Manager, Product Development-UA

Centric Brands Inc.; City of Niagara Falls (NY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401(k) Matching

Summer Fridays

Generous PTO

Employee Discount

Career development

Centric Cares

D&I programs

Job summary

Centric Brands Inc. is seeking a seasoned Production/Product Development professional to lead cross-functional development from concept through production in our New York area offices.

You will collaborate with Design, Production, Technical Design, and overseas vendors to ensure deadlines, quality, and brand integrity. The role requires 5+ years in apparel product development, a Bachelor's degree, and strong skills in color science, fabric development, and PLM.

Qualifications

• Expert understanding of apparel product development lifecycle, milestones, and cross-functional development processes.
• Advanced technical knowledge of garment construction, fabric development, color science, graphic screen printing, embellishment techniques, decorative trims, packaging, and manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated experience independently managing product development across multiple product categories from concept through production.
• Extensive experience evaluating and approving complex product development submissions and communicating technical direction directly to overseas vendors.
• Strong leadership, organizational, analytical, project management, and decision making skills.
• Ability to anticipate development risks and implement effective solutions while balancing quality, cost, and calendar objectives.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to collaborate with cross functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Design, Production, and Technical Design to meet deadlines and manage approvals.
• Lead style-by-style milestone meetings to guide development strategy.
• Review complex submissions with overseas vendors ensuring brand quality.
• Evaluate lab dips and maintain color accuracy across product categories.
• Develop fabrics, prints, and trims with knowledge of construction.
• Review tech packs through PLM and log comments, verify production readiness.
• Coordinate with Design, Production, and Sales to keep development on schedule.
• Lead department head reviews to set direction and priorities.

Skills

Product development lifecycle

Color science

Garment construction

Project management

Communication

Overseas vendor management

FlexPLM

Microsoft Office

Adobe Illustrator

Education

Bachelor degree in Product Development or related field

Tools

FlexPLM

Microsoft Office

Adobe Illustrator

Job description

About Us

Centric Brands is a leading lifestyle brand collective that designs, sources, markets and sells high quality products in multiple segments, including women’s, men’s and kid’s apparel, accessories, entertainment and beauty. Centric Brands is focused on our customers and our brands that will drive the company’s future growth. We are defined by innovation as we seize new opportunities and thrive in an environment informed by creativity and thinking that is both analytical and outside the box. Centric Brands reflects a team built on respect, for others and for the hard work it takes to achieve our goals and build our bright future together.

Production/Product Development

From sourcing raw materials to manufacturing, order placement, pricing, quality control and getting the finished product where it needs to be, our production/product development team is responsible for ensuring we keep our standards high and our business profitable at every step of the journey. If you are a focused, results-driven, tenacious and highly flexible team player, we’ll give you every opportunity to build a rewarding career with one of the world’s foremost major lifestyle brand collectives.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Design, Production, and Technical Design to ensure all deadlines are met while communicating status updates to all other departments. Establish an efficient and transparent process to maintain a consistent flow of approvals.
• Participate in style-by-style milestone meetings to understand customer and brand vision while guiding development strategy and execution.
• Work directly with overseas vendors to review and approve complex product development submissions, including lab dips, fabric prints, graphic screen prints, decorative trims, sales samples and pre-production samples, ensuring brand quality and integrity are maintained.
• Evaluate lab dips with a strong understanding of color science to ensure color accuracy across products categories.
• Utilize extensive knowledge of woven and knit fabrics, fabric print techniques, graphic screen prints and garment construction across multiple categories.
• Evaluate initial tech packs through PLM while simultaneously creating comment logs and reviewing samples to ensure all details are executable by the factories.
• Collaborate with Design, Production, and Sales teams to ensure development stays on schedule per the design calendar, continually monitoring deadlines and communicating status to all departments.
• Lead department head review meetings on product and development, establishing direction and priorities while driving accountability across the team.
• Drive fabrication and technique development, identifying opportunities for innovation and efficiency across product lines; partner cross-departmentally to develop new print technique options and treatments.
• Identify and resolve technical issues related to artwork, garment construction, and factory capabilities, ensuring final production pack approvals accurately reflect product requirements and artwork executes as intended in production.
• Maintain and continuously develop standard libraries of fabrics, prints, graphics and trims to support future development.
• Partner with Product Development leadership to improve department processes, establish consistent development standards, and identify opportunities to enhance team effectiveness.

Skills & Qualifications

• Expert understanding of the apparel product development lifecycle, seasonal milestones, and cross-functional development processes.
• Advanced technical knowledge of garment construction, fabric development, color science, graphic screen printing, embellishment techniques, decorative trims, packaging, and manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated experience independently managing product development across multiple product categories from concept through production.
• Extensive experience evaluating and approving complex product development submissions and communicating technical direction directly to overseas vendors.
• Strong leadership, organizational, analytical, project management, and decision making skills.
• Ability to anticipate development risks and implement effective solutions while balancing quality, cost, and calendar objectives.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to collaborate with cross functional partners.
• Understanding of Child Safety Guidelines.
• Proficiency in FlexPLM, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Illustrator preferred.
• Bachelor\'s degree (Product Development or related field).
• 5+ years of apparel product development or relevant industry experience.

Our Best Fit Candidate Would Have

In return, we provide an industry-competitive salary, along with a comprehensive benefits plan (medical, dental, vision) that includes a matching 401(k), Summer Fridays, generous PTO, merchandise discounts, excellent career development opportunities, and a work environment that reflects our industry leadership. Our social impact program, Centric Cares, focuses on volunteerism to make a difference in communities we live and work in and our D&I committee is shaping the future of diversity, equity and inclusion at Centric Brands though workshops, resources and inspiring conversation.

Salary Range: $90,000-$100,000

At Centric Brands, we believe our people are our greatest asset, and we seek to structure competitive compensation offers to ensure that we are able to attract and retain the best talent. Our job postings include an annual base salary range at the time of employment. The stated base salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on several factors that may prove relevant during the selection process. Base salary is a part of a total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, annual bonus and other Centric Brands sponsored benefit programs.

Be part of our growing community by getting involved with groups, teams and initiatives like Be Green, Be Giving, and Be Celebrated.

Centric Brands is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Please note that Centric Brands will only reach out to interview, make an offer of employment or conduct onboarding activities for candidates who have applied through our careers site. When interviewing for a position, the candidate experience will include live interaction, such as a video conference or telephone call, with a Recruiter and/or company employee(s). We will never ask for any money or payments from applicants at any point in the recruitment process. Be aware of suspicious recruitment activity. If you think you are a victim of an employment scam, you may contact your local law enforcement agency and/or visit the Federal Trade Commission website here: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams.

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