Raw Materials Development Manager - 12 Months Maternity Cover

DeMellier is a London-based brand that was founded with the vision of doing things differently: to design handbags that would make women feel empowered, made ethically and sustainably, while giving back to those who need it most. These principles guide everything we do. All our pieces are crafted ethically in Europe using the finest sustainably sourced materials. We champion equality, and for every piece sold, we fund vaccines and medical treatments aimed at saving the life of a child in need.

So far, through our permanent charity initiative, ‘A Bag, A Life’, in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, we have funded over 2.5 million vaccines. Join us and be part of an award-winning, purpose-driven brand that fosters creativity, collaboration, and meaningful impact within the luxury industry.

As a Raw Materials Development Manager at DeMellier, you will lead the sourcing, development, and innovation of leathers, fabrics, hardware, and trims. This strategic and hands-on role is central to ensuring the quality, sustainability, and commercial viability of our raw materials across all collections.

You will own the full raw materials development lifecycle and manage our supplier network, negotiating costs and terms, maintaining stock accuracy, and supporting design and production teams through each season. You’ll also provide leadership and mentorship to a Raw Materials Developer and Product Development assistant, delegating daily operational tasks while ensuring alignment with our sustainability goals and critical path timelines.

Frequent travel is a key part of this role, as you’ll be regularly visiting trade shows, factories, tanneries, and suppliers to maintain quality control, strengthen partnerships, and drive innovation.

• Lead end-to-end development of leathers, fabrics, hardware, and trims across seasonal collections.
• Provide expert technical knowledge of raw materials, material engineering, manufacturing technologies, material performance and moulds, while continuously driving innovation through new materials, processes and technologies.
• Manage the raw materials and hardware development critical path, collaborating with the FG Product Development, industrialisation and production team to flag and resolve issues.
• Maintain accurate archives of all materials and hardware, ensuring data is up to date in ERP/ PLM, Dropbox, and shared folders.
• Attend international trade fairs to source materials and hardware; schedule appointments with suppliers, prepare meeting agendas, and follow up on deliverables.
• Collect and consolidate swatches, certification documents, pricing, compositions, MOQs, and lead times from fairs and supplier meetings.
• Negotiate quality standards, pricing, MOQs, grading splits, wastage percentages, lead times, and payment terms with suppliers.
• Oversee inbound sampling shipments and stock levels; ensure all new materials are checked, and discrepancies are flagged upon arrival.
• Conduct lab and wear-testing of new materials and hardware to ensure performance and compliance standards are met.
• Create and implement storage guides and materials handling systems (masters/ color references, etc.) in collaboration with factories.
• Source, assess, and onboard new materials and hardware suppliers to expand the brand’s sustainable and innovative raw materials library.
• Organise and host supplier visits at HQ and coordinate with the Industrialisation and Production team as needed.
• Build strong, long-term relationships with international suppliers to support quality, reliability, and ethical development and production.
• Guide and support the Raw Materials Developer in managing daily communication with suppliers, lab dip processes, testing, PO tracking, and raw material documentation.

• Oversee the creation, upkeep and handover of all product development masters: colour masters, full skin masters, fabric masters, hardware and trim masters.
• Ensure seasonal carry-over colours and materials are consistently matched to masters.
• Track and communicate any raw material or hardware quality issues during development,…