Technical Designer

Company Description
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands. At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview
The Technical Design position is responsible and accountable for fitting garments and ensuring the RL standard for fit is set for suppliers to be compliant to the design intent of each style. The garments that they fit with Design are new fits only- while anniversary fits are executed through the offshore offices Technical Design Team. They are accountable for ensuring all tools are created, maintained, and distributed to enable a "Closer to Needle Point" strategy. The Product Technician needs strong communication and organizational skills- as well as a heightened attention to detail. Technical Designer owns ensuring construction standards are met globally. This position also owns digital product development, see bullet points under roles and responsibilities.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

* All prototype and Fit garments are received by Tech team and reviewed with Design for details and overall fit/aesthetic. This role is responsible for ensuring all fit comments are entered into PLM and released to corresponding vendor in a timely manner.
* Managing timeline and releasing comment according to the deadline is a must.
* The Tech Designer is responsible for maintaining spec and construction standards and creating an accurate global communication tree and distributing the changes in accurate and timely manner to all Business Partners to ensure everyone is aligned.
* In this position the NY Tech Designer ensures all tools (Block Body Spreadsheets, placement guides, fold manuals, etc....) are created and distributed in a timely fashion to compliment tech pack creations being done offshore according to calendar.
* Tech Design is responsible and accountable for driving a "closer to needle point" strategy and challenging if something needs to be fit in NY because it is block driven or a repeat fit. Empower the offshore technical design team whenever possible.
* Drive the supplier calibration on process on supplier driven fit approvals- this is done by partnership with the Sr. Director of Closer to Needle Point.
* Ensure the offshore technical design team and the quality assurance team has all the tools they need to approve In region samples, whether it be pre-production samples (PPS) and/or 3D images.
* This position requires the creation of a Development TP for all Red and Orange Pipelined styles which means adding spec pages, additional construction pages and sample request pages into Flex PLM after Handoff form Design.
* The NY Technical Designer is responsible for ensuring all grade rules are correct in the system and construction follows all the Safety compliance rules at the beginning of the season.
* The NY Technical Designer is responsible and accountable for collaboration with the offshore tech design team and providing templates to ensure the correct points of measure are used in the tech packs creating one universal global way of working.
* This position is responsible and accountable to attend virtual fittings when needed. This role partners with a global team, and therefor fittings will be held across teams from different offices/times globally. Expectations are to partner with leadership to develop a flexible work life balance while still driving closure to each style seasonally.
* This position is responsible for ensuring all the necessary data is entered into the system to enable leadership to aggregate reports as needed.
* This position owns confirming all styles are made to RL standards globally through the approval of stock fits.
* With regards to digital product creation (DPC), the NY Tech Design Department is moving towards ownership of core digital asset creation for each style. Expectations will include:
* Requesting .dxf files and ensuring they are ready to be stitched up in Browzwear.
* Receiving and reviewing / confirming .dxf files are accurate, properly graded.
* Stitching up digital asset from .dxf files or submitting it to the 3D team for completion.
* Coordination with PMT to ensure Design has necessary tools (digital assets) for applying fabric and/or trim + color. · E- mail, phone and video conference communication with NY/HK and other offices/factories globally.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

* Degree or Certification in Apparel Manufacturing, Design or equivalent apparel work experience preferred.
* Good verbal and written communication skills.
* Strong organizational skills and ability tom manage competing priorities.
* A sense of urgency and attention to detail
* Responsible and accountable
* Ability to proactively problem solve
* Knowledge of 3D programs a must
* Patternmaking knowledge
* Illustrator sketching a must
* Photoshop knowledge. Computer Skills: Gerber, PLM, Adobe Illustrator, MS Outlook, MS Excel, MS Word #LI-CE1