Senior Product Safety Manager – Footwear & Accessories

The role:

• You are the central contact person for all quality assurance/product safety matters for footwear & accessories; internally towards Product Management, Purchasing, Legal and PR department and externally
• You are responsible for the process management and external stakeholder-management (in collaboration with the Legal and PR department) in all cases where product safety is at risk, including executing callbacks
• You are in charge of developing standards for quality and product safety as well as product requirements by monitoring legal requirements and changes, relevant newsletters of NGOs, the industry or any other relevant sources to be aware of early warnings and using this information for ongoing enhancement and updates of the in-house Restricted Substances List (RSL)
• You will enhance, standardise and monitor quality processes internally, interact with suppliers and manage 3rd parties, e.g. laboratories
• You manage the testing procedures, executed by external laboratories
• You are responsible for hazard analysis, seasonal reviews and developing corrective action plans
• You ensure the implementation of quality and product safety standards by our suppliers globally
• You support and educate our suppliers in terms of product safety, restricted substances, REACH and other valid requirements (e.g. recommendations by BFR, CADS, etc)
• You lead and develop a team of 3-4 people
• You closely collaborate with and provide guidance to linked departments (such as Product Management, Purchasing, Product Development, Vendor Management and CSR)
• You participate and drive internal projects in Quality- and Supply Chain Management

Experience required:

• Extensive experience of working in Technology/Quality Assurance/Product safety for footwear (and ideally accessories but not essential), so coming from a Technologist or Quality background
• Have a good understanding of chemical fundamentals and standards
• You have comprehensive knowledge about European restrictions and legal law related to product safety, product compliance and sustainability
• You are highly motivated, proactive, responsible, self-dependent, organized, structured, flexible and open towards change
• You are a problem solver who loves challenges and can answer technical questions about the relevant production processes
• You have an analytical, strategic and problem solving approach with the declared intention to drive and implement changes
• You possess excellent communications skills, persuasiveness and assertiveness to implement quality standards in the company effectively
• You are business fluent in English, another European language is an advantage but not essential
• You are confident in the use of Microsoft Office, PLM Databases and other merchandise management systems
• You are willing to travel globally

To apply please email your cv to Sophie Bubb