Senior Product Director, Coats Digital

Role Purpose

As Product Director, you will define and drive the vision for an end-to-end supply chain solution serving apparel and textile manufacturers globally. This is a high-impact role at the intersection of manufacturing domain expertise and modern SaaS product management — responsible for shaping how manufacturers plan, execute, and optimise their operations from raw material to finished goods shipment.

You will lead a team of product managers, own the product roadmap across the manufacturing supply chain lifecycle, and work closely with engineering, commercial, and customer success teams to deliver solutions that create measurable value for manufacturers. The ideal candidate has lived and breathed the factory floor before transitioning into software — bringing the credibility, context, and conviction needed to build truly differentiated products for this industry.

Principal Accountabilities and Key Activities

Key Responsibilities (Product Management)

End-to-End Supply Chain Vision

• Own the product vision and strategy for a connected manufacturing platform spanning pre-production planning, capacity management, production execution, costing, and shipment tracking
• Identify and close capability gaps in the end-to-end manufacturing value chain, from yarn to finished goods delivery
• Drive the integration strategy between planning, execution, and analytics layers to give manufacturers a unified operational backbone
• Stay ahead of industry shifts — including nearshoring trends, sustainability mandates, AI adoption, and digital factory initiatives — and translate these into product opportunity

AI-Powered Product Development

• Lead the definition and delivery of AI and machine learning capabilities that address real operational challenges in garment manufacturing — including predictive planning, automated costing, production optimisation, and anomaly detection
• Work with engineering and data science teams to identify where AI can create step-change improvements in manufacturer outcomes, moving beyond incremental feature additions
• Ensure AI features are explainable, trustworthy, and adoptable by factory operators and planners — not just technically sophisticated
• Build a product roadmap that systematically embeds intelligence across the supply chain, making the platform smarter with every customer interaction and data point collected

Voice of the Customer & Market Intelligence

• Conduct structured Voice of Customer (VOC) and Observational VOC (OVOC) engagements with manufacturers, brands, and supply chain operators globally
• Synthesise customer insights, market trends, and competitive intelligence into clear product priorities and investment cases
• Track product adoption and usage patterns to identify value delivery gaps and drive improvement across the customer journey

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Develop and maintain a prioritised, outcome-driven product roadmap aligned to manufacturer needs and business objectives
• Build business cases for new modules, platform extensions, and integrations across the supply chain lifecycle
• Define MVP scopes in collaboration with engineering, balancing speed to market with long-term platform integrity
• Clarify target customer segments based on manufacturing complexity, operational maturity, and willingness to invest in digital transformation

Go-to-Market & Commercial Alignment

• Build compelling, outcome-focused value propositions that articulate ROI for manufacturers at different stages of digital maturity
• Coordinate product and capability launches — aligning commercial, marketing, pre-sales, and engineering teams around cohesive go-to-market moments
• Ensure the product portfolio is competitively positioned and appropriately priced across geographies and customer segments

Product Lifecycle & Enablement

• Maintain comprehensive product documentation, customer-facing training materials, and implementation guides
• Work closely with the Engineering Product Owner to maintain a healthy, well-prioritised backlog
• Support strategic customer engagements including discovery workshops, executive briefings, and co-creation sessions

People Management Responsibility
(direct / indirect reports)

Global Remit

Operates in:

Key Relationships

(For new roles or where reporting relationships have change, please attach an organisation chart)

Internal
(excluding direct team and manager)

External

Product Owner

Senior Director of Engineering

Global Commercial Director

Solutions Consulting Director

GSD and FRP Product Committee Team

Global Sales Council Team

Customers

Brands and retailers

GSD Practitioners

3rd Party Suppliers / Service Providers

Education, Qualifications and Experience

(Include skills and competencies required to perform the role competently)

Essential

Desirable

• Minimum 5 years working directly in garment or apparel manufacturing in a hands-on operational capacity — such as production planning, industrial engineering, supply chain management, or factory operations — followed by a deliberate transition into software or technology roles
• 10+ years of total professional experience spanning manufacturing and software/technology
• 3+ years in a Product Manager or Product Owner role within SaaS or enterprise software
• Proven track record of defining and delivering complex, multi-module product roadmaps
• Strong ability to translate operational manufacturing challenges into scalable software solutions
• Excellent communication and executive presentation skills; able to engage credibly at C-level
• Familiarity with Agile product management practices and solution design methodologies
• Degree in Apparel Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Information Technology, or Business Administration.

• Experience spanning multiple nodes of the apparel supply chain — including pre-production, costing, capacity planning, production execution, and logistics
• Familiarity with supply chain planning platforms, ERP systems, or shop floor execution tools used in manufacturing
• Knowledge of time and motion study, industrial engineering standards, or labour productivity methodologies
• Experience managing commercially accountable product teams
• Exposure to manufacturing markets across multiple geographies such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, or China
• Understanding of sustainability, ESG reporting, or digital product passport requirements emerging in the apparel sector
• Experience building or shipping AI/ML-powered product features — such as predictive analytics, computer vision, natural language interfaces, or recommendation systems
• Familiarity with AI product development concepts including model evaluation, data pipelines, prompt engineering, or responsible AI principles