Lead, Apparel Materials Manufacturing Engineering (MME)

WHO YOU'LL WORK WITH
This role reports to the Director, Apparel Materials Manufacturing Engineering (MME) & Materials Source Options (MSO) and works closely with Principal MME partners, Materials Quality Engineering, Supplier Management, Materials Sourcing, Product Risk Engineering, Product Integrity, Manufacturing & Systems Engineering and external material suppliers to ensure execution stability and delivery confidence.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR The Lead, Materials Manufacturing Engineering role is responsible for executing manufacturing readiness for new and evolving materials, with a focus on innovation scale-up, supplier ramp-up, and early production integration. This role translates upstream readiness strategy into disciplined execution during pilot, scale-up, and early production, ensuring new materials and processes can reliably scale.
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Minimum 6-8 years of experience in materials manufacturing, supplier management, or production support.
Hands‐on experience working directly with suppliers and factory partners.
Strong execution discipline with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
Clear communication with escalating risks and driving resolution.
Ability to travel approximately 10%.
WHAT YOU'LL WORK ON In this role, you will lead end-to-end manufacturing readiness for new materials and processes by partnering with suppliers and cross-functional teams to ensure scalable, high-quality production. You will also focus on early risk identification, process integration, and readiness execution to enable smooth transition into seasonal manufacturing. To that end, you will:
Execute manufacturing readiness plans for new, high-risk, or first-of-kind materials and processes.
Drive supplier readiness across pilot, validation, and scale-up milestones.
Support early manufacturing integration activities: Material Manufacturing Validation (MMV), Product Manufacturing Validation (PMV), pilot builds, early production.
Identify and mitigate manufacturability, scalability, and capability risks prior to seasonal production.
Partner with Materials Quality Engineering (MQE) to support handoff into seasonal production readiness.
Track readiness risks, actions, and escalate based on thresholds.