Product Developer

Product Developer Works closely with: Design, Technical Design & Compliance, Production and Marketing teams Experience: 5+ years About the role Pehr is looking for a product-led Product Developer to bring beautiful ideas to life — from first concept and sampling through to the handover to Production at PP approval. This is a product-first role. You sit alongside Design from the earliest ideation, bringing material, construction and factory knowledge to the table so beautiful ideas survive development intact. You own the integrity of what we make; how it is built, how it performs, how long it lasts and you make sure every product functions the way a parent needs it to. Above all you are building a product offering that delivers on Pehr’s four pillars: attention to detail, superior quality, sustainable actions, and thoughtful design. Every material, trim and construction decision you make moves both the product and the margin. Tech packs, fit and colour approvals sit with Design and Technical Design; testing and compliance sit with Technical Design & Compliance and Production; category and margin strategy sits with leadership. Your job is to develop product that delivers all of it, beautifully and on calendar. You are exceptional at organization, follow-through and cross-functional communication, and you take full accountability for your product lines. Key responsibilities Product ideation & design partnership Partner with Design from concept forward: research trends, themes, silhouettes, materials and finishes, and bring a clear, considered point of view for the brand and productLead and contribute to brainstorming sessions, turning early ideas into products that can be beautifully made and profitably soldBring construction, material and factory knowledge into ideation so beautiful ideas survive development intact rather than being compromised lateChampion design intent through every sample round — protecting proportion, hand-feel, print and finish as a product moves from proto to PP Product integrity Own the integrity of every product you develop: materials, construction and finishing that hold up to real use in a child’s homeHold the quality standard from first proto through PP; lead sample reviews and manage approvals so critical product requirements are metInspect samples, diagnose root causes rather than symptoms, and close the loop with the factory so issues do not repeat season over seasonSource and develop materials and trims with durability, safety, wash and wear performance and sustainability in mind, in line with our sustainable actions pillarAdvance our sustainable materials agenda — certified and preferred fibres, reduced-impact trims and packaging — without compromising quality or cost Functionality Ensure every product works the way a parent needs it to — ease of use, care, packaging and the unboxing experienceChoose materials, trims and constructions that will meet our testing and safety requirements, and raise anything questionable with Technical Design & Compliance before it is lockedProvide and seek out knowledge on fabric qualities and limitations and manufacturing processes Development execution Develop product to the tech packs and specs issued by Technical Design, ensuring the factory understands and builds to intent, and escalating discrepancies rather than absorbing themMaintain accurate product data and BOMs in PLM — fabrications, trims, labels and colorways — so we can cost and produce from themManage development of packaging and labeling components alongside the product, with compliance content approved by Technical Design & Compliance Building the product offering Build assortments that deliver against all four pillars, balancing newness and core, price architecture and category coverageCreate and maintain product details on Backbone, Launch Calendar and Planning documentsCreate line sheets in Backbone and present the details in sales and marketing meetingsConfirm sample requirements with marketing and manage handover of samples for photo shoots and influencersReview post-launch performance — sell-through, returns and customer feedback — and carry those learnings into the next round of development Cost, margin & value engineering Own the costing process for your lines: collect and interrogate factory cost breakdowns (materials, trims, labor, overhead, profit), challenge line items, and negotiate to target cost with vendors and agentsPut all net new fabrications through an early-stage cost vetting exercise before development time is spentWork to cost targets set from last year or planning input, question deviations, and understand what can be done to improve — construction changes, negotiation or stylingLead the cost saving challenge: come to the table with suggestions, from sample round reductions to negotiating on combined program efficiencyEngineer to target while protecting design intent — proposing material substitutions, construction simplifications, yield improvements and MOQ solutions that hold the aesthetic and quality standardTrack first cost against target and final FOB, and factor duty/HTS classification, freight and tariff exposure into true landed costMonitor raw material and input price movement, minimums and capacity, and flag cost implications earlyMaintain cost history by style and season, and contribute to post-season margin reviewsWhen cost, quality and design intent conflict, bring forward options with the cost and margin impact of each quantified Development calendar, vendors & handover Own the calendar for your programs: know the critical dates intimately and use that knowledge to inform the conversations and decisions made at any point in the processAct as the voice of the program, ensuring accountability across cross-functional teams and escalating risk when another team’s deliverables may impact timelines or product successProactively highlight when dates are trending behind and propose solutions or contingency plans to bring them back on courseManage the development process and sample submissions for each collection, monitoring timing so development samples hit their deadlinesDevelop meaningful relationships with all vendors and agents through effective communication and clear processes and deliverablesContribute to factory placement decisions — matching product to the right partner for capability, quality, capacity and costDeliver a clean handover to Production at PP approval: approved specs, BOMs, costs and packaging, with open risks namedMaintain and organize samples and records of approvals Qualifications 5+ years in product development in apparel or soft goods, ideally with a brand managing overseas manufacturing; childrenswear, nursery or footwear experience an assetA genuine eye for product — you can hold a design standard and articulate why a proportion, material or finish is or is not rightDeep working knowledge of materials, trims and construction, and the limitations that come with themFluent reading and developing from tech packs and specs, and able to maintain accurate BOMs and product dataExperience running development with overseas factories — sampling, materials and construction problem solving — including managing timelines across time zonesDemonstrated cost ownership: you have read and challenged a factory cost breakdown, negotiated to a target, and can explain how a construction change moved marginProven critical-path and development-calendar management; strong PLM proficiency (Backbone an asset) and ExcelExceptional organization, time management and cross-functional communicationExposure to sustainable materials and certifications (organic cotton, OEKO-TEX, GOTS, GRS) an assetAble to travel to factories and to trade shows or market as required