Quality Assurance Manager- Luxury leather goods - Italian/Spanish speaker in City of London

Mode Search is delighted to be supporting a fast-growing, award-winning luxury fashion brand with the search for an Industrialisation & Quality Assurance Manager. This is an exciting opportunity to join a purpose-led accessories brand operating at the highest level of craftsmanship, quality, and integrity, within a dynamic and fast-paced environment. This role is based in London with a hybrid-working model and regular travel to European factories. The Industrialisation & Quality Assurance Manager will report directly into the Head of Production & Product Development and will manage a small technical team.

The Role

• Own the end-to-end transition of new handbag and small leather goods designs from development into stable, repeatable production.
• Act as the technical point of contact between creative, product, and manufacturing teams, ensuring designs are production-ready without compromising quality or commercial targets.
• Lead early production trials and factory test runs, reviewing outcomes and refining construction, materials, and processes ahead of bulk manufacture.
• Evaluate product feasibility by reviewing technical documentation, patterns, and prototypes, identifying risks and proposing practical solutions.
• Set and refine manufacturing methods and assembly sequences to optimise quality consistency, efficiency, yield, and lead times.
• Drive continuous improvement across factories by identifying opportunities to enhance build quality, reduce complexity, and improve cost performance.
• Maintain clear, accurate technical and quality documentation to support production handover and ongoing manufacturing.
• Partner closely with European suppliers, providing hands-on technical guidance and resolving production or quality challenges as they arise.
• Define quality expectations and testing parameters, ensuring standards are understood and consistently applied at factory level.
• Plan, manage, and communicate industrialisation timelines, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned on key milestones, approvals, and risks.
• Track progress across all styles and factories, flagging delays, dependencies, or quality concerns early and proactively.
• Support factory performance reviews by contributing technical insight, quality data, and improvement recommendations.
• Lead and develop a small technical or industrialisation team, fostering clarity, accountability, and best-practice ways of working.

Requirements

• Minimum 5+ years’ experience in leather goods industrialisation or production management.
• Strong technical knowledge of leather types, construction methods, and assembly techniques.
• Proven experience working with Italian and Spanish luxury factories.
• Confident interpreting technical drawings, patterns, BOMs, and prototypes.
• Solid understanding of product development cycles, costing structures, and technical problem-solving.
• Highly organised with strong project management and critical path skills.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to build effective supplier relationships.
• Proficient in Excel, PLM/ERP systems, and technical documentation.
• Italian language skills preferred; Spanish advantageous.

16-month fixed-term contract. Please send your CV to info@modesearch.co.uk or click the apply button. Please note: Due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.