Senior Manager of Materials

Job Description

We're looking for a highly driven Senior Manager of Materials based near Denver, CO who thrives on building exceptional product experiences through performance knit and woven materials. This role is for someone eager to dive in, move fast, and make critical material development decisions that directly impact our products and customers. You'll lead agile development efforts, shape testing protocols, and work hands‑on with mills and suppliers—building strong partnerships while pushing materials to perform at the highest level.

• Live Truewerk values of Acting Intentionally, Staying Open and Curious, Leading with a Feel, Earning It, and Being in the Arena
• Embrace and champion a fast‑moving, iterative material development culture—pivoting quickly, testing bold ideas, learning from failure, and refining material concepts to deliver high‑impact, user‑driven products
• Focus on minimum viable products by recognizing the point of diminishing returns in early product development
• Adapt to shifting priorities using 3‑week sprint cycles within the seasonal release calendar; maintain timeline management across mills, trims, and development resources

• Clearly communicate consumer needs and pain points to mills, and support associated material development efforts in a hands‑on capacity to ensure material experience and quality standards are exceeded.
• Partner with mills to coordinate and manage performance testing plans and material quality standards for new and existing materials to drive consistency and improvement in quality and performance.
• Manage seasonal material development including new colors and print, manage and comment on lab dips, in partnership with internal and external resources, participate in design reviews.
• Execute fabric compliance, sustainability, and product safety according to applicable regulations.

• Source, qualify, cost, and lead the development of high performance knit and woven fabrics, technical yarns, fibers, and membranes with high tech textile mills.
• Forge productive mill relationships through collaboration, communication, and articulating experience goals and the why behind development initiatives.
• Ability to qualify mills based on technical and process competencies.
• Ability to engage in precosting and negotiate new development cost with suppliers.

• Conduct quality assurance through bulk production reviews of color, appearance, and handfeel.
• Contribute to the development and upkeep of quality manuals for mills.

• Partner with finished goods and material suppliers to develop innovative material and construction capabilities and introduce new material concepts that support product development and business goals.

• 8-10 years of experience in technical material development, specifically with performance knits and wovens for the athletic, outdoor, or tactical industries.
• Expertise in performance attributes (e.g., moisture management, dry rates, waterproof/breathable ratings, durability testing) and the corresponding testing methodologies (e.g., ASTM, ISO, NFPA, AATC standards).
• Proven ability to translate user experience goals into technical fabric specifications and manage complex development timelines with global vendors.
• Ability to analyze trade‑offs between aesthetic, performance, and functional attributes of materials.
• Ability to understand and articulate root cause of a material experience at the fiber and material construction level.
• Experience partnering with and managing overseas suppliers, vendors, factories, and resources.
• Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally on a quarterly basis.

• Innate level of handiness and understanding of our consumer's work, with an ability to communicate in their language and "talk trades"; capable of jumping in on the job site.
• Proven success in managing material and trim development projects against timelines to stay on track with seasonal delivery schedules.
• Experience with PLM systems and project management methodologies (we use Backbone).
• Experience with laminating/bonding processes for outerwear.
• Degree in…