Gokaldas Exports - Senior Manager/Deputy General Manager - Design

Account Ownership & Commercial Range Architecture:

- Independently spearhead and manage the design lifecycle for high-volume US accounts across Womens, Mens, and Kids wear (including tops, dresses, bottoms, and outerwear).

- Demonstrate complete openness to handle any product category, bringing a deep understanding of industry nuances, volume demands, and both basic and fashion product ranges.

- Conduct rigorous market competitive benchmarking against key US retailers to identify profitable whitespaces in pricing, fabrications, and silhouettes.

- Strategically architect seasonal ranges and line structures.

- Collaborate proactively with India-based business and marketing teams to ensure commercial viability, understand production challenges, and thoughtfully re-engineer product lines to protect margins.

Matrix Leadership & Cross Border Operations:

- Manage, mentor, and handle an agile team of India-based designers, driving daily execution, sampling timelines, and overall function administration.

- Establish a highly structured, proactive asynchronous communication rhythm to keep the US Design Head seamlessly aligned across time zone differences.

- Act as an operational shield for senior design leadership by independently resolving daily studio bottlenecks, sampling constraints, and technical friction.

- Display strong corporate sharpness to work through and rapidly resolve critical local operational crises.

Digital Innovation & Technical Excellence:

- Champion digital first workflows, leveraging digital prototyping and AI design platforms to accelerate sampling loops and reduce prototype development timelines.

- Translate complex customer trend decks into strategic product rollouts that align directly with corporate revenue and business growth metrics.

- Ensure deep technical understanding of fabric behaviour, technical sketches, garment construction, and garment fit to deliver production ready products.

Key Competencies Required:

- Matrix Navigation & Clear Communication: Proven ability to work smoothly across split reporting lines (functional vs. administrative) while maintaining professional, clear, and direct communication.

- Commercial Design Focus: Ability to defend design directions using sell-through, margin optimization, and competitive data rather than just aesthetics.

- Autonomous Drive: A self starter who treats the account as their own business unit and thrives with asynchronous, cross-border reporting.

(ref:iimjobs.com)