Design and Production Manager

Product Design & Production Manager

Torquay, VIC · Full-time

THE 411…

Yuki Threads is an independent snow outerwear and apparel brand. For the past 16 years we've been a rider-owned and operated team, rooted in mountain culture and building purpose-led product for our community.

Our products are the foundation of our brand, and there's an opportunity for the right person to come in, take the reins, and bring them to life.

Working closely with our founder and the rest of our small team, you'll design, develop and deliver our products end to end, from concept to factory exit. Our founder leads the budget, range plan, and creative direction. From there, it's yours to run. You're either already doing this for another brand, or you've been honing your skills, and you're ready to step up.

This isn't a single-discipline role. You'll lead every stage of product, from concepts, mood boards, and ideation through to presenting ranges. You'll bring attention to detail to sampling and real technical skill to fit sessions. When issues come up in production, you'll spot them early and resolve them smoothly with our offshore partners.

If you bring a keen eye for mountain style and technical product, you're obsessed with the details, and you can communicate clearly and hold a critical path to bring the job home, we'd love to hear from you.

YOU COULD BE THE ONE IF YOU HAVE…

• 3+ years leading the design and development of technical outerwear. You've taken jackets and pants from first sketch to bulk production more than once.

• A designer's eye and the skills to back it up. You can build a concept from a mood board, turn it into tech packs, and present a range with a clear point of view on mountain style.

• A technical understanding of how outerwear works. Fabrics, membranes, seam sealing, waterproof and breathability ratings, insulation, fit. You can run a fit session and tell us why a sample will or won't hold up on a wet day in the backcountry.

• A thorough history in product development. You have led sampling and development from proto to PPS, being responsible for final sign-off on all developments and samples.

• Experience working directly with overseas factories. Approving samples, working through comments, holding the standard on bulk, and staying calm when a production run goes sideways across a time zone.

• Strong Excel skills and a commercial head. Costings, production masters and critical paths are where you live, and you know a great product that misses its target cost isn't a great product. ERP experience is a plus (we run Cin7 Core).

• The ability to lead people who don't all sit in the same room. Our part-time production manager in China, freelance designers and technicians, all pointed the same way and aligned.
  
  *If you don't tick all the boxes we'd still like to hear from you :)

IF YOU WERE HERE LAST MONTH, YOU MIGHT HAVE…

• Received a box of samples, run a fit session on a shell jacket, and sent comments back to the factory the same day.

• Jumped on a call with our production manager in China to unblock a fabric delay, then updated the critical path so everyone could see where it landed.

• Presented first mood boards and range concepts for next season to our founder, and walked out with two directions to push harder and one to drop.

• Reworked a costing after a fabric price increase, flagged the margin hit on one style, and proposed a spec change that held the cost without losing what makes the jacket good.

• Signed off lab dips and strike-offs for next season's colours, and chased the one that came back off-shade.

• Briefed our freelance graphic designer on artwork for an upcoming range, and reviewed the first round before the end of the week.

• Took a proto riding on the weekend and came back Monday with three changes nobody would have caught in the office.

WHY WORK FOR YUKI?

Yuki's mission is to unite our community; create the best quality, responsible products we can; and support the fight for our planet. You'll have a big impact on all three.

We're a brand that lives in what it makes. The whole team is encouraged to get into the mountains, and we'd love you to join us in Japan. You'll ride, test the gear in real conditions and see first-hand how it holds up. Home is the Surf Coast. We're biased, but we think it's one of the best communities in the country.

Feel good knowing it's not all about moving product, either. As a 1% for the Planet member, we give 1% of our revenue to environmental nonprofits working to protect the places we play.

LOCATION & HOURS

This is a full-time role based in our Torquay office, with the option to work from our satellite office in Myoko, Japan, from December to the end of February.

It's not a remote position.

We're open to candidates from interstate or overseas who are ready to relocate. If that's you, tell us your plan in your application.

Start date: We're ready when you are.

HOW TO APPLY

Before you apply, spend some time on yukithreads.com and get a feel for who we are and what we make. If it feels like your kind of place, send us your CV, a portfolio of products you've designed or developed, and your answers to these questions:

1. Tell us about a product you took from concept to bulk production. What went wrong along the way, and how did you fix it?

2. Pick a piece of outerwear you own (any brand, not ours). What would you change about it, and why?

3. Where are you based now? If you're not local to Torquay, what's your plan for relocating?