Temporary Product Development Manager

| Austin
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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:
We have an exciting career opportunity to lead the development of our beautiful, quality product. Reporting to our Director of Product Development, the Temporary PD Manager is responsible for leading all stages of development for each of our current and future categories. The role will manage all aspects of the development calendar, multi-phase sample coordination and inventory control, as well as serve as an interface for Design Team requests. This role combines the need for intensive understanding of process, product and ability to build strong internal and external cross functional partnerships.
Responsibilities:
Responsibilities for Calendar Management:
• Direct development timelines, priorities and key cross-functional touchpoints.
• Build, maintain and communicate complete development calendar for all product categories, from design concept or strategy development to product hand off.
• Build tools that allow cross-functional team members to have easy access and a clear understanding of key dates, hand offs and timelines.
• Schedule and lead development-initiated team meetings.
• Manage vendor/Agent timeline communication and priorities for current and new category development.
• Implement product development processes.
Responsibilities for Sample Development & Management:
• Drive sample ordering strategies, quantities, and timing to control costs and ensure that all needs for physical samples can be met.
• Manage development sample communication and tracking with Agent to ensure quality, on time shipments throughout all development sample phases of current and future categories.
• Manage sample development plans, timing, and requests to ensure complete synergy between teams.
• Build processes and tools to promote organization, department efficiency, cost reductions, timely receipts, quality product and seamless hand off to Production team.
• Translate Design requests for actional task for internal team, agency and vendors.
• Implement standards to ensure product consistency, maintaining quality, ensuring brand integrity is top of mind.
• Oversee the technical correspondence with agent and vendors.
• Ensure timely product approval of all phases of samples, according to the PLC, providing clear, actionable feedback.
Responsibilities for Product Costs, Knowledge & Hand Off:
• Develop and implement costing strategies, ensuring design aesthetic and innovation are top priorities.
• Set target prices and negotiate product costs with suppliers based on product knowledge, to ensure target margins are met and products are competitively priced across vendor base.
• Review and approve sample invoice costs against costing standards; highlight areas of opportunity and risk.
• Understand production capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of all vendors with the ability to make educated vendor placement recommendations.
• Consolidate detailed product care and knowledge; educate cross functional teams in partnership with Merchandising Team.
• Maintain high level of industry knowledge regarding raw material pricing, international manufacturing, relevant product category introductions, and innovation and vendor management.
• Understand Design aesthetic, category strategy, and brand positioning for all products.
Responsibilities for Cross-Functional Leadership & Vendor Management:
• Strategically develop product through partnership with Production on vendor placement strategies and long-term supply chain goals.
• Maintain a working knowledge of all areas of production process across a variety of materials, techniques and products.
• Support and assist with new vendor, exploratory materials, current product and new category sourcing and on boarding.
• Lead select vendor meetings during new or existing vendor meetings for current and new categories.
• Research and initiate conversations with new and existing suppliers for new product category development.
• Provide qualitative vendor performance feedback and supply technical metrics for quarterly scorecards.
Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
• 7+ years’ experience in multi-category Product Development, or similar role; jewelry and accessory experience a plus
• 3-5 years’ experience leading and developing a successful team
• A proven ability to break down larger initiatives into consumable achievable tasks to achieve departmental and company objectives
• Ability to clearly articulate plans and ensure team is aligned
• A solutions-oriented mentality with a data driven approach
• A growth mindset: track record of leveraging past learnings, encouraging new ideas and smart risk taking in self and others
• Strong communication skills with a proven ability to build cross functional partnerships to make effective decisions collaboratively
• High commitment to employee growth and development: empowers team and defines success as having a significant impact on other’s careers
• Strong multi-tasking skills and ability to react quickly in a fast-paced environment.
• Deadline focused and highly organized; Not fazed by complexity, multiple timelines, and competing priorities.
• Meets challenges and frequent priority shifts with flexibility, motivation and a ‘can do’ attitude
• Strong business acumen and negotiation skills
• Open listener with strong communication skills both written and verbal
• Experience with Excel; Photoshop, InDesign, PLM experience a plus
• CAD and Matrix knowledge and/or understanding a plus
• Experience developing, implementing and communicating new processes and tools
• Comprehensive knowledge of retail product development, technical design, and manufacturing processes; applied understanding of the international vendor community
• A shared appreciation for our 3 core values of Family, Fashion and Philanthropy

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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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