Tory Burch Director of Footwear Product Development

About Tory Burch

Founded in New York in 2004, Tory Burch is an American luxury lifestyle brand distinguished by its expressive use of color, signature prints and modern interpretation of classic style. Its collections span ready-to-wear, handbags, footwear and accessories, reaching an international clientele through a global retail and digital presence. As an employer, the company offers opportunities across design, merchandising, retail, technology and corporate functions, combining creative ambition with commercial expertise. Employees contribute to a founder-led business whose identity connects personal style with purpose. Women’s empowerment remains central to this identity, notably through the Tory Burch Foundation’s support for women entrepreneurs.

Role & Responsibilities

• Lead footwear product development from concept through production, including engineering, sourcing, costing and commercialization, in partnership with Design, Materials, Merchandising, Technical Design and global sourcing teams.
• Partner with the Technical team to assess and approve engineering for new constructions, identify technical issues, drive them to resolution and escalate issues as needed.
• Review and oversee the issuance of accurate, complete, high-quality, affordable and compliant bills of materials and technical packs before release.
• Recommend construction and material options that elevate the brand and align with financial goals; resolve engineering issues that miss design, merchandising, production or department IMU targets.
• Manage the handoff of clean specifications to manufacturing partners on behalf of Design; communicate daily with overseas offices and direct suppliers about specification and standards questions and changes, and help interpret design intent.
• Ensure critical fields are populated in PLM for KPI reporting and maintain data integrity.
• Review prototypes and market samples for accurate execution to specification; report sample status throughout development.
• Oversee maintenance of brand consistency standards.
• Supervise confirmation samples to ensure exact execution of the final design; review and approve colors and materials, addressing variances with vendors and Merchandising.
• Formalize and escalate issues to the Senior Director and Vice President, ensuring timely, accurate communication of critical matters for efficient resolution.
• Participate in ongoing factory-based performance reviews and recommend improvements to factories, the vendor base and sourcing geographies.
• Recommend factory allocations in alignment with department sourcing strategies.
• Collaborate across functions on seasonal offering needs, providing on-brand options in materials, suppliers, techniques and costs.
• Work with Merchandising, Design and Production to identify and address delivery and material issues affecting production schedules.
• Partner with Design, Merchandising and Production to manage liability inventories through special cuts and/or liquidation.
• Lead seasonal costing strategy across multiple footwear categories and product lines.
• Track cost targets and deliver margin expectations in partnership with Merchandising and Sourcing.
• Drive year-on-year cost savings through supplier negotiations, material optimization and manufacturing efficiencies.
• Benchmark factory and supplier pricing across countries, constructions and production methods.
• Develop costing strategies for new footwear technologies, materials and construction techniques.
• Present cost, margin and savings analyses to senior management and cross-functional teams.
• Instill quality from the start of development through final production and review components for quality and performance.
• Ensure components and constructions meet performance and restricted-substance requirements before production, working with Quality, Technical and Compliance teams.
• Arrange testing of questionable materials and components for performance and compliance to prevent production delays.
• Work across footwear design teams to ensure compliant logo usage.
• Manage and adjust the calendar, supervise milestone completion and mitigate risk; monitor development flow daily and resolve calendar variances with the team and management.
• Assist with onboarding and training new employees.
• Maintain consistent process execution and raise concerns to the Vice President.
• Drive process improvement and communicate and manage changes effectively with direct reports.
• Allocate work according to direct reports’ skills and knowledge levels.
• Identify and address direct reports’ development needs.
• Provide effective feedback and coaching to direct reports.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Minimum 12 years of experience in footwear product development, sourcing and/or production.
• Experience working with PLM or other product lifecycle management systems.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, negotiation and communication skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and collaboration skills.
• Ability to work in a fluid, fast-paced, multi-channel environment.
• Ability to travel as needed.

Skills

Experience

Minimum 12 years in footwear product development, sourcing and/or production.

Education

Bachelor’s degree required.

Compensation

The base compensation for this position ranges from USD 180,000 to USD 225,000 per annum.

Benefits

Generous benefits supporting health, financial security and wellness; employee discount; access to exclusive sample sales; free on-demand executive coaching; paid volunteer days.

Culture

Tory Burch’s workplace culture reflects the brand’s entrepreneurial spirit and optimistic outlook, bringing together creative expression, commercial ambition and a collaborative approach to building a global fashion business. Its commitment to women’s empowerment gives the company a distinctive sense of purpose, connecting its identity as an employer with its broader mission to support women’s ambitions.

About Cerulean

Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.