Senior Director, Product Development/Design Operations - Women's
Job Description
Who We Are
\n
o5 group is an industry leader in global fashion & apparel design with 40+ years of success across wholesale, e-comm, and marketplace. We are privately held, HQ in NYC with brand offices in CA - a dynamic portfolio of global brands committed to operational excellence in design, product development, production, sourcing, distribution & logistics. With category expertise in full-collection menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, infant toddler; we specialize in denim, outerwear, activewear, loungewear/sleepwear, trusted by top retailers.
\n
About the Role
\n
The Senior Director, Product Development - Women's will lead and scale end-to-end product development workflows to ensure on-time, on-cost, production-ready product across channels and regions.
\n
This senior leader will define operating cadence, strengthen tech-pack and PLM governance, optimize sampling and calendar processes, and partner cross-functionally with Sourcing/Production, Merchandising, Sales and Design to mitigate risk and accelerate commercialization.
\n
This role requires a seasoned apparel/soft-goods product development leader with hands-on technical design and product development experience, strong vendor and supplier management skills, and a proven ability to implement digital tools and process governance.
\n
How You'll Contribute
\n
- \n
- Strategy & Leadership: Own product development strategy and development calendar governance across women's brands and channels.
- Lead and mentor a cross-functional team, including product development managers and vendors; establish clear roles, KPIs and career paths.
- Drive change management and continuous improvement across the product lifecycle.
- Product Commercialization & Technical Governance: Standardize tech-pack, spec, BOM and fit governance.
- Oversee commercialization processes including fit approvals, BOM accuracy, costing handoffs, sample management and production readiness.
- Set and enforce product approval standards and final product release controls.
- Sampling, Calendar & Capacity Management: Own sample flow, SMS/sample tracking and public tracking tools that provide visibility across stages and vendors.
- Optimize sampling cadence, vendor allocations and lead-time management to meet development milestones and launch dates.
- Manage capacity planning, calendar prioritization and vendor selection for seasonal programs across women's.
- Fabric, Raw Material & Vendor Platforming: Lead cross-brand fabric and raw-material platforming strategies to create shared fabric programs, consolidate supplier pools and drive volume leverage across women's brands.
- Build and maintain a fabric-first library and approved material platforms to reduce duplication, speed sourcing, and improve sample-to-production consistency.
- Coordinate strategic vendor enablement and certification so suppliers can support multiple brands efficiently, improving responsiveness and lowering landed costs.
- Partner with Sourcing to implement BOM-level cost engineering for platformed materials.
- Technology & Tools: Champion PLM/PDM governance and lead PLM adoption and integrations with design and sourcing tools.
- Implement technology at o5 and scale 3D prototyping/digital sampling to reduce physical sampling and accelerate approvals.
- Costing, Sourcing & Supplier Performance: Drive BOM-level cost engineering, collaborate on target costing and assess supplier feasibility for cost, quality and lead times.
- Cross-Functional Partnership & Stakeholder Management: Work closely with Design, Merchandising, Sourcing, Production and Sales to align on product priorities and risk mitigation.
- Lead vendor week initiatives, vendor onboarding and supplier relationship programs to improve responsiveness and quality.
- Escalate and resolve development bottlenecks; provide regular updates to senior leadership.
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
What You Bring to the Team
\n
- \n
- 12+ years of progressive experience in apparel/soft-goods product development, technical design or related functions; demonstrated senior leadership experience.
- Experience managing global product development and technical design teams and leading cross-functional initiatives.
- Deep technical knowledge of garment construction, fit, materials, trims, specs and BOM management.
- Hands-on experience with PLM/PDM systems and tech-pack governance.
- Experience implementing or scaling digital sampling / 3D prototyping tools and workflows.
- Proven track record with supplier management and vendor certification.
- Strong analytical, process-improvement and project management skills; comfortable with metrics and dashboards.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management and change leadership skills.
- Proficient with Excel and common design/productivity tools; Adobe/Illustrator familiarity a plus.
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Why Join o5 group
\n
- \n
- Comprehensive medical, dental and vision benefits
- 401(k)
- Life insurance
- Paid time off and company holidays
- Commuter benefits
- Hybrid/flexible work schedule
- Collaborative, family-oriented culture
- Commitment to Responsibility & Sustainability
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n