Director of Product in Springfield, Oregon at Richardson Sports Inc

Richardson Sports is looking for a highly skilled and well-rounded Director of Product to lead product line management and product development across our premium headwear, team uniform, apparel, accessory categories. This role requires a strategic product leader with the market awareness, business acumen, and organizational discipline of a product line manager, combined with the technical product development experience needed to bring innovative, high-quality products to market.

The Director of Product will take an active role in owning the full product lifecycle—from market research, assortment strategy, and line planning through technical development, commercialization, and launch execution. This position will work closely with sales, marketing, supply chain, design, vendors, and executive leadership to ensure Richardson delivers products that meet customer needs, strengthen brand positioning, and support long-term growth.

This role is FULLY on site at our Springfield, OR location.

Key Growth & Responsibilities:

• Lead product line management and product development across Richardson’s headwear, team uniform, apparel, and accessory categories, ensuring alignment with brand strategy, strict quality standards, customer needs, market trends, and financial goals.
• Lead, coach, and develop a small, agile product team, fostering accountability, collaboration, and professional growth while keeping a hands-on, high-performance culture.
• Develop and manage seasonal and annual product strategies, including assortment architecture, product positioning, pricing recommendations, margin targets, lifecycle planning, and go-to-market priorities.
• Oversee the full product development process from concept through commercialization, including product briefs, material selection, fit, construction, decoration methods, prototypes, samples, testing, costing, and final approvals.
• Partner with cross-functional teams and vendors to ensure product lines are commercially relevant, technically sound, operationally feasible, and delivered on time.
• Monitor market trends, competitive activity, consumer preferences, team sports needs, decoration capabilities, and customer feedback to identify opportunities for product innovation and line improvement.
• Manage product calendars, development timelines, sample review processes, and key milestone meetings to ensure disciplined execution from concept to launch.
• Collaborate with sourcing and supply chain teams to evaluate vendor capabilities, product quality, cost structure, lead times, material availability, and production feasibility.
• Use sales data, margin analysis, inventory performance, customer insights, and market feedback to make informed recommendations regarding product additions, updates, discontinuations, and long-term category strategy.
• Ensure all products meet Richardson’s high standards for quality, fit, performance, compliance, brand consistency, and customer expectations across all product offerings.

Education & Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Product Development, Merchandising, Business, Fashion Design, or other related field; equivalent industry experience will also be considered.
• 8+ years of progressive product line management, product development, merchandising, or related experience within the headwear or apparel industry.
• Leadership experience managing a product team, cross-functional initiatives, development calendars, vendor relationships, and multi-category product lines.
• Strong technical understanding of headwear and/or apparel development, including materials, trims, construction methods, fit, sizing, decoration techniques, costing, sampling, testing, and production processes.
• Demonstrated ability to combine commercial product strategy with hands-on development expertise, including experience translating market opportunities into profitable, manufacturable products.
• Proven experience using data, market research, consumer insights, and financial metrics to guide product decisions, assortment planning, pricing, margin management, and lifecycle strategy.