Senior Director, Technical Design

THE COMPANY: BIRDY GREY

Birdy Grey is a direct-to-consumer brand whose mission is to celebrate and elevate friendships during one of the most important milestones in a person’s life: THE WEDDING. 

Founded in 2017 by best friends Grace Lee (CEO & Founder) and Monica Ashauer (President & Co-Founder), Birdy Grey offers affordable bridesmaid dresses starting at $100, and fun gifts and accessories for everyone in the bridal party. Brides and bridesmaids alike count on Birdy Grey for their most important day—so much so that we’ve dressed over half a million bridesmaids (and counting) in less than 5 years.

THE OPPORTUNITY: Senior Director, Technical Design

REPORTS TO: VP of Production & PD

LOCATION: LA - Hybrid

TRAVEL: 4x/year to China

Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with an office in New York, NY, Birdy Grey supports hybrid work for eligible roles. This role is hybrid based out of our LA office, 3-4 days in office. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. #LI-HYBRID

Birdy Grey is looking for a highly skilled,  creative and motivated Senior Director of Technical Design to join our talented Technical Design department. This role will provide leadership to the Technical Design department for all categories for confidential clothing brand with emphasis in bridesmaid dresses. They will oversee all aspects of technical design and provide mentorship to existing Technical Design team on ensuring brand integrity through consistency in fit, patterns, construction, quality and execution in partnership with Design, Production and Merchandising teams. The right candidate will maintain fit consistency and ensure well-fitting, properly constructed garments that maintain consistency in product measurements, quality, construction, and fit across factories. 

SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide direction and leadership of the Technical Design Team in collaboration with overseas vendors in executing design aesthetics and maintaining fit, construction, quality, standards
• Manage the main TD office and overseas technical team to ensure fit integrity by creation of consistent apparel specifications, construction and quality details
• Utilize extensive knowledge of Patterns for Evening Wear and Occasion wear to communicate pattern corrections accurately with overseas pattern teams
• Schedule and lead fittings and provide technical design direction in collaboration with Design, PD and Merchant teams
• Ensure product integrity is maintained within target price point parameters and factory capabilities. 
• Utilize a high level of expertise in construction for Bridal and Eveningwear with a keen eye for construction details to apply towards each design & meticulously ensure quality
• Manage technical design team and their workflow to set priorities based on Seasonal Calendar
• Maintain fit approval deadlines in collaborating with the Product Development and Production team
• Create new blocks and manage established fit blocks to ensure product consistency in fit and quality. 
• Accountable for fit, construction, quality, and consistency of product category from development to production
• Partner with Design, Patterns, PD and Overseas office on development handover meetings with overseas factories to ensure all fit and construction details are clearly communicated for high quality execution
• Constantly monitor Return Data and KPI’s on fit and quality and partnering with Production to ensure product excellence  
• Foster an open and collaborative work-flow and empower existing team on technical design
• Partner and collaborate with Production and QC Manager on establishing construction standards and adhering to Quality Control manual
• Approve samples for production and conduct thorough grading and wear testing review prior to proceeding with bulk in collaboration with PD on 3rd party testing.
• Ensure factory guidelines in sewing quality are adhered to and partnering with QC department to create clear guidelines for the factories to follow in all technical packages and quality guidelines.
• Partner with Quality control and Production team and overseas technician on troubleshooting any TOP issues that might arise regarding construction and sewing quality
• Visit China 3-4 times per year with VP of Production and Design on partnering with factories on in person development hand off and Pattern and Sewing Construction troubleshooting on fit and quality issues as they arise

THE RIGHT CANDIDATE: QUALIFICATIONS & PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s Degree Required 

EXPERIENCE / REQUIREMENTS:

• 15+ years of experience in women’s dresses and gowns technical design. 
• Minimum 10 years managing technical design department of at least 3-5 team members and experience in managing team bandwidth and expertise to workload, and reallocating resources as necessary
• Experience traveling to factories in China and working on fit and construction and willingness to travel to China up to 4 times per year, staying up to 2 weeks each time
• Women’s technical design degree or Certification in Apparel Manufacturing a plus
• Experience working in factory pattern room and working with sample sewers
• Pattern maker and draping work experience a must
• Computer Skills: Gerber, PLM, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Office Suite
• Knowledge of 3D programs a plus
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage competing priorities
• Sense of urgency and attention to detail
• Ability to drape on dress form
• Ability to proactively problem solve and strong track record of improving fit, with data to support (e.g. return rates, product reviews, etc.)
• Experience working with cross-functional teams on Fit and Quality collaboration
• Experience working with factories in Asia a must
• Work business hours (9am - 6pm) in the Downtown Los Angeles office / fitting room 4 days a week
• Robust experience with sketching in AI and providing construction details for all technical aspects in tech packs.
• Sewing knowledge and know-how to partner with overseas sample room to troubleshoot sewing execution to improve quality in production lines
• Extreme comfort working with alpha sizing for dresses and different kinds of woven fabrics, such as Chiffon, Shiny Satin, Matte Satin, Crepe, Velvet, Taffeta, and other contemporary fabrications
• Able to digest customer feedback and data and proactively offer technical solutions accordingly
• Able to communicate point of view to cross-functional teams and business executives in terms that they can understand without having the technical expertise
• Able to work collaboratively work cross-functional partners like Design, Merchandising, and PD & Production and provide strong technical explanations to Design as needed in order to ensure dress construction can be mass-produced by the supplier without quality issues.  Quality and reliability are just as important as aesthetics. Comfortable with escalating if there are any concerns with designs that cannot be mass-produced with confidence

NICE TO HAVES

• Start-up experience - a plus! 
• Experience with bridal apparel
• Suiting experience
• Mandarin speaking