Senior Product Developer, Shoes

At Burberry, we believe creativity opens spaces. Our purpose is to unlock the power of imagination to push boundaries and open new possibilities for our people, our customers and our communities. This is the core belief that has guided Burberry since it was founded in 1856 and is central to how we operate as a company today. We aim to provide an environment for creative minds from different backgrounds to thrive, bringing a wide range of skills and experiences to everything we do. As a purposeful, values-driven brand, we are committed to being a force for good in the world as well, creating the next generation of sustainable luxury for customers, driving industry change and championing our communities.

JOB PURPOSE

This position will deliver the end to end product development process in their respective category within Burberry’s Product Development function. Acting as an ambassador for Burberry, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation and collaboration and operate as true technical specialists with internal teams and vendors.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Building and maintaining a strong working partnership with the Design team. Acting as the technical counterpart by attending fittings, providing feedback on technical feasibility, and brainstorming ideas and solutions to ensure the design vision is accurately translated into the final product.
• Responsible for establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with vendors, developing a strong understanding of their capabilities and availability to meet business needs.
• Ensuring deadlines are met by proactively following up on all prototype and sample-related issues, driving them to resolution.
• Identifying and flagging any risks or challenges at every stage of the product development process, and recommending actions to mitigate them.
• Accountable for delivering prototypes and samples on time, meeting quality standards and cost targets to achieve the desired margin.
• Ensuring continuous risk assessment throughout the development process and taking proactive measures as needed.
• Collaborating closely with the Product Engineering team during collection development to support product testing to relevant standards, leveraging their technical expertise while negotiating any aesthetic changes to preserve the design intent.
• Supporting production meetings and vendor follow-ups by ensuring all technical requirements for prototypes and samples are clearly communicated and met in preparation for production.
• Coaching, supporting, and contributing to the professional growth of Product Development Assistants.
• Supporting end-of-season production handover meetings with the Sourcing team and the Digital team.
• Ensuring PLM is consistently updated with 100% accuracy and completeness.
• Preparing and supporting meetings with the CEO and CCO involving the Design, Raw Materials, and Development teams.
• Ensuring alignment with other product categories (e.g. RTW, Accessories) throughout the development of each collection.
• Supporting the Showroom and Design teams with effective sample management.
• Responsible for the accurate archiving of collections.

PERSONAL PROFILE

• Ability to work in partnership with Senior Designers, understanding and interpreting their creative aesthetic and design vision and translating this to teams and vendors.
• Technical capability and product knowledge with ability to confidently influence the Design team and provide on the spot solutions in specifics on materials and leather techniques, footwear structures and construction.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, delivering clear briefs and leveraging relationships to meet demands.
• Critical path management ensuring collections are delivered on time, identifying, calling out and making recommendations to mitigate any risks/challenges identified.
• Able to manage within a budget with commercial awareness and understanding of product cost, achieving a balance between creativity and commercial implications throughout the product development process.
• Demonstrated experience working on site with vendors and operational knowledge of factories, delivering clear briefs and leveraging relationships and availability to meet demands.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to negotiate with credibility, share information effectively, and work confidently with cross functional teams.
• In depth knowledge of fashion and products in relevant category – ‘fashion sensibility’ - knowledge of trends, the market, the luxury consumer and peer awareness.
• Proficiency in Italian required.

Equal Opportunities

Burberry is an Equal Opportunities Employer and as such, treats all applications equally and recruits purely on the basis of skills and experience.