Manager, Technical Development & Industrialization — Fashion Jewelry & Belts
Chanel — Paris: Manager, Technical Development & Industrialization (Fashion Jewelry & Belts). Permanent role leading product industrialization for accessories.
Overview
Chanel is an independent French luxury maison renowned for couture, ready-to-wear, handbags, watches, fine and fashion jewellery, and fragrances. The house combines artisanal savoir‑faire with technical innovation, sustaining ateliers and a global retail presence while safeguarding a discreet, heritage-led approach to creativity and quality.
Role & Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end technical development and industrialization of fashion jewellery (costume jewellery) and belts, from design intent to factory production readiness.
- Translate design concepts into technical specifications, detailed drawings and prototype requirements; validate materials, finishes and tolerances.
- Plan and execute industrial transfers and production launches with internal teams and external suppliers, ensuring manufacturability, quality and on-time delivery.
- Define and supervise testing protocols, quality checkpoints, and corrective actions to meet brand standards and regulatory requirements.
- Manage relations with suppliers and workshop partners: qualification, capacity assessment, tooling, costing and continuous performance improvement.
- Co-ordinate cross-functional stakeholders — design, sourcing, quality, purchasing, logistics — to optimise lead times, cost and component traceability.
- Implement process standardisation, manufacturability improvements and sustainable-materials initiatives where relevant.
- Line-manage and mentor technical staff and external consultants; allocate resources, set priorities and report on programme progress and budgets.
Qualifications
- Degree in engineering, materials science, industrial/product design, jewellery-making or a related technical discipline.
- Proven experience in industrialization and technical development within jewellery, metal accessories or leather goods.
- Solid knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes relevant to fashion jewellery (metalworking, plating, resin, enamelling) and belts (leather, hardware).
- Demonstrable experience managing supplier transfers, tooling and production ramp-ups.
- Strong project management capability with experience delivering multiple concurrent collections to tight schedules.
- Previous people-management experience and ability to operate in a matrix, cross-functional environment.
Skills
Experience
At least six years of progressive experience in technical development and industrialization within jewellery, accessories or related manufacturing environments, including experience of supplier management and production launch.
Education
Degree in engineering, materials science, industrial design, jewellery-making or equivalent technical qualification.
Culture
The workplace emphasises artisanry, exacting standards and collaborative craftsmanship. Teams operate at the intersection of creativity and technical rigour, with a strong focus on discretion, heritage and continual refinement of manufacturing excellence.