Apparel Product Development Manager

Benefits:

Salary: from £40,000 +

Equity via Employee Share Option Pool

Private healthcare (UK only)

33 days annual leave (inc. bank holidays)

Quarterly staff gear allowance

50% friends & family discount

Weekly team boxing

ABOUT US

Founded in 2017, BOXRAW was built to lead the narrative of boxing: the lifestyle, the culture and the competition of our sport. We move the sport forwards with product that’s credible, creative and disruptive, across every corner of boxing. We back fighters* of every level, gender and ability, whether they’re competing on the world stage or against themselves.

The reason we’ve got this far is our people, and the reason we’ll get where we’re going is who we hire next. We believe in talent and passion, we look for dedication and energy, and we back the people who bring creativity and new thinking. We don’t care where you come from. We care where you’re headed. We’re a mix of backgrounds and we like it that way. If you work smart and you’re still getting better, we want to hear from you.

*In every mind is a fighter.

The Role

The Product Development Manager gets quality product here on time.

You run development for everything BOXRAW makes: apparel, footwear and equipment, plus collaborations and product for the elite boxers we work with. You lead the product team, work with our factories and QC partners, and every other team relies on you to know what's launching, when, and whether it's right. For anyone who loves product, few roles let you touch this much of it.

How You'll Work

• The founder sets the product direction and works closely with the designers on what we make. You turn that direction into finished product, on time and to standard.
• Launch dates are agreed with the founder and commercial team. Once a date is set, it's yours to deliver.
• You live in the product roadmap. Every day you check in on each product, what's still outstanding and who has it.
• You know different things take different amounts of time, and every supplier has its own tendencies. You plan and chase around that.
• You keep the roadmap accurate, so anyone in the business can open it at any time and see where a product is, what's left to do and who owns each part.
• Design and our Garment Technologist report to you. You own the tech packs, the critical path and the sealing dates.
• You work side by side with our Garment Technologist every day, and a strong, productive relationship between you is essential.
• Travel to our factories and suppliers with the team is part of the role.

Main Accountabilities

Critical Path and Roadmap

• Build the critical path for every product back from its launch date, and hold it.
• Know at any moment the status of every product, who is making it and which trims, fits or questions are still outstanding.
• Clear what's open on each product daily: a sample to measure, send back or buy, designs to get from the team, a tech pack to update, a fit issue to resolve.
• Look for blind spots and plan contingency before you need it. When something is at risk, bring the solution with the problem.

Suppliers and Factories

• Main contact for our factories on development and production dates.
• Know how each supplier works: who is quicker at what, who needs chasing, and what always takes longer to confirm or test. Chase accordingly.
• Hold factories to account on dates and standard, and go to war for us when they are not delivering.
• Agree and hold sealing dates.

Samples and Tech Packs

• Get designs from the team on time so the critical path doesn't start late.
• Keep tech packs up to date with every comment and change.
• Buy, receive, log and return samples, and make sure each one is measured and signed off.
• Make sure every fit comment from the Garment Technologist reaches the factory and comes back right.

Quality and Complaints

• Book our third party QC and work with them and the Garment Technologist to hold factories to the standard.
• Own quality issues and customer complaints, and keep a clear log of every one.
• Take each issue back to the supplier, make sure it's fixed for the next run, and hold them financially to account where it's their fault.

Pricing and Handover

• Negotiate cost prices with our suppliers and recommend the retail price for each product.
• Package up every product for the brand and marketing teams so they have what they need to sell it: features, fabrics, fit, pricing and launch dates.
• Present each product to the wider team with the designers, so everyone understands why it was made and who it's for.
• Keep product information accurate and up to date as changes happen through development.

Collaborations and VIP Orders

• Deliver ad hoc orders for elite boxers and our collaboration partners, sometimes to dates that would normally be unthinkable.

Leadership and Communication

• Line manage design and our Garment Technologist, and keep the whole team working to the roadmap.
• Make sure brand, digital, commercial and operations always know what is landing and when.

Key Skills

• A working understanding of how product gets made: tech packs, sampling stages, fit, grading, trims and construction. Enough to spot a problem and ask the right question.
• Building and running a critical path across multiple styles and seasons.
• A feel for timing. When to push a supplier, when to wait, and what is likely to run late.
• Confident with suppliers directly, on calls and in person, across time zones and language barriers.
• Comfortable holding a factory to a date and a standard, and escalating when they miss it.
• Negotiating cost prices with suppliers, with a sense of where retail should land.
• At home in spreadsheets and systems, and keeps them accurate without being asked.
• Writing updates that are clear, direct and leave nothing open to interpretation.

What Success Looks Like

• Quality product lands on time, on the dates we agree
• When something is going to slip, we hear about it early, with a solution
• Anyone can open the roadmap and see where every product is and who owns what
• Suppliers fix what went wrong, and pay for what was their fault

Experience

• Five years or more in product development or production, ideally sportswear or performance
• Direct experience managing overseas factories on dates and quality
• Proven ownership of a critical path across multiple styles and seasons
• Experience running or managing a QC team or process, and handling supplier claims
• Desirable: footwear or equipment development, collaboration or licensed product, and experience line managing a small team

Successful People at BOXRAW

• Are energised by our vision, excited by our brand and have a genuine desire to take up the boxing lifestyle.
• Seek ownership, are mastery-orientated and driven to be the best in the world at what they do.
• Are unafraid to speak their mind, communicate with transparency and give direct feedback, receptive to this in kind.
• Are solution-focused with a Find A Way attitude.
• Understand the opportunities, challenges, nuances of life in a start-up and are happy to roll up their sleeves - no job is too big, or too small.
• Motivated to be part of a growing company and a key player in scaling a deeply purpose-driven brand, into a global legacy.

For this role in particular: you keep a live system accurate because that is how you work. You chase before you're chased. When something goes wrong, you bring the problem and a way through it, and you stay on it until it's fixed. You love product and you're curious about it everywhere, from how thingsare made to why they work. You want the customer to feel the difference in what they wear.

How to Apply

Email [email protected] with the subject line "Product Development Manager Application". Send a CV and a short note on a product you got in on time when it looked like it wouldn't: what was at risk, what you did, and how it landed.

The process is a screen call, a video call with the team, then a half day at our Coventry HQ. The half day includes a live task. We give you a BOXRAW product, its launch date and where it stands today. You build the critical path back from launch and show us where the risks are. Then we throw in a problem, like a late fabric or a failed sample, and see how you solve it.

Pay: From £40,000.00 per year

Experience:

• apparel product development: 4 years (preferred)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Location:

• Coventry CV1 5QP (required)

Work Location: In person