Product Development Manager

• Salary: £35,000 - £45,000 DOE

We are looking for a Product Development Manager to join a leading consumer products brand as a key part of their Product team. This company is very creative and successful, and sells their products into leading high street retailers worldwide.

You'll be managing the company’s development and delivery of consumer product for both their UK and international client base, liaising between internal teams, retailers, and their international vendors to ensure projects running smoothly, being produced accurately, and are in line with agreed delivery dates.

The successful applicant will have a strong background in Product Development, production management, or project management for a consumer goods brand, and have a genuine love of retail and product. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with a proactive, can-do approach to join an establish and successful brand who work with all the leading retailers.

Responsibilities in this Product Development Manager role will include:

• Work closely with Far East suppliers, establishing costs, lead times and sampling requirements
• Project managing the production process, being the link between the NPD team and vendor base, ensuring all is running smoothly and on track
• Managing and owning the critical path for products and ranges to ensure deadline dates are met
• Creating and managing the creative critical path, tracking progress, and being the central point of contact for all creative and products queries
• Setting clear priorities for all creative departments, being the go-to person to trouble shoot
• Provide the Product Development team with target prices based on RRP, box sizes, customer, region, etc
• Help Product Developers resolve material, factory, compliance, and other issues during the Product Development process
• Support Key Account Managers with product expertise during customer selections
• Drive final negotiations with suppliers on overall order values to meet company targets
• Collaborate on new product ideas or re-purpose current products and formats
• Sign off pre-production and mass samples
• Coordinating product artwork and specifications to send to suppliers and supporting on internal approval

Skills and experience required:

• Solid product management experience working with consumer products
• Experience working directly with global suppliers including the Far East
• Critical path management experience, with the ability to work to tight deadlines and in fast-paced environments
• Excellent negotiations skills, someone who is commercial and proactive
• A keen interest in product and retail, with a commercial eye
• Strong Word, Excel, and PowerPoint skills
• Strong trend awareness, constantly looking at new development opportunities for both products and ranges
• Proactive and organised with a friendly approach!