Director, Product Development - Apparel

YETI Coolers•Denver, CO

About The Position

YETI is seeking a highly experienced product development leader to shape the future of its apparel business. The Director of Product Development, Apparel leads end-to-end product development across apparel categories, genders, and age groups, partnering with Product Management, Design, Sourcing, Technical Design, Quality, and manufacturing partners to bring premium products to market. The role oversees material development, fit execution, construction, commercialization, vendor management, and production readiness from concept through production. It calls for strong product-creation expertise and judgment to solve complex or ambiguous challenges, influence cross-functional partners, and ensure products are purpose-built, brand-right, commercially viable, and built to last. The Director also builds scalable processes, tools, operating rhythms, and organizational capabilities to support the long-term growth of the apparel function. The position owns seasonal development calendars and technical product documentation, leads decisions on materials and manufacturing, develops strategic supplier relationships, and champions innovation while proactively managing product, quality, costing, manufacturing, supply chain, compliance, and commercialization risks.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Apparel Development, Fashion Design, Textile Science, Product Creation, or a related field.
Preferred twelve or more years of apparel product development experience across performance, outdoor, active, lifestyle, and/or branded apparel categories.
Preferred eight or more years of management experience.
Deep expertise in garment construction, fit, grading, patternmaking, garment engineering, testing, and apparel manufacturing.
Extensive experience developing technical performance apparel, including outerwear, woven shirts, knit tops, fleece, and insulated products.
Strong understanding of fabrics, trims, wash techniques, embellishments, garment performance attributes, and commercialization requirements.
Proven experience managing global factory, mill, and supplier relationships.
Demonstrated ability to manage complex seasonal calendars, multiple categories, and cross-functional deliverables simultaneously.
Experience owning commercialization readiness and guiding products through all development and production approval stages.
Strong financial acumen and experience partnering on product costing, margin targets, and cost engineering initiatives.
Exceptional project management, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills.
Experience working within PLM systems and product development tools, especially Centric.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally to support product development, factory partnerships, and commercialization activities.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree.
Twelve or more years of apparel product development experience (preferred).
Eight or more years of management experience (preferred).

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end product development across YETI’s branded and performance apparel categories, ensuring quality, fit, durability, performance, manufacturability, and commercial viability.
Build and continuously improve scalable apparel development processes, tools, operating rhythms, and organizational capabilities.
Partner with Product Management, Design, Sourcing, PS&C, Quality, and manufacturing partners to bring seasonal product concepts to market.
Own the apparel development calendar across multiple seasons and categories, managing milestones, decision points, risks, and commercialization readiness from concept through production approval.
Oversee technical product documentation and sample-stage execution, including tech packs, specifications, graded measurements, BOMs, PLM data, prototypes, fit samples, wear testing, salesman samples, pre-production samples, and final production approval.
Lead decisions on materials, trims, packaging, construction, garment engineering, fit standards, and manufacturing methods.
Develop and manage strategic relationships with global factories, mills, trim suppliers, and manufacturing partners to drive innovation, quality, speed to market, cost optimization, and long-term capability building.
Champion material, construction, manufacturing, and process innovation that improves product performance, consumer value, operational efficiency, and margin while preserving product integrity.
Proactively identify and resolve development, quality, costing, manufacturing, supply chain, compliance, and commercialization risks before production approval.