Global HQ | Melbourne | Permanent, Full Time
We’re now looking for an experienced Product Development Manager to lead the technical development of our apparel ranges from concept through to commercialisation – ensuring every product delivers on performance, fit, quality, cost, and speed to market.
This role is a critical bridge between Design, Product, Sourcing, and Manufacturing. You’ll lead the Garment Technician team and own the end-to-end development lifecycle – bringing innovative concepts to life as high-performance, production-ready products.
You’ll combine deep technical expertise with strong cross-functional leadership, ensuring our products meet the demands of athletes while maintaining brand integrity, margin discipline, and operational excellence. You’ll also partner closely with the CPO on special projects, including custom and capsule programs, and help drive continuous improvement across development processes.
What You’ll Bring
Product Development & Fit Management: You’ll lead the end-to-end development of performance apparel, partnering closely with Design from initial concept through to production-ready garments. This includes owning development timelines and critical paths, translating design intent into technically sound products, leading fit sessions (physical and 3D), evolving block libraries, and maintaining fit standards, size guides, and technical protocols across categories. Through athlete validation and wear testing, you’ll ensure every product performs under real-world conditions.
Technical Execution & Cost Management: You’ll ensure technical accuracy and commercial discipline throughout the development lifecycle. Working with Design and Sourcing, you’ll establish and manage open cost sheets, make informed technical recommendations across fabrics, trims, and construction methods, and balance performance, quality, and margin while maintaining brand standards. You’ll also ensure accurate, up-to-date PLM data and version control to support downstream execution.
Cross-Functional & Vendor Collaboration: Acting as the primary technical liaison between internal teams and external vendors, you’ll ensure specifications, revisions, and timelines are clearly communicated and understood. You’ll work closely with the Chief Product Officer, Design, Sourcing, and Supply Chain to proactively resolve technical and production challenges, while supporting material and trim approvals and maintaining clear documentation throughout the development process.
Production Readiness, Quality & Performance: You’ll lead the technical handover from development to production, ensuring all assets—including tech packs, PPS approvals, labelling, and care instructions—are complete and production-ready. Partnering with Quality Control, you’ll oversee final fit and quality sign-off and review post-launch performance through customer feedback, returns data, and athlete insights to drive continuous improvement in future ranges.
Team Leadership & Process Improvement: You’ll lead, mentor, and develop the Garment Technician team, fostering technical excellence, consistency, and knowledge sharing. You’ll identify and implement process improvements to reduce lead times and improve efficiency, leveraging 3D development tools where possible. You’ll also support the Chief Product Officer on special projects such as custom and capsule programs.
Qualifications:
- 7–10+ years’ experience in product development, ideally within performance or technical apparel
- Tertiary qualification in Product Development, Apparel/Fashion Design, or a related discipline
- Strong technical expertise across garment construction, patternmaking, grading, technical fit, and quality workmanship
- Proven experience leading complex development processes and working cross-functionally with Design, Sourcing, and Supply Chain
- Confidence working directly with offshore factories and managing global vendor relationships
- Commercial acumen, with experience managing development costs and balancing performance, quality, and margin
- Proficiency in PLM systems, Adobe Illustrator, and Microsoft Office; experience with 3D design tools (e.g. CLO 3D, Browzwear) and patternmaking software highly regarded
- Strong organisational, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines
- A performance mindset and genuine passion for sport, innovation, and building brands with purpose
If you thrive at the intersection of science, design, and execution – and want to shape products that truly perform – we’d love for you to apply!
