Burberry Senior Product Developer, Shoes
- Employment
- Full-Time
- Seniority
- Senior
- Industry
- Fashion, Apparel & Leather Goods
- Posted
- May 13, 2026
About Burberry
A prestigious luxury footwear maison renowned for artisanal craftsmanship, refined materials and contemporary design. The employer operates within the international luxury fashion system and typically collaborates closely with specialist factories across Italy and Portugal; it may be affiliated with a global luxury group while maintaining a workshop-driven design and production culture.
Confidential luxury footwear maison — Milan: Senior Product Developer, Shoes role leading technical development from concept to production.
Role & Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end development of footwear collections from concept through production, ensuring product integrity, fit and finish meet luxury standards.
- Produce and maintain detailed technical specifications and tech packs, including lasts, patterns, material breakdowns, bill of materials and construction notes.
- Coordinate and run fit sessions and wear trials; analyse fit feedback and prescribe corrective actions to patterns and lasts.
- Manage prototype and sampling cycles with internal teams and external factories; drive timelines to meet seasonal deadlines.
- Define and validate materials and components (leathers, linings, soles, trims), liaising with sourcing and suppliers to ensure quality and compliance.
- Control costing and feasibility to achieve commercial targets while preserving design intent.
- Oversee quality checkpoints during pre-production and pilot production runs; resolve technical issues and non-conformances.
- Mentor and coach junior developers and technicians; foster cross-functional collaboration with design, production, sourcing and QA.
Qualifications
- Degree or diploma in footwear design, industrial design, materials science or equivalent technical qualification.
- Deep technical knowledge of footwear construction methods (e.g., Goodyear, Blake, cemented) and last development.
- Proven ability to generate and interpret technical drawings, patterns and detailed tech packs.
- Strong vendor management skills and experience working with luxury footwear factories.
Skills
Experience
Typically 5–8+ years of progressive footwear product development experience within luxury or high-end fashion brands, with demonstrable experience taking premium leather footwear from concept through to industrial production and working directly with European factories.
Education
Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Footwear Design, Industrial Design, Materials Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Workplace
This position is based in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
Culture
The workplace combines atelier-level attention to craftsmanship with the rigour of international product calendars; teams are collaborative, detail-oriented and performance-driven. Employees work across design, sourcing and production functions and are expected to balance creative fidelity with technical and commercial pragmatism.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like Burberry, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Senior Footwear Developer», «Lead Footwear Product Developer», «Senior Shoe Technical Developer», «Footwear Product Manager — Senior», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.