Product Technologist - Textiles

My client is a leading multi-million-pound retail manufacturing business specialising in a wide range of housewares categories. This is a Hybrid role but you must be commutable to Hemel Hempstead when working from the office. They are seeking an experienced Product Technologist with extensive experience in textiles who demonstrates strong communication skills, thinks like a consumer, with an ability to challenge and find solutions building trust and effective business relationships with internal and external stakeholders. This is a great opportunity for the right person to join a fantastic team and grow with a rapidly expanding business. Role Overview: As a specialist in this field, you will play a crucial role in working with the design and technical team evaluating new product designs, managing vendors, overseeing critical paths, and ensuring the sealing process runs smoothly. Your attention to detail, proactive approach, and excellent communication skills will contribute to the company’s success. Liaising directly with retail partners on all technical, quality and auditing aspects, ensuring adherence to all technical standards, manage online technical databases and files, and providing support in our supply chain that maximises efficiency and delivers great customer service. This role includes some overseas travel to China, India and Pakistan. Main Responsibilities include: * Advise sales and buying team on safety and suitability of proposed product. Work collaboratively with the product development team in assessing the quality, testing and design of new products to ensure they meet customer expectations. * Identify and communicate product feasibility and suitability vs. legal and performance requirements, and where required explain constraints involved * Check product samples for physical characteristics and functionality, liaise with and advise factory as necessary * Liaise with the customer’s technical providers to ensure that all their requirements are understood and met * Communicate technical and test requirements with factory and check all test results * Maintain detailed internal records of production and input required data onto customer databases as required * Monitoring critical path and sample dates to ensure that critical path is maintained * Ensure samples (including Buying, Seals and Production cases) are received, handled and despatched in a timely manner * Liaise with factories to ensure that all sampling and testing requirements are met Build and maintain strong relationships with partner factories, product teams and customers to ensure timely delivery of high-quality products and services. * Check outgoing samples to ensure that they are of an acceptable quality and are correctly labelled * Build effective working relationships with customers understanding their business’s requirements around auditing and testing and how they will be achieved. * Check technical compliance documentation, testing and factory auditing data alongside the product team, and ensuring packaging and labelling requirements are met. * Collect and analyse data to identify potential issues and collaborate with suppliers to improve product quality. * Identify areas of growth and make recommendations within our business to ensure our customers uphold its commitment to sustainability and ethical compliance. Skills required * You like working with a small team collaborating but equally can work on your own unsupervised setting your own agenda. * Are driven by results, taking ownership and pride for the performance of your product area. * You excel in fast-paced environments, consistently meeting deadlines and delivering high quality results with a keen eye for detail. * You value teamwork and actively contribute to the success of the team. Excellent communication with the buying team, in country offices and suppliers. Role will include travel. * Commercial awareness of the homeware market has the ability make informed decisions. * Has a curious nature, thinks logically and has a problem solving mindset. * Strong understanding of product manufacturing, testing, sustainability certification and sealing processes required to ensure compliance with safety, ethical, quality, and legal standards for all products. * Relevant experience working as a technologist in the homeware textile industry. * IT proficient excellent communications skills both written and spoken * Fluent in Chinese or German an advantage