Senior Manager, APAC Product Stewardship in London

The Senior Manager, Product Stewardship, APAC leads product safety and compliance, material and product testing across Asia Pacific to ensure VF products meet global standards, brand requirements, and applicable regulations. The role owns governance of testing standards, manuals, and risk-based programs across suppliers, vendors, factories, in-house laboratories, and third-party laboratories, and is accountable for maintaining the Project NORMA platform to manage test requests, enable test-result review and approval, and ensure data quality and process adherence. This leader leads APAC Product Stewardship teams across Footwear, Apparel, Accessories, and Equipment; partners with Product Supply, regional offices, and internal and external stakeholders; and builds capability through training, vendor, factory and supplier enablement, user onboarding, and ongoing support to ensure consistent platform adoption and compliant execution. The Senior Manager operates with significant autonomy to shape regional execution of global strategies, represent APAC in global forums and external engagements, and collaborate with AMER and EMEA peers and brands to inform global standard setting.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Regional Product Stewardship & Product Safety Leadership: Lead APAC Product Stewardship teams across Footwear, Apparel, Accessories, and Equipment, ensuring consistent execution of global standards and regional requirements. Own APAC Product Safety governance, including design safety reviews, risk assessments, escalation management, and remediation. Anticipate emerging regulatory, product safety, and customer requirements across global markets and integrate them into product stewardship strategies, acting as the senior regional escalation point for complex product safety, testing, and compliance issues.
• Material & Product Testing Governance: Provide regional leadership for APAC material and product testing programs, ensuring teams review, assess, and approve test reports for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with global and market-specific standards. Provide clear, consistent guidance to Tier 1 factories, Tier 2 suppliers, and laboratories on corrective action requirements, root cause analysis, re-testing expectations, and SOP adherence/closure criteria. Oversee execution of risk-based testing strategies and alignment across brands and product categories, and lead the Supplier & Factory In-house Laboratory Certification and Proficiency Program, including certification requirements, audit and re-certification cadence, proficiency testing, inter-laboratory comparisons, and CAP management.
• Standard Setting & Global Alignment: Support global product stewardship standard setting by actively engaging with peers in AMER and EMEA, brand teams, and external third-party consultants. Represent APAC perspectives in global working groups, contributing regional insights to global material and product standards and SOPs, product safety standards, and regulatory response strategies, and ensure global standards are translated into clear, practical execution guidance for the region.
• Stakeholder Engagement & External Representation: Establish strong working relationships with leadership and teams in regional offices and with Material Sourcing, Sourcing Development, Sourcing Operations, Quality Operations, and Material Quality teams. Represent the company in external stakeholder engagements, including industry associations, regulators and government bodies, and testing laboratories/technical organizations, and lead engagement when providing technical or regulatory input to external bodies in collaboration with global partners.
• Training, Communication & Capability Building: Design and deliver training programs for internal teams (Material Sourcing, Sourcing Development, Sourcing Operations, Quality Operations, and Material Quality), Tier 1 vendors and factories, Tier 2 material suppliers, in-house testing laboratories, and external testing/technical partners. Ensure training is clear, actionable, and risk-focused, covering product safety principles, testing requirements and interpretation, corrective actions and re-testing processes, and SOP/governance expectations, while embedding a culture of ownership, accountability, and proactive risk management.
• People Leadership & Team Development: Lead, mentor, and develop the APAC Product Stewardship team through coaching, technical leadership, and decision support. Set clear expectations, performance objectives, and accountability frameworks aligned with medium-term regional goals.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Technical & Professional Expertise: Deep expertise and advanced knowledge in product stewardship, product safety, and regulatory compliance for consumer products. Strong understanding of material and product testing, including laboratory operations, data interpretation, and test governance. Demonstrated experience managing corrective actions, re-testing, and SOP execution across complex supply chains. Working knowledge of global product safety regulations and APAC market requirements.
• Leadership & Communication: Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders across regions, brands, and functions. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical topics into clear guidance. Strong facilitation and training capabilities across diverse internal and external audiences.
• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to interpret incomplete or complex information and develop practical, risk-based solutions. Strong analytical skills to assess trends, testing data, and incident patterns to drive preventive action. Independent decision-making capability with judgment appropriate to senior-level accountability.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Material Science, Textiles, or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in product stewardship, product safety, testing, or regulatory compliance.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience in regional or global roles.
• Experience working across complex multi-brand, multi-country supply chain.