Sr Manager, Materials R&D - BR

Gap Inc. • San Francisco, CA

14d

About The Position

The Sr Manager, Materials R&D leverages consumer insights, mill strategies, and key trends to drive fabric development, innovation, costing, and positioning. The role advances a “Fabric First” mentality and strategy throughout the product-to-market process, and provides direction and thought partnership to internal Gap Inc. teams in North America and to Mill Management and Fabric Engineering teams in Asia, guided by cross-functional strategies.

Requirements

• Strong experience with fabric constructions, dye techniques, finishes, garment construction, and manufacturing and sourcing processes.
• Proven ability to influence and make decisions across geographies in a matrix environment where speed and cultural sensitivity are crucial.
• Ability to assess relatively complex situations, analyze data, make judgments, and recommend solutions.
• Sound knowledge of R&D concepts and procedures.
• Basic understanding of procedures across cross-functional teams, including design, production, tech design, merchandising, quality assurance, sustainability, and sourcing.

Responsibilities

• Analyze fabric needs across the company and communicate recommendations to cross-functional partners on leveraging qualities across divisions.
• Track components of the fabric and wash resource library to support seasonal inspiration, including archived Gap Inc. platformed fabrics.
• Track fabric development KPIs, brand discipline on the number of seasonal developments, and fabric testing through reporting and risk assessment tools to align expectations across functional areas.
• Partner with Product Development and Merchandising to ensure fabrics fit the V/G/B/B pricing architecture.
• Identify fabrics that need cost engineering and communicate those needs to the Mill Management team.
• Drive fabric process discipline throughout the product-to-market calendar, ensuring alignment at milestones from Mill Week through Fabric Alignment and Sampling.
• Build cross-functional partnerships and consensus, and influence strategy for the division and team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed