Senior Manager, Footwear Development & Operations

About Us:

We’re a performance footwear company using innovation and creativity to unlock the euphoria of sport. Inspired by skateboarding and surfing, we blend cutting-edge performance with a distinctive aesthetic rooted in lifestyle subcultures. As an underdog in a field dominated by giants, we focus on authentic, credible brand-building that challenges the status quo—step by step crafting a legacy. Tuned For The Future.

Role Overview:

This role will be responsible for assessing team capabilities, defining cross-functional team needs across development, engineering, materials, costing, commercialization, production, and quality, leading the hiring of those roles, and managing those individuals to deliver strong cross-functional execution.

Key Responsibilities:

Cross-Functional Team Management

• Lead and manage a growing cross-functional team across development, engineering, materials, costing, commercialization, production, and quality

• Provide strong mentorship and leadership to a growing team, establishing clear goals, performance standards, and development opportunities

• Assess hiring needs and oversee recruitment and onboarding of new team members

• Create and lead a culture for problem-solving by identifying issues, presenting solutions and options to team members and external stakeholders

• Establish and documents the LO structure and procedures for operating and communicating; evolve process over time

• Act as the primary liaison between VN LO and HQ to align on priorities, communicate progress, and resolve issues during development, commercialization, and production

Product Development

• Execute product development plans and manage key milestones from initial prototype through production-ready confirmation

• Analyze Techpacks and revisions to provide global product teams with alternative suggestions in constructions, materials, costing, and duty mitigation

• Partner with global product teams to bring concepts to life with technical accuracy and manufacturability while collaborating with costing and materials teams to ensure seasonal targets are met without compromising brand standards

• Manage the timely creation, delivery, approval, and retention of all relevant technical information (e.g., shell patterns, 2Ds, 3Ds, lasts, testing, cost sheets)

• Oversee execution of the development process to ensure T1 approval and on-time RFC for production PO release and hand-off to Commercialization and Production teams

Commercialization & Production

• Lead teardown and commercialization meetings with cross-functional and factory teams, with a focus on construction, tooling, materials, manufacturing processes, costing, and performance

• Manage commercialization activities to ensure highly technical products meet brand & consumer needs and are successfully engineered for mass production at defined quality

• Oversee readiness across tooling, materials, testing, and pre-production builds to ensure seamless handoff to production

• Ensure systems and processes are in place to uphold brand quality standards and support smooth production scale-up and ongoing production

• Provide strategic oversight on production and quality, with the goal of hiring and empowering specialized team members in these areas

Operations & Factory Collaboration

• Support execution of strategies set by senior leadership regarding cost, quality, sustainability, and performance

• Identify and implement operational best practices that increase product creation efficiency and accuracy. Monitor timelines and escalate risks to achieve brand-aligned operational success

• Build and maintain strong trust-based relationships with factory partners to support development and manufacturing excellence

• Monitor factory performance, provide strategic feedback, and partner on long-term capacity planning and continuous improvement initiatives

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Product Development, Engineering, Industrial Design, or related field

• 10+ years of experience in athletic or performance footwear creation, with a strong emphasis on development, engineering, manufacturing, and production processes

• 4+ years of team management experience with a global brand, with a track record of managing technical teams and driving performance footwear creation

• Proven ability to build and manage strong factory relationships, particularly in Vietnam

• Fluency in English required; Vietnamese or Mandarin is a plus

• Ability to travel to factory partners and global offices

Preferred Traits

• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with teams at all levels and external partners

• Strong leadership capabilities, with the ability to inspire and motivate teams

• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage cross-functional teams and multiple projects simultaneously

• Strong technical troubleshooting and problem-solving skills, particularly in scaling products from prototype to production

• Hands-on problem-solver with strong knowledge of footwear development, engineering, and manufacturing processes.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to build and shape high-performing teams in Vietnam

• Collaborative global culture that values performance, innovation, and sustainability

• Dynamic, performance-driven work environment with direct impact on global products

• Competitive compensation and benefits, commensurate with experience and skills