Footwear Material Specialist
Givisiez, FR, CH
Your mission:
In this role, you will drive end-to-end material sourcing in line with Dolomite’s global sourcing strategy. You will work closely with suppliers, factories and cross-functional teams to ensure materials meet performance, quality, timeline, cost, and sustainability requirements. You will play a key role in material development, supplier management, and sourcing execution for high-quality footwear products.
Your responsibilities:
- Identify, develop, and manage material suppliers to support business and product needs.
- Evaluate supplier capabilities in terms of lead time, manufacturing process, quality standards, and target pricing.
- Ensure material availability according to development timelines, sourcing policies, and commercialization milestones.
- Support the creation and sourcing of technical, high-performance materials in line with design briefs.
- Own material-related execution from concept through production, ensuring smooth integration between T2 suppliers and T1 factories.
- Contribute to material-specific targets linked to Dolomite’s sustainability roadmap.
- Identify opportunities to improve material performance, sustainability, and operational efficiency.
- Manage and maintain core and seasonal material toolboxes, material libraries, and relevant PLM updates.
- Define and manage technical specifications, quality standards, and sourcing execution for textiles and components.
- Partner with testing and QA teams to ensure materials meet required physical testing criteria and approval standards.
- Build strong working relationships with material suppliers, factories, and internal stakeholders.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Design, Development, Marketing, Innovation, Sustainability, Planning, and factory teams.
Your profile:
- at least 3 years of experience in the global footwear industry or a related field.
- Bachelor’s degree in Textile Engineering, Footwear Technology, Material Science, or a related field.
- Strong experience working with material suppliers and manufacturing partners in Asia.
- Good understanding of footwear design, development, and technical performance materials.
- Strong knowledge of textiles, yarns, constructions, polymers, and material testing requirements.
- Experience managing material development and sourcing from concept to commercialization.
- Strong project management and cross-functional communication skills.
- Able to work independently in a fast-paced, international environment.
- Curious, hands-on, and solution-oriented personality.
- Fluent in English; additional languages are an advantage.
This role will be based in the Dolomite HQ in Trevignano (TV) Italy.