Manager, Raw Materials Shoes

As a Raw Materials Development and Procurement specialist, you partner with Design and Sourcing to translate creative vision into material reality while managing cost and timelines. You act as a technical ambassador, ensuring feasibility, quality, and fit-for-purpose outcomes across vendors and internal teams. You drive material innovations, risk mitigation, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver on Burberry's design intent at scale. Your work supports sustainable luxury by balancing creativity with commercial impact and supplier capability.

• Partner with Design to translate creative vision into material specifications and feasibility feedback
• Maintain strong relationships with vendors and assess their capabilities and capacity
• Research and develop new raw material concepts and technologies aligned with briefs
• Collaborate with mills on samples and colorways to ensure design execution
• Define and manage the raw material development critical path with Product Development and Design
• Ensure on-time delivery, quality, and cost targets while mitigating risks
• Confirm material functionality, standardization, and fitness for customer, brand, and business needs
• Collaborate with Operations for testing and production readiness, negotiating aesthetic changes as needed
• Support production meetings and prepare proto and sample requirements for production
• Maintain 100% PLM accuracy

• Strong vendor relationship management and ability to issue clear briefs
• Expert technical knowledge of leather and fabric processing from development to industrialization
• Understanding of testing parameters, quality standards, and chemicals used in finishing
• Experience working on-site with vendors and factory operations
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Deep fashion knowledge, trends, and luxury consumer awareness
• Proficiency with PLM and Excel

• collaborative
• strong negotiation
• issue resolution
• leather processing
• fabric development and industrialisation
• materials sourcing and cost management