Regional Product Development Manager

The **Regional Head of Technical Product Development **will play a pivotal role within the Organization, implementing, executing and constantly improving, the Bata Concept To Shelf procedures and processes.

He / she is directly responsible to manage and coordinate the T.P.D. Onshore / Offshore team activities and resources, ensuring that their performance, meets and exceeds the expected results.

His / her role will be the coordination of the development of new product ideas, from initial stage to prototypes / concept, through to the approved samples.

Pro-actively following the product specifications and construction processes, with objective to achieve the cost targets, engineered for quality and cost efficiencies while ensuring that samples are exactly produced as per specs, in respect of the delivery timing and quality and fitting expectations.

To provide clear input to Sourcing team to satisfy the Global, Regional and Local requirements, supporting global T.P.D. needs and ensuring, that the regional core collections added to the local requested developments, meet and fit the local consumers need in terms of style, design, materials, fitting and price.

(**Note: posting in some locations may serve both Global & Regional or Regional & Local needs)

**Core Accountabilities**:
1. Responsible for implementing Supply Chain strategies (as relate to PD), based on direction and guidelines received from the Regional Supply Chain Head and Product Head.

2. Manages and coordinates Onshore / Offshore T.P.D. functions, to ensure proper execution of their duties.

3. Ensures that T.P.D. strategies and processes are in place to meet Group / Regional / Local business objectives, in terms of time to market, supplier allocation, price, quality, fitting, comfort and sustainability targets.

4. Ensure a balanced workload for the team members, assigning projects to each member that challenges their abilities and helps improve their skillset.

5. Coordinates team for continuous innovation research to ensure our brands are produced with the latest available materials, new technologies and innovation trends and design, to best enhance the “brands” value and equity.

6. Manages communication across various levels of the Organization ensuring timely and accurate sharing of information.

7. Works in full alignment with the Product team, on satisfying all their product requests, in a timely and accurate manner.

8. Helping to translate designs, drawings and renderings into real products, determining the most efficient product engineering design, to maximize quality and production output while reducing costs.

9. Work in concert with the Regional Supply Chain & Sourcing Heads to identify the “best in class” supplier, to whom allocate the projects on developments.

10. Recommends materials and construction processes, to ensure that samples developed are meeting the Product team design expectations.

11. To ensure that, new materials, accessories, components and finished shoes, are tested and approved against Bata standards, prior the final sample production.

12. Assists Product Team on the making of Product Design Brief, in preparation of the Paper Collection meeting. Following the Paper Collection Meeting, coordinates preparation of the initial Spec Sheet, which will be later updated by Offshore T.P.D. with the help of selected vendors.

13. Shepherds the team on the making of mock-ups, prototypes, and gives approval to the final sample.

14. Ensures that the T.P.D. team follow last making production process with nominated last suppliers, in respect of regional and global requested standards.

15. Ensures that documentation that show the number of lasts, moulds and specific tooling, developed exclusively for our production, are properly updated and recorded.

16. Ensures that all new tooling developments, have a proper financial payback, to ensure that depreciation / amortization is calculated on the agreed quantity. Works to influence against any unnecessary proliferation of tooling investments.

17. Ensures execution of fit intent and fit consistency through clear analysis, documentation, communication, adherence to fit standards.

18. Ensures proper communication of material specifications and product details is carried between Onshore / Offshore T.P.D. and selected suppliers.

19. Overviews and supervises the T.P.D. team to ensure that specs sheets are: prepared in a clear, precise manner; sent to the T.P.D. Offshore to be filled with missing information; properly executed and revised with the new specs whenever there’s a change in product design.

20. To continue the use, improvement and enhancement of the B.P.S. platform(or future equivalent), ensuring it use as the main database for all the Supply Chain Product development information

21. To review and analyse, once ready CBDs prepared by the Costing team, to check if the target cost price has been met and where necessary to re-engineer the product design / mat