Research and Development Manager

As research and development (R&D) manager, you will collaborate to improve the current technologies offered by K V Manufacturing and to develop innovations that strengthen the company’s position in the marketplace.

The successful candidate will be responsible for R&D in the areas of design and knitting machine programming for the manufacture of high quality garments. The position will involve applying and extending the latest understanding of B2B, market and fashion trends to meet the challenges of this fast-moving environment.

The Role:

• Development of new designs, materials and programming structures

• Application and development of material and process analysis and monitoring

• Manage the execution of new designs  

• Application and development of test strategies and methods

• Negotiating and communicating product specifications with the customer 

• Partnering with Production, Knitting and Management to improve performance and reliability

• Direct use of processing, production and knitting equipment   

• Design / implementation of product experiments to meet yield improvement plans

• Determine and track performance, reliability requirements and gaps for knitting programmes

• Working with production and knitting teams to define design specifications

• Providing design and process feedback to the relevant teams 

• Design and implementation of experiments to optimise new and existing materials and processes

• Co-ordination of project activities to ensure that new projects are delivered on time

• Project planning and communication of project status on a regular basis  

• Remaining informed of state-of-the-art manufacturing technology

• Monitoring, creation and management of intellectual property  

• Ensure compliance with Health & Safety procedures

The Person:

• At least 3 years’ experience in sock programs and sock development processes. Background with Lonati machines will be a bonus

• Have a passion for fashion and textiles

• Great verbal and written communication skills

• Be willing, enthusiastic, and have a can-do attitude

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