The Senior Product and Quality Specialist sits at the intersection of Buying, Charity and Corporate responsibility and will be responsible for developing and driving the execution of the European Quality Support and Product development strategy. You will lead and co-ordinate the Quality Support and Product Development team in supporting the Buying teams in driving and developing their businesses in the design and development of product, ensuring that the final quality, fit, labelling and packaging meets our customer’s expectations and that it is fit for purpose.
You will partner extensively with Buyers and Buying Managers in order to support buying strategies and business growth and lead and co-ordinate the team in programs aimed at achieving the highest score in quality for our value equation (BFPQ) for all production. You will be future focused ensuring that the department is prepared to support new and changing markets or vendors on quality standards and product development, through a European Buying Support approach.
QUALITY SUPPORT & PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT including CHARITY
- Develop and lead collaborations with the Buying managers to understand future business and identify opportunities to support new vendors or markets with business growth.
- Develop and lead team on delivering strategy to enable buying to maximise time in the market by ensuring their quality support and product development needs are met.
- Leads team in identifying opportunities to improve quality with key suppliers and develops strategy to quantify the value driven by the quality improvements and monitoring YOY vendor performance.
- Supports and coaches team on addressing quality issues with buyers and vendors and defining best Off Price and commercial resolution to issues.
- Leads team in ensuring a 'European Buying Support' approach is taken, by developing and fostering relationships with the European and Global Buying offices, to ensure their Quality support and Product Development needs are met.
- Develop strategy to resource the Quality Support and Product Development needs of the European buying offices to ensure a continual and flexible approach is taken.
- Develops and fosters relationship with US Product Development and Product Specialist teams, building on global quality practises and supporting regular updates with Global buying offices.
ROYALTY
- Collaborates with stakeholders including Buying Operations Managers, Buying, Legal and Finance to ensure the Royalty development, sign off and order process is cohesive and meets the needs of the business and Royalty partners.
- Develops and fosters relationships with the Royalty partners and ensures that any contractual updates are progressed through both legal and buying departments and communicated throughout the relevant buying teams.
Sustainability
- Partners with Buying community, Sustainability Manager and Corporate Responsibility in supporting business Sustainability goals in production, packaging and labelling and leads team in delivery of these goals.
- Develops and leads strategy for managing, tracking, and reporting sustainability of product through the department, with the aim of driving an increase in products and packaging with sustainable attributes, to meet global business goals.
- Leads and supports team in upskilling within sustainability field, to ensure they have the most up to date information and training to support the business goal of all PD products having one or more sustainable attributes.
- Fosters and grows relationship with the US sustainability team to ensure that the European approach is consistent with global requirements.
Training
- Partners closely with the University and Buying Operations managers to develop training modules that meet the development needs of new buyers, those new to production, the MBDP program, apprentices and buying admins.
- Supports and leads team in delivering training modules.
- Reviews training modules on a regular basis to ensure relevance and up to date.
Administration and reporting
- Leads team in the management of the PD applications on BIG, with emphasis on the Trend and production relevant areas, to ensure that all information is relevant and easily accessible to the end user
- Develops and leads strategy for managing and tracking of workflow through the department, with the aim of automating data collection and regular reporting back to business to identify growth of key production areas
- Empowers team to manage personal workload and maintains an overview to ensure that team resource is allocated in line with business needs
KEY SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
- Previous experience as Garment Technologist or Product Developer within a large European and fast paced business.
- Experience of managing a team would be advantageous
- Highly skilled in evaluating product for fit, quality and performance and in depth knowledge of garment construction and pattern cutting techniques
- Thorough knowledge of garment production and finishing systems
- Extensive knowledge of fabric testing standards and care labelling
- Technical knowledge of fabric, yarn and colour specifications
- Thorough understanding of Sustainable accreditations, certifications and labelling relating to garments, fabrics and finishing
- Ability to risk assess product where appropriate
- Developed fashion sense for clothing design and construction and ability to communicate and interpret conceptual design ideas
- Good understanding of fashion retail processes
- Extensive global sourcing experience and expertise and ability to formulate a compelling sourcing strategy if required
- Ability to manage multiple projects personally and as a team leader
- Ability to manage team of Product and Quality specialists as well as being able to work under own initiative
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to act confidently and professionally when working with partners and stakeholders at all levels within the organisation.
- High level of organisational skills with the ability to flex departmental support with the business needs
- Ability to remain calm when working under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
- High attention to detail and effective written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to coach and mentor team members
- Fosters an understanding of the company’s strategic direction in others
- Ability to see the big picture without losing sight of the details and can communicate effectively to the wider team
Come and Discover Different at TJX. From opportunity and teamwork to growth, we think you’ll find that it’s so much more than a job. When you’re a part of our global TJX family, you have the full support of a diverse, close-knit group of people dedicated to finding the greatest deals and fantastic style. Best of all? They have a lot of fun doing it.
We care about our culture, but we also prioritise the important things like competitive salaries, solid benefits and plenty of room to grow in your role. It’s our way of empowering you to make your career here.
We consider all applicants for employment without regard to age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and/or sexual orientation.