Hermès Materials Finishing Developer
- Location
- Pantin Île-de-France France
- Employment
- Full-Time
- Seniority
- Mid-Level
- Industry
- Fashion, Apparel & Leather Goods
- Posted
- Oct 1, 2026
About Hermès
This prestigious fashion house, renowned for its timeless elegance and innovative designs, is a part of a leading global luxury conglomerate. The brand is committed to excellence and offers a dynamic environment where creativity and business acumen are equally valued.
Hermès Materials Finishing Developer role in Pantin, supporting footwear materials sourcing, development and industrialisation.
Role & Responsibilities
- Source, develop and coordinate finishing projects—including embroidery, high-frequency processing, printing and screen printing—and seasonal product embellishments.
- Manage finishing developments from initial design through pre-production, meeting the expectations of Creation and Collection and industrial quality, cost and lead-time requirements.
- Source, develop and manage a portfolio of beautiful, innovative and distinctive processes that meet quality standards.
- Identify new proposals and supplier expertise, and share them with Style, Collection and industrial teams to enrich design development; launch finishing tests, monitor suppliers and coordinate trials with different partners.
- Provide technical support to Creation in developing and refining new products.
- Monitor development and refinement from receipt of designs, coordinating the actions of project stakeholders.
- Ensure processes are reproducible and reliable to support scale-up.
- Prepare preliminary prototype costings, propose solutions and ensure products meet target quality and price levels; maintain a reliable, dynamic database to support alternative proposals.
- Use the finished-product and materials development retro-planning tool to ensure decision-meeting dates align with target presentation dates for finishes.
- Create and update project technical files and share them with development, industrialisation, manufacturers and purchasing stakeholders to ensure the associated finished product is properly developed.
- Code finishes in the PLM development tool and add them to finished-product bills of materials; ensure data accuracy in tools for communication to teams and partners.
- Establish a lasting communication channel with all métier stakeholders, including development, industrial teams, Collection and communications.
- Ensure aesthetic consistency of finishes across shoe prototypes, advocate for the appropriate balance and maintain it throughout development, from design to first production run.
- Partner with the development project manager and finished-product industrialisation teams to support and participate in product refinement at manufacturers.
- Track development milestones from sourcing through industrialisation and identify key steps to maintain progress, including organising review meetings and following up with stakeholders.
- Launch, monitor and archive the season’s physical quality tests for finishes.
- Work with contract-manufacturing purchasing teams from the outset to ensure compliance with Group directives.
- Manage the schedule accurately on a daily basis.
- Manage development tracking tools, including development trackers, item sheets, masters and KPIs.
- Lead risk analysis from the design stage in line with product requirements.
- Lead and share lessons learned, drawing on feedback from Supply Chain and Quality teams to improve future development and industrialisation projects.
- Monitor developments in organisations and workflows and put forward proposals for improvement.
Qualifications
- Education in business, fashion or engineering.
- At least 2–3 years of experience in materials and/or product development.
- Technical expertise in materials transformation techniques.
- Knowledge of footwear, leather and fabrics.
- Cross-functional approach, strong curiosity, rigour, organisation and reliability.
- Rigour in managing assigned projects.
- Basic knowledge of graphic design software: InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.
- Strong interpersonal skills and team spirit.
- Strong product sensibility.
- Italian proficiency strongly preferred.
Skills
Experience
At least 2–3 years in materials and/or product development; minimum 1 year.
Education
Education in business, fashion or engineering.
Workplace
This position is based in Pantin, Île-de-France, France, within easy reach of Paris.
Culture
The company fosters a collaborative and innovative culture, encouraging employees to push the boundaries of creativity while maintaining a strong commitment to sustainability and ethical practices.
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 Hermès, 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 «Materials Development Specialist», «Textile and Leather Finishing Developer», «Materials Innovation Developer», «Product Materials Developer», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.