SVP of Women's Design

Tommy Bahama•Seattle, WA

About The Position

Provides creative vision, strategic direction and organizational leadership for Tommy Bahama Women’s Design, ensuring a distinctive, relevant and commercially compelling expression of the island lifestyle across all women’s product categories. Leads development of seasonal creative vision including product color, print and pattern, silhouette and fabrication while ensuring consistency with the Tommy Bahama brand. Partners closely with EVP of Product Design and Development and senior leaders across Merchandising, Product Development and Marketing to translate consumer insights, market trends and business performance into product strategies that drive growth and support profitability. Builds and leads a high-performing design team by establishing clear creative standards, through continuously improving department standards, processes, and ways of working while driving operational excellence, developing future leaders and cultivating a culture of creativity, collaboration, accountability and continuous innovation.

Requirements

Degree in Fashion Design, Business, or related field preferred.
15+ years of experience in women’s apparel design including leadership of large and complex design organizations, showing a pattern of successful growth.
Demonstrates exceptional taste level and aesthetic judgement to translate consumer and cultural trends into compelling and commercially successful product launches.
Seasoned domestic and international traveler for trend research and product development.
Garment fit and construction experience with keen understanding of; silhouette, drape, fabric properties and performance, printing methods, trims, washes, embellishments and sustainability considerations.
Strong multi-tasker, with ability to lead and inspire a team of professionals working under tight deadlines, across multiple seasons and conflicting deliverables.
Exceptional communication and presentation skills, ability to articulate creative vision, product strategy and business rational to executive leadership, cross functional partners, and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Exercises broad discretion over the design direction including; setting seasonal destination, color and print direction, silhouette and styling and material development while protecting brand authenticity and design integrity.
Provides senior creative leadership throughout the end-to-end product development process, partnering with Merchandising, Product Development and Production teams to deliver quality products, which meet cost and margin objectives and calendar requirements
Partners with Merchandising to translate consumer insights, market trends and business performance to shape assortment strategies and identify new product opportunities. Continuously seeks white space ideas.
Establishes clear creative priorities and decision-making frameworks within the process to resolve major product, quality, cost and calendar tradeoffs in partnership with cross functional leaders.
Communicates and champions the Women’s creative vision through presentations to Executive leadership, Wholesale Sales, Marketing, and Direct- to-Guest Merchandising teams.
Leads develops, and inspires a high-performing design organization by establishing priorities, allocating resources effectively, coaching talent, rigorous succession planning and ensuring adherence to development calendars and departmental objectives.
Manages departmental budgets, processes, and standards to maximize efficiency, foster innovation, and achieve strategic business goals.