Senior Technical Manager

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands.

At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

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The Senior Technical Manager (Product lead) is responsible for overseeing / leading a team of Product engineers

and technicians for a specialist product area within a category (woven / knit or sweater) – may include multiple

brands and genders. They will be own the end to end lifecycle of the product within their area of specialty including

Risk Assessment, ensuring RL product standards can be met within vendor base and managing issue resolution with

support of their teams. They will track and manage workload and deadlines of the team from development stage

(where applicable) through to final production approval stage. This role requires a strong level of leadership,

collaboration, communication, technical and problem-solving skills

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• Own the end to end lifecycle of the product from sample development (where applicable) to product approval stage, including Tech Pack creation, Testing protocols and PP Sample approval.
• Own Risk Assessment process to assure compliance to RL standards
• Understand the capabilities of vendor/factory base to ensure they have the ability to produce styles to RL standards
• Own follow up and resolution of Escalation issues(technical) – pre-shipment, including root cause analysis, product CAP follow-up and recommendation on new standards where required in discussion with NY partners
• Engineer product standards to elevate the product whilst keeping cost to a minimum.
• Track, manage and prioritize work flow, ensuring deadlines are met
• Conducts seasonal hind sights and communicates findings, learnings and next steps up and out to the different cross functional groups.
• Vendor performance management and reporting
• Orientation and development of new vendors including technical assessment and onboarding.
• May be required to own product workload as individual contributor as well as managerial duties.
• Partners with Senior Director on special projects where applicable
• Partners with technical and QA peers (NY/HK) to ensure RL processes and methods are continuously aligned and followed across all categories, brands and genders, with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Effectively communicate with cross functional teams to ensure seasonal calendar milestone deliverables are met.
• Tracking and reporting on metrics
• Develop strong relationship with cross functional teams and global partners
• Manage hiring, orientation, training and development of team members including performance management
• Train and mentor cross functional partners on technical standards and methods (Production, Field QA, Vendor Technical and QA)
  
  

• Degree or Certification in Apparel Manufacturing, Design, Patternmaking or equivalent work experience. IE a plus.
• 10+ years in Technical Design
• 5 + years in Management level
• Experience in patternmaking, construction and manufacturing/production
• Proven ability to successfully oversee a complex category while making product quality and seasonal deliverables a priority.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, interpersonal skills , ability to build strong relationships with internal and external partners
• Good command of English language (written and spoken)
• Proven organizational skills and ability manage competing priorities.
• Strong sense of urgency, attention to detail & resourcefulness
• Responsible and accountable
• Ability to proactively analyze and solve problems/issues
• Knowledge of 3D programs a plus
• Computer Skills: Proficiency in computer pattern programs, computer spec writing programs such as Gerber, PLM, Adobe Illustrator, MS Outlook, MS Excel, MS Word