working knowledge of PLM/ERP systems and BOM/data maintenance across the product lifecycle.
• A natural mentor who genuinely enjoys developing people, not just managing output.
• Structured and nimble at the same time — you build process the team will actually follow, and you know when the 80/20 rule applies.
• Comfortable having hard cross-functional conversations that lead to win-win outcomes, even when that means asking other teams to compromise.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office / Google Workspace; comfortable working from live dashboards and BigQuery-backed reporting rather than static trackers.

Compensation:

At Reformation, we believe in transparency and equity when it comes to compensation. For this role, the anticipated base salary range is $160,000 - $170,000 + 15% bonus eligibility, depending on a variety of factors, including but not limited to relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and internal compensation equity.

This role may also be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus based on a range of factors, including company performance, department goals, and individual contributions. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and are determined at the company’s discretion.

Please note that compensation decisions are made thoughtfully and may vary from the listed range to reflect individual circumstances and evolving business needs. Our total rewards package also includes benefits, perks, and opportunities for growth that contribute to overall compensation.

• Eligible employees get employer-sponsored private medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as commuter benefits to help support your travel to and from work.
• We offer competitive paid time off policies including vacation, sick leave, and company holidays for eligible employees.
• We offer retirement planning support for eligible employees, including the option to invest in Environmental Social Governance-aligned (fancy way to say sustainable) funds.
• We’re a mission-based company with offices in LA, NYC and London, as well as a global retail team, which means you’ll get to collaborate with people all around the world.
• You’ll get access to fertility care support through Carrot , and up to a $5,000 USD reimbursement for related fertility expenses after 1 year of employment.
• We care about the causes our employees care about so we donate to community efforts on a yearly basis.
• We offer a clothing discount, culture events (like our annual Ref Values week and Volunteer Time Off), you know, all the meaningful and fun stuff!

Reformation is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that reflects the world we want to live in. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status—in accordance with applicable international, federal, state, and local laws.

If you require accommodations during the application or interview process, please let us know. We’re here to ensure you have what you need to show up as your best self.

Still don’t know if you should apply? We get it—studies show that many women and individuals from historically underrepresented communities hold back from applying unless they meet every single requirement. At Reformation, we’re all about growth, not gatekeeping. If you’re passionate about the role and excited about making fashion more sustainable, we’d love to hear from you. If this role doesn’t totally excite you, consider applying to our general application.