Assistant Director of Product Development & Innovation
About The Position
The Assistant Director of Product Development & Innovation drives product development and innovation strategy for assigned Kids Craft & Activity categories. This includes identifying and translating trends, developing product assortments and custom programs, rationalizing products, and growing categories by creating adjacent opportunities. The role calls for a product-focused, entrepreneurial leader who can thrive in a fast-paced environment. The position owns the vision for designated brands and leads product development from concept through merchandising handoff. It collaborates with merchandising, design, engineering, sourcing, compliance, sales, licensing, overseas offices, and Shanghai teams to develop and execute products, pursue category growth, manage sourcing and costing strategies, and maintain product quality. The role also leads competitive and POS analysis, supports retail presentations and trade shows, and trains and mentors the product development and innovation team. The position is based in New Providence, New Jersey, with a hybrid requirement of at least two onsite days per week.
Requirements
- At least 8 years of product development, merchandising, or brand management experience, ideally in a fast-paced, quick-turnaround industry.
- Experience with custom product development is required.
- Ability to lead dynamically and passionately and manage multiple tasks amid shifting priorities.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present effectively to large audiences.
- Ability to work in a hybrid capacity from the New Providence, New Jersey office at least twice per week.
Nice To Haves
- Toy, Tween, or Craft experience is highly preferred.
Responsibilities
- Own the vision for designated brands, driving product development and execution aligned with assigned brands and programs; work with the licensing team on strategic partnerships and reposition products or brands in response to changing markets.
- Oversee the creative product development process and enforce milestones from conceptualization through merchandising handoff, working with cross-functional leadership in merchandising, design, sourcing, compliance, and sales.
- Drive new product execution while maintaining the existing product portfolio, and lead white-space due diligence to identify growth opportunities.
- Mentor the creative development team in connecting ideation with marketability, sales generation, and profitability.
- Work with merchandising teams to align projects with divisional strategic goals, including brand extensions, category expansion, direct sourcing initiatives, and parallel category diversification.
- Strategize with sales and merchandising leads to quantify and prioritize category growth opportunities in balance with corporate initiatives and core competencies.
- Collaborate with design and engineering teams to generate and execute product and packaging concepts.
- Communicate with overseas offices on existing brands, new product development, and global sourcing initiatives.
- Lead strategic sourcing and negotiation efforts for projects involving new product categories, in partnership with merchandising, sourcing, and Shanghai teams.
- Work with sourcing teams to identify needs beyond the existing vendor matrix and develop incremental subcategories for volume-driving innovation projects.
- Work proactively with product safety and compliance teams to maintain a high level of quality across kids’ product categories.
- Lead regular competitive landscape reports across major distribution channels, identifying market and product gaps and opportunities.
- Collaborate with internal teams to prepare retail presentations and industry trade shows.
- Partner with merchandising leads on strategic costing negotiations with global sourcing and overseas merchandising teams, balancing cost targets with product integrity.
- Use POS data to identify plans for capitalizing on trending products and categories and to identify distribution and retail-laddering gaps.
- Lead product vision alongside design execution across the organization and provide product development leadership to all business segments.
- Train, develop, and mentor members of the product development and innovation team.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
Education Level
No Education Listed
