Dedicated to telling stories and creating experiences, Indigo is always looking for bright, energetic and customer-focused people who can help bring our exciting mission to life in one of our more than 170 Indigo, Indigospirit, Chapters and Coles stores across Canada. We offer a variety of exciting opportunities at our retail stores, distribution centres, and home office for people who share our passions and want to be part of a dynamic and enriching culture.

WHO WE ARE

• We love books and all things beautiful
• We are Canada’s Cultural Department Store
• Books are our heart and our soul and Great Books are JUST the Beginning…

We play by the following rules:

• We exist to add joy to our customers’ lives each and every time they interact with us and our products
• Our job is to create joyful moments for our customers
• We treat each other the way we’d treat a valued friend
• We inspire each other to do our best work
• We seek to ignite creativity and innovation every day
• We give back to the communities in which we operate

The Associate, Global Sourcing & Product Development, supports developing, sourcing and producing all Indigo propriety products. This role helps ensure that sourced product meets the business's quality, design, and sustainability standards and is produced and delivered within cost and margin expectations.

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

• On-time delivery
• Incoming margin
• Profit Improvement & Cost Reduction
• Product Integrity – Design, Quality, Value
• Effective Management of merchandising & development calendars to deliver products on schedule

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Functional

• Support the development of products to ensure they meet design, vision and margin/cost parameters established by planning and merchant teams.
• Execute deliverables based on the product development calendar to ensure all stakeholders adhere to dates.
• Develop product briefs to share with vendors as required
• Maintain a vendor network that meets the needs of assigned categories
• Negotiate product cost with all vendors, ensuring target price and margin are achieved
• Act as the liaison between internal partners and factories for all concerns and inquiries
• Ensure production quality, including verification that components and fabrics match back standards
• Provide technical manufacturing expertise
• Ensure on-time delivery of all sourced products in assigned categories
• Collaborate with the merchant team, supply chain, logistics, etc. to communicate revisions to the delivery schedule
• Ensure product integrity by troubleshooting testing exception reports with vendors and the QA team
• Facilitate daily/weekly production update meetings with design and merchant teams to ensure all relevant partners are aware of the production status
• Maintain all aspects of the costing process
• Confirm order placements with each vendor
• Oversee sample costing and tracking processes
• Review all received samples
• Track sample development/adoption ratios
• Coordinate packaging needs with Creative Studio; partner to ensure costs are reflected in FOB costs.
• Identify and anticipate customer expectations and needs
• Embrace and seek out technology that creates high-tech and high-touch solutions for Indigo’s customers
• Act as an advocate for the customer by placing them at the forefront of all design and decision-making processes
• Challenge the status quo by consistently identifying areas for improvement, diagnosing issues and working to resolve them

People

• Collaborate with others to drive flexible and iterative solutions, quickly and easily
• Share technical knowledge with others and actively seek to learn from those more knowledgeable than yourself
• Help others see the impacts of their efforts and proactively engage other functions to get input
• Encourage others to freely share their point of view and be open to feedback

Cultural

• Model Indigo’s beliefs and convey a positive image in everything you do
• Celebrate diversity of thought and have an open mindset
• Take an active role in fostering a culture of continual learning, taking risks without the fear of making mistakes
• Embrace, champion and influence change through your team and/or the organization

SCOPE

Manager once Removed (MOR): Senior Director, Sustainability, Product Development & Sustainability

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• Supply Chain
• Creative Studio
• General Merchandise

External:

• Buying offices / Agents
• Vendors

#LI-Hybrid

QUALIFICATIONS

Work Experience / Education / Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in related field
• 2-4 years’ product development and sourcing experience in a retail environment
• Previous experience in sourcing and product development of home products across global markets required
• Previous experience negotiating product cost
• Knowledge of costing and retail math
• Understanding of key private label design/development, sourcing and production practices

Competencies / Skills / Attributes

• Thorough understanding of brand pricing strategy, margin expectations and SKU Plans
• Knowledge of product sourcing, production and product development processes
• Intermediate skills in Web PDM, Word and Excel
• Knowledge of design spec packages
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to leverage exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to develop productive business relationships
• Ability to take initiative and work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Be flexible and adaptable to changing priorities
• Ability to organize and prioritize workload to meet deadlines

Other (travel, Bilingual, etc.)

• International travel up to 10% of the time

At Indigo, we are committed to our communities, our customers, and each other; together we can make a positive impact. We know that fostering diversity and inclusion brings out your full potential and creates a joyful and welcoming environment for everyone. We are driven to be an equitable employer, which highly values your diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that you, in all your uniqueness, belong at Indigo. We welcome all applicants and encourage applications from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of colour, LGBTQ2+ and people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request to individuals who self-identify as having a disability or special need. Please contact Human Resources at [email protected] if you require an accommodation at any time during the recruitment process. 

WELCOME HOME