Product Developer

| Austin
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PRODUCT DEVELOPER – HOME OFFICE – AUSTIN, TX
About Kendra Scott:
We are a fun, talented and driven team dedicated to providing our customers with gorgeous products and a WOW! experience. Family, fashion and philanthropy are at the core of our company and though we move at a very fast pace, we are committed to maintaining a family-oriented work environment and giving back to our community. A passion for great design, dedication to innovation and a strong social media presence are our building blocks for creating a unique and engaging lifestyle brand across all channels, including retail stores, wholesale accounts and e-commerce. Our headquarters are located in the heart of Austin, Texas, and we embrace the unique vibe and energy of our hometown as an inspiration for our brand and company culture.
Position Overview:
The Product Developer is a key contributor to the development team who reports directly to the Product Development Manager. This is a salaried, exempt position whose primary responsibilities are to partner with vendor base and agency to achieve development initiatives, negotiate all product cost quotes, develop sample order strategies, and produce extensive research on development processes for new category expansions. The Product Developer will also have a large focus on reducing overall development costs and process creation or refinement. This role drives the development process closely as the product life cycle begins to take form and ensures an accurate and organized flow between Design, Development, Production, and overseas Agency.
Responsibilities:
Sample Order Management
• In partnership with Technical Development, proactively communicate Design Team exploratory material and product requests to Agent or vendors; assist in innovative sourcing and communicate options back to internal teams.
• Active participant in product hand offs from the Technical Development team to gain full understanding of requests, product details, and development needs; Able to provide suggestions and risks/opportunities on a SKU and program level.
• Submit vendor placement proposals to Product Development Manager based on costing, vendor capabilities and overall vendor performance.
• Develop strategies to reduce the quantity of samples ordered, create a proposal for internal sharing, and identify sampling process improvement opportunities.
• Develop and implement actionable strategies and improvements from seasonal hindsight learnings.
Product Cost Negotiations
• In conjunction with Product Development Manager, set target prices and negotiate product costs with suppliers based on product knowledge, to ensure margins are met and products are competitively priced across vendor base
• Continuously work with vendors for transparency on costs, and develop a cost breakdown tool for internal team visibility to aid in cost conversations
• Review and approve sample invoice costs against costing standards
• Report on and analyze total sample order invoices by month, broken down by units, price, vendor and department category; present risks and opportunities for product development manager
• Constantly looking for areas of opportunity to reduce costs; present proposals to product development manager
• Use knowledge of jewelry manufacturing to provide suggestions for product with cost challenges that will keep design aesthetic and goals intact
• Consistently challenge agency and vendors on what fees and samples KS is paying for
• Develops thought out proposals on IMU targets by program and category
Calendar Management
• Support Product Development Manager with detailed calendar build out for new category introductions and/or expansions.
• Research and document development processes and timelines for new categories, and determine appropriate milestones for internal team to work towards.
• Document calendar shifts and reasoning behind changes for future calendar planning use.
• Proposes areas of opportunities to reduce current calendar timelines based on product and vendor base knowledge and capabilities.
Leadership & Vendor Management
• Champion for all new development initiatives, vendor engagement and performance and new category introductions
• Support Product Development Manager with new category development and research, new vendor exploration and development/costing exercises; clearly articulates global and detailed view of risks and opportunities
• Drive positive change, process improvement and solution oriented thinking through agency and vendor base.
• Support agency, vendors, and internal teams with immediate responses, solution oriented ideas, feedback and roadblock removal when needed.
• Lead agency and vendor milestone calls and meetings; act as strong liaison between development team and external vendors and agency
• Develop strategies and metrics for the vendor scorecard with the goal to increase vendor performance, reduce costs and mitigate risk
• Build and maintain strong cross functional partnerships with Design, Technical Development, Production, Vendors and Agent, and intuitively know when to effectively engage teams to support department needs
• Act as a mentor to the development team members, and provide support when needed
• Strong representation of functional area when management is unavailable or traveling
• Identify opportunities for process improvement and build/implement newness
• Helps build and execute daily/weekly priorities with consistent delivery
Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:
• Strong multi-tasking skills and ability to react quickly in a fast paced environment.
• Deadline focused and highly organized; unfazed by complexity, multiple timelines, and competing priorities.
• Exhibits strong levels of problem solving- Ability to identify a problem and implement a solution
• Focused on process improvements, risk mitigation, and collaboration in all aspects of role.
• Excited by a challenge, and has the ability to execute projects with little to no direction
• Comfortable communicating opportunities, risks, changes, and needs, to both internal and external cross-functional teams.
• Flex communication style that can be catered to different team personalities
• Creates and maintains a cooperative team environment that promotes high performance standards and attainment of goals, with the ability to develop and maintain effective relationships and partnerships.
• Advanced experience in cost negotiations and ability to be strategic to reach margin goals
• Experience and knowledge in creating development calendars for multiple categories
• Strong communication skills both written and verbal
• Experience with Excel and PLM systems
• Experience developing, implementing and communicating new processes and tools
• Broad knowledge of retail product development, technical design, and manufacturing processes
• Must have experience working with broad range of domestic and overseas vendors, as well as third party agencies
• Excited and able to travel domestically and internationally
• 5+ years of Product Development experience in Jewelry, Accessories, Home Goods, and/or Beauty categories are required.
• 2+ years of management experience
• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university with a Business, Design, Product Development, Fashion Merchandising, or related degree

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Location

Our Home Office is located in the heart of Austin, with easy access to MoPac, downtown and North Austin neighborhoods.

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