Head of Technical Design - Kids' Apparel

Garan Incorporated; New York (NY); On-site; USD 102,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Garan Incorporated is seeking an experienced Technical Design Manager to lead a team of Technical Designers and oversee hands-on technical design across retailers, brands, and seasonal calendars. This role blends leadership with practical design responsibilities and requires coordination with Design, Product Development, Merchandising, Sourcing, Production, Quality, and overseas factory partners.

You will coach the team, set priorities, translate calendars into workloads, maintain fit standards,

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive Technical Design experience in apparel.
• Experience managing a high-volume product workload across multiple calendars, customers, or business units.
• Advanced knowledge of garment construction, fit, grading, patternmaking, specifications, and apparel manufacturing.
• Experience working directly with overseas factories and global sourcing partners.
• Proficiency with PLM systems, Microsoft Excel, and other tools used to track development and communicate technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Technical Designers with accountability and technical consistency.
• Translate retailer calendars and seasonal milestones into a clear team workload plan with weekly priorities and owners.
• Balance planned development, urgent requests, fit approvals, and production needs; reallocate work quickly as priorities change.
• Maintain visibility to style status, capacity, bottlenecks, and upcoming deadlines; identify risks early and recommend solutions.
• Conduct regular one-on-one meetings, performance reviews, development planning, onboarding, and technical training.

Skills

Technical design

Team leadership

PLM experience

Advanced garment construction

Excel proficiency

Tools

PLM systems

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Garan Incorporated is seeking an experienced Technical Design Manager to lead a team of Technical Designers and oversee hands-on technical design across retailers, brands, and seasonal calendars. This role blends leadership with practical design responsibilities and requires coordination with Design, Product Development, Merchandising, Sourcing, Production, Quality, and overseas factory partners.

You will coach the team, set priorities, translate calendars into workloads, maintain fit standards,