Senior Technical Design Manager - Children's Apparel

Socket.dev; New York (NY); On-site; USD 108,000 - 132,000; Full time

Job summary

Socket.dev is seeking an experienced Technical Design Manager to lead a team of Technical Designers and drive the development of our children's apparel across multiple retailers and brands. This hands-on leadership role blends people management with direct technical design responsibilities, coaching others, and ensuring fit, construction, and documentation meet calendar deadlines.

You will partner with Design, Product Development, Merchandising, Sourcing, Production, Quality, and overseas

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive Technical Design experience in apparel.
• Experience managing a high-volume 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 escalate with a recommendation.
• Establish consistent technical standards, fit philosophy, documentation practices, and approval discipline across the team.

Skills

Team leadership

Project management

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Tools

PLM systems

Microsoft Excel

3D tools

Job description

Socket.dev is seeking an experienced Technical Design Manager to lead a team of Technical Designers and drive the development of our children's apparel across multiple retailers and brands. This hands-on leadership role blends people management with direct technical design responsibilities, coaching others, and ensuring fit, construction, and documentation meet calendar deadlines.

You will partner with Design, Product Development, Merchandising, Sourcing, Production, Quality, and overseas