Purpose of role:
To support our product development and ensuring our product complies with our quality standards and looks to exceed customer expectation. To work alongside the buying teams, suppliers and key stakeholders to establish and maintain best practice.
Reports to: Quality Manager
Product and Process
• Understand and support delivery of the Departmental and Quality strategy to deliver the customer promise.
• Demonstrates technical knowledge of footwear and accessories to develop products that are safe, legal and fit for purpose.
• Build and develop capability to assess commercial quality and testing requirements.
• Assist with product development and adhere to sample process flow.
• Investigate all Gold Seal rejections and communicate quality issues to buying teams and suppliers.
• Build competitor awareness to enable quality, fit and performance benchmarking of the Client’s products versus key competitors.
• Work with the Compliance team to ensure the Quality Standards are in line with industry standards (Value/Volume retail).
• Demonstrate an understanding of the legal/product/retail requirements for labelling.
• Organises and runs fit sessions for product area of responsibility. Communicating clearly to buying teams and suppliers fit amendments and technical solutions.
• Assist in identifying potential fit, fabric or component quality issues.
• Investigate any testing failures with the supplier, supporting with technical knowledge on how to resolve.
• Compile and conclude tech packs and score card analysis as part of the delivery of the key line programme to ensure quality standards and cost efficiencies are achieved.
• Investigate and support resolution of quality issues in a timely manner with clear solutions and communication to all relevant stakeholders.
• Monitors the Returns Report to identify high returning styles/products, highlighting risk to Quality Manager and develop CAPP to enable improvements. Working with the supply base to resolve and improve future deliveries.
• With guidance from the Quality Manager learn to identify risk suppliers/product for Pre-shipment and CFS inspection
• Evaluating risk and ability to make commercial recommendations on quality priorities in a volume environment.
• Investigate customer feedback/customer complaints/product issues and record on the quality incident log.
• Monitors the Returns Report to identify high returning styles/products,
Suppliers
• Communicate with suppliers on the technical development of product.
• Highlight risk areas from testing submissions and with support of the Quality Manager work on an improvement plan.
• Assist Suppliers on technical queries concerning product development.
• Assist with regular updates to the supply base on quality standards.
• Gain a working understanding of the ethical team’s factory audit process and compliance to understand supplier performance.
Communication and Influence
• Communicates and interacts clearly and concisely to ensure that information is understood by buying teams, retail and external contacts.
• Demonstrates/develop effective communication skills tailored to the audience and objectives; provides feedback and responds to others in a professional, courteous and respectful manner.
• Supports the QA team to deliver training and engagement with buying teams and Suppliers to improve the sampling hit rate.
• Identifies and gathers relevant information to solve problems and make informed decisions relating to quality standards.
• Makes decisions independently within parameters and understands when to seek guidance; collaborates with impacted stakeholders (Project teams, Suppliers and Peers).
• Attends B&M department meetings representing the Quality function.
Working with others
• Works effectively with others to deliver common goals; readily offers support.
• Respects the ideas and contributions of others and readily takes opportunities to learn and seek out stretching opportunities to support own development.
• Demonstrates self-awareness and understanding of own skills, abilities and development areas.
• Prioritises and manages own activities in a structured, independent and timely way; keeps others informed and obtains additional information when required.
• Understands business need for flexibility and modifies behaviour accordingly; exhibits a positive, determined and results driven attitude.
• Contributes to and supports the delivery and content of the Quality training courses.
• Supports training in best practice for sample approval to QA, buying teams and suppliers
• Supports regular updates to the buying teams and suppliers regarding new sections within the QA manual.
Requirements:
• Technical background required. A focus on footwear and is essential.
• Related industry experience.