Works closely with

Design, Technical Design & Compliance, Production and Marketing teams

Experience

5+ years

About the role

Pehr is looking for a product-led Product Developer to bring beautiful ideas to life — from first concept and sampling through to the handover to Production at PP approval.

This is a product-first role. You sit alongside Design from the earliest ideation, bringing material, construction and factory knowledge to the table so beautiful ideas survive development intact. You own the integrity of what we make; how it is built, how it performs, how long it lasts and you make sure every product functions the way a parent needs it to.

Above all you are building a product offering that delivers on Pehr’s four pillars: attention to detail, superior quality, sustainable actions, and thoughtful design. Every material, trim and construction decision you make moves both the product and the margin. Tech packs, fit and colour approvals sit with Design and Technical Design; testing and compliance sit with Technical Design & Compliance and Production; category and margin strategy sits with leadership.

Your job is to develop product that delivers all of it, beautifully and on calendar.

You are exceptional at organization, follow-through and cross-functional communication, and you take full accountability for your product lines.

Key responsibilities

Partner with Design from concept forward: research trends, themes, silhouettes, materials and finishes, and bring a transparent, considered point of view for the brand and product

Lead and contribute to brainstorming sessions, turning early ideas into products that can be beautifully made and profitably sold

Bring construction, material and factory knowledge into ideation so beautiful ideas survive development intact rather than being compromised late

Champion design intent through every sample round — protecting proportion, hand-feel, print and finish as a product moves from proto to PP

Product integrity

Own the integrity of every product you develop: materials, construction and finishing that hold up to real use in a child’s home

Hold the quality standard from first proto through PP; lead sample reviews and manage approvals so critical product requirements are met

Inspect samples, diagnose root causes rather than symptoms, and close the loop with the factory so issues do not repeat season over season

Source and develop materials and trims with durability, safety, wash and wear performance and sustainability in mind, in line with our sustainable actions pillar

Advance our sustainable materials agenda — certified and preferred fibres, reduced-impact trims and packaging — without compromising quality or cost

Functionality





Ensure every product works the way a parent needs it to — ease of use, care, packaging and the unboxing experience

Choose materials, trims and constructions that will meet our testing and safety requirements, and raise anything questionable with Technical Design & Compliance before it is locked

Provide and seek out knowledge on fabric qualities and limitations and manufacturing processes

Develop product to the tech packs and specs issued by Technical Design, ensuring the factory understands and builds to intent, and escalating discrepancies rather than absorbing them

Maintain accurate product data and BOMs in PLM — fabrications, trims, labels and colorways — so we can cost and produce from them

Manage development of packaging and labeling components alongside the product, with compliance content approved by Technical Design & Compliance

Building the product offering

Build assortments that deliver against all four pillars, balancing newness and core, price architecture and category coverage

Create and maintain product details on Backbone, Launch Calendar and Planning documents

Create line sheets in Backbone and present the details in sales and marketing meetings

Confirm sample requirements with marketing and manage handover of samples for photo shoots and influencers

Review post-launch performance — sell-through, returns and customer feedback — and carry those learnings into the next round of development

Own the costing process for your lines: collect and interrogate factory cost breakdowns (materials, trims, labor, overhead, profit), challenge line items, and negotiate to target cost with vendors and agents

Put all net new fabrications through an early-stage cost vetting exercise before development time is spent

Work to cost targets set from last year or planning input, question deviations, and understand what can be done to improve — construction changes, negotiation or styling

Lead the cost saving challenge: come to the table with suggestions, from sample round reductions to negotiating on combined program efficiency

Engineer to target while protecting design intent — proposing material substitutions, construction simplifications, yield improvements and MOQ solutions that hold the aesthetic and quality standard

Track first cost against target and final FOB,



and factor duty/HTS classification, freight and tariff exposure into true landed cost

Monitor raw material and input price movement, minimums and capacity, and flag cost implications early

Maintain cost history by style and season, and contribute to post-season margin reviews

When cost, quality and design intent conflict, bring forward options with the cost and margin impact of each quantified

Own the calendar for your programs: know the critical dates intimately and use that knowledge to inform the conversations and decisions made at any point in the process

Act as the voice of the program, ensuring accountability across cross-functional teams and escalating risk when another team’s deliverables may impact timelines or product success

Proactively highlight when dates are trending behind and propose solutions or contingency plans to bring them back on course

Manage the development process and sample submissions for each collection, monitoring timing so development samples hit their deadlines

Develop meaningful relationships with all vendors and agents through effective communication and clear processes and deliverables

Contribute to factory placement decisions — matching product to the right partner for capability, quality, capacity and cost

Deliver a clean handover to Production at PP approval: approved specs, BOMs, costs and packaging, with open risks named

Maintain and organize samples and records of approvals

Qualifications

5+ years in product development in apparel or soft goods, ideally with a brand managing overseas manufacturing; childrenswear, nursery or footwear experience an asset A genuine eye for product — you can hold a design standard and articulate why a proportion, material or finish is or is not right

Deep working knowledge of materials, trims and construction, and the limitations that come with them

Fluent reading and developing from tech packs and specs, and able to maintain accurate BOMs and product data

Experience running development with overseas factories — sampling, materials and construction problem solving — including managing timelines across time zones

Demonstrated cost ownership: you have read and challenged a factory cost breakdown, negotiated to a target, and can explain how a construction change moved margin

Proven critical-path and development-calendar management; strong PLM proficiency (Backbone an asset) and Excel

Exceptional organization, time management and cross-functional communication

Exposure to sustainable materials and certifications (organic cotton, OEKO-TEX, GOTS, GRS) an asset

Able to travel to factories and to trade shows or market as required

📌 Product Developer (Winnipeg)
🏢 Pehr
📍 Winnipeg