Hermès R&D Project Manager
- Location
- VivoinPays de la LoireFrance
- Employment
- Contract
- Seniority
- Mid-Level
- Industry
- Fashion, Apparel & Leather Goods
- Posted
- Sep 8, 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 Cuirs Précieux seeks R&D Project Manager at Tannerie de Vivoin, France. Lead leather finish innovation projects in a 6-month contract role.
Role & Responsibilities
- Coordinate leather finish development projects from launch through industrialization, ensuring alignment with Hermès quality, timeline, and volume requirements
- Structure and frame creative initiatives to transform concepts into managed, industrializable projects
- Manage R&D capacity and resource allocation against strategic priorities, balancing competing development demands
- Organize and facilitate project governance rituals, maintaining regular cadence and engagement across contributing functions
- Identify risks, propose mitigation strategies, and track action plans to ensure milestone adherence
- Coordinate cross-functional collaboration between R&D, production, quality, methods, and external stakeholders
- Create, maintain, and validate comprehensive 360° project documentation and reporting dashboards
- Promote safety culture and environmental stewardship within the R&D perimeter and broader facility
- Formalize decisions, arbitrations, and next steps to ensure project continuity and transparency
Qualifications
- Master's degree (Bac+5) or engineering diploma
- Minimum three years of project management experience, preferably in industrial settings
- Strong comfort with quantitative data analysis and project tracking tools
- Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively across organizational hierarchies and external partners
- Natural curiosity about leather craft, tanning techniques, and exotic hide properties
- Meticulous, self-directed, analytical, and organized with keen observational skills
Skills
Experience
Minimum three years of project management experience in an industrial environment, with demonstrated success coordinating product development, process innovation, or manufacturing excellence initiatives.
Education
Master's degree (Bac+5) or accredited engineering diploma.
Workplace
This position is based in Vivoin, Pays de la Loire, France, within easy reach of Le Mans.
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 «Product Development Manager», «Innovation Project Lead», «Research & Development Coordinator», «Technical Project Officer», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.