Senior Product Development Manager

Confidential; Lakewood Township (NJ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential, a growing childrenswear brand in Lakewood, NJ, is seeking a Senior Product Development Manager to lead the PD team and manage designs from concept through production handoff. This hands-on leadership role focuses on development calendars, fabric and trim development, accurate tech packs and timely follow‑through.

You will work closely with the Creative Director and have senior support from the Director of Production, who handles factory relationships and pricing.

Qualifications

• Seven or more years in apparel product development.
• Experience leading a PD team in childrenswear preferred.
• Strong knowledge of fabrics, trims, and garment construction.
• Experience with overseas development and multiple seasonal collections.
• Proficiency with PLM, Illustrator, and Excel.

Responsibilities

• Manage seasonal development calendars and ensure timely approvals.
• Lead the PD team and assign collection responsibilities.
• Coordinate fabric development, lab dips, strike-offs and samples.
• Educate Design on tech packs and development best practices.
• Maintain complete development records for production handoff.
• Track costs and coordinate with Creative and Production on pricing.

Skills

Team leadership

Project management

Product development

Communication

Attention to detail

Tools

PLM systems

Adobe Illustrator

Excel

Job description

Childrenswear | Full-Time, On-Site | ***This role is in Lakewood, NJ***

Reports to: Co-Founder, Design & Product

About the Role

This childrenswear brand is a growing children’s apparel company developing seasonal collections across babywear, girls, boys and accessories. The Senior Product Development Manager will lead the PD team and manage approved designs through sampling and production handoff. This is a hands‑on leadership role focused on development calendars, fabric and trim development, accurate tech packs and timely follow‑through. The position works closely with the Creative Director and has senior support from the Director of Production, who manages factory relationships, commercial negotiations and final production pricing. Creative direction and aesthetic approvals remain with the Creative Director.

Responsibilities

• Manage seasonal development calendars, track progress and coordinate timely reviews and approvals.
• Create and maintain seasonal work‑in‑progress reports (WIPs), review weekly factory WIPs and follow up on samples, approvals and outstanding deadlines.
• Lead the PD team, assign collection responsibilities and manage workloads.
• Educate the Design team on product development best practices and industry standards for tech packs, sample feedback and approvals, in coordination with the Creative Director.
• Coordinate fabric and trim development, lab dips, strike‑offs and sample follow‑up.
• Ensure tech packs, bills of materials and product information are complete and accurate.
• Manage prototype and sales sample rounds and consolidate Creative and Technical Design feedback.
• Track preliminary costs, flag concerns and coordinate solutions with Creative and Production.
• Maintain clear development records and deliver complete, approved information at production handoff.

Qualifications

• Seven or more years of apparel product development experience, including at least three years of team management. Childrenswear experience strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of fabrics, trims, garment construction, tech packs and sample development.
• Experience coordinating overseas development and multiple seasonal collections.
• Proficiency in PLM or similar systems, Adobe Illustrator and Excel.
• Strong organization, communication and follow-through; willingness to travel as needed.