Manager, Product Development-UA

Centric Brands Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401(k) matching

Summer Fridays

Generous PTO

Merchandise discounts

Job summary

Centric Brands Inc. is seeking an experienced Production/Product Development professional in New York to lead end-to-end development across multiple apparel categories.

You will collaborate with Design, Production, and Technical Design to meet deadlines, review lab dips, prints, and trims, and guide development from concept through pre-production. The role requires extensive knowledge of fabrics, color science, and production processes, strong leadership, and international vendor management.

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.

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

Apparel product development

Color science

Overseas vendor management

Leadership

Project management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's 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.

Specific Responsibilities Would Include

ROLES & 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 through workshops, resources and inspiring conversation.

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

Centric Brands is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Centric Brands is an Equal Opportunity Employer and embraces diversity and encourages everyone to apply. All employment decisions are made based on qualifications, experience, and business needs.