Head of Product - Maternity Cover (12-18 months)

HEAD OF PRODUCT - MATERNITY COVER 12-18 MONTHS

As the Head of Product, you will act in a supporting role to the Design Director. You will lead and oversee Réalisation’s London team, in the position of direct Manager. Working collaboratively, and assisted by our Design Development Manager and Production and Technical Developer Manager; you will be responsible for overseeing new product design, development and production of the full Réalisation range, as well as driving new product category extensions. You will aid in meeting sales targets and growth plans for the brand through continuing to actively drive and produce commercially viable products, for both the core range and collaboration collections, which both meet and elevate the current Réalisation aesthetic. Through your role you will also support the brand in both creative and commercial decisions.

Design and Planning:

• As Head of Product, you are responsible for managing the product team by taking the lead in research and planning, setting project goals and guidelines and coordinating internally with various departments to outline strategies according to project requirements. You will oversee and lead the entire product design process, including all-important technical decisions and production requirements before the final approval from either or both the Creative and Design Directors.

• You will be responsible for developing detailed product range plans, and monthly product drop schedules, consisting of new prints on existing styles, along with new shapes and products to present to the Design Director. Taking into consideration historical best and worst sellers.

• You will ensure that the product team delivers on the product development required across all categories to meet sale objectives and launch timelines

• You and the team will execute product concept briefs from the Co-founders Design & Creative Directors and bring them to life, along with proactively leading concept development in line with the Réalisation aesthetic

• You will actively drive ideas for ongoing product category extensions which complement the existing offering and present commercially viable opportunities for business growth

• Collaborating with both the internal team and freelancers, you will be responsible to research, refine, and execute innovative product and textile print designs, that you will present to the co-founders for final approval

• You will ensure the delivery of commercially viable, high quality products/collections that will deliver profit margins in line with sales budgets and market opportunities

• You will be able to create and present creative mood boards of product research, as required and requested

• You will maintain a strong awareness of the market and the competition

• Supporting the brand creatively, ensuring that the company's creative vision is clearly communicated to and executed by the team in the products being delivered

Development and Production:

• You will assist in sourcing trims and new fabrications; such as lace, buttons etc

• You will explore new, innovative and speciality technologies including materials, construction techniques, and product features to elevate the current product offering and drive continuous product performance and improvement

• You will be responsible for print research and development - start to finish. Cataloguing ideas, outsourcing of print designs/ print development. This includes vintage prints, design libraries, briefs from the co-founders and/or ideas from the internal team. You will coordinate the print designs with freelancers - check scale, pantone colours as well as hand over to the factories and approve strike offs

• You should be able to provide direction on detailed design instruction, trim direction, fit direction, and fabric information and create tech packs where necessary to hand over to our Design Development Manager

• You will oversee fittings of new samples; conducted by the Design / Technical developers 

• You will lead the development of any new categories required

• You are able to make commercial decisions relating to cost and retail pricing on new product

Resource and Management

• You will be responsible for the management of the London Product & Design team

• You will be responsible for recruiting, training, and the ongoing career development of our growing product team (London based), along with any freelancers required across all product categories to ensure that the business objectives are met. This includes the drafting of job descriptions, for approval

• You will act as the “go to” for any problem solving from the Product team before escalating to the Design Director or relevant department

• You will conduct monthly catch ups with the marketing and sales team to discuss best and worst sellers reports and brief on new releases for ongoing planning and range development, to meet sales goals

• You will conduct bi-weekly meetings with the LA team to discuss Merch, knits, collaborations or any other relevant development / projects

• You will assist with implementing new processes to ensure efficient work-flow and ensure timelines are achieved

• You will conduct any other regular team meetings to ensure efficient way of working and ensure clear communication and status updates with the broader team

The role is full time, Central London based with 1 day per week remote working.

Please send your CV, cover letter and portfolio to comejoinus@realisationpar.com