Manager, Footwear Technician

Tapestry•New York, NY

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Footwear supports the operational strategy for all Tapestry Footwear products from prototype to final delivery, working closely with the Sr. Director. This role assists in product development and commercialization, collaborating with the Sr. Director and cross-functional teams including Design, Merchandising, Asia Teams, Materials, Quality, and Factory/Service providers. This is a hybrid role, with in-office work three days a week (Tuesday–Thursday) and remote work two days (Monday & Friday) as needed.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in footwear & technical development.
Demonstrated basic knowledge of fit, paper patterns, lasts, materials, and footwear constructions variations.
Basic skills to handle masking tape, marker pen, scissors, and craft knife to help assisting fit and pattern lines corrections during prototype review meetings.
Sharp eye and ability to translate design sketch information into prototypes.
Strong organizational skills, great attention to detail and capturing comments to translate to CRF/TRF notes.
Demonstrate ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and work independently.
Express understanding of footwear costing.
Strong collaboration skills with ability to work effectively with global & cross functional teams across all levels.
Aptitude in Microsoft Office – 365, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint and EcVision.
Effective communication skills in written and oral English.
International work travel capability.
Availability for video meetings with South Asia team members and factories as needed.
Self-motivated, able to work under pressure and with a sense of urgency.
Demonstrate passion for footwear and the footwear industry, and keep up with the latest trends, technologies, and customer preferences.
Creativity & Problem-solving mind are essential attributes for problems and challenges that need innovative and original ideas during the footwear development process, such as design flaws, material defects, or production issues.

Nice To Haves

Preferably in luxury fashion shoes.
Experience in working with footwear factories is a plus (local and/or abroad).
Knowledge of Photoshop and Rhinos (3D, Cad) is a plus.
A diploma in footwear fashion & technology or footwear manufacturing experience.
A bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field is a plus.
Product eye and ability to recognize design information into prototypes.
Basic footwear costing.
Ability to multitask and keen sense of teamwork.

Responsibilities

Maintain a constant flow of communication between NY PD, cross functional partners from Design to Merchandising, Asia PD and Factory/Service provider partners.
Oversee and communicate development and fit specifications from initial concept to final product, creating, sharing and updating the CRF’s (Construction Review Form) and TRF’s (Tooling Review Form).
Support reviewing prototypes and final samples, taking comments in preparation for development meetings.
Manage the NY wear test (WT) program charts, samples distribution and comments’ forms files & communication.
Create forms/charts (as CRF, TRF, WT) and organize comments files in share drive Teams.
Follow up samples shipping and tracking.
Organize the fitting schedule and fit model according to sample receipt.
Establish strong relationships with cross functional and global partners.
Participate in research and development of new techniques and fits where applicable to support design and product development to drive product innovation.