Technical Designer

About the role

Backcountry's Owned Brands division is growing rapidly, creating new brands and products that deliver compelling value to customers while driving profitability. The team needs a Technical Designer who can own fit, construction, and product development across men's and women's outdoor apparel categories.

Responsibilities

• Drive adoption and advancement of 3D product development within the Technical Design team, serving as a beta tester for new tools including AI, workflows, and processes to improve speed, accuracy, and fit validation.
• Manage multiple products from conception through development and start of production, ensuring brand quality standards and design intent are maintained.
• Own the fit process end-to-end: schedule and lead fittings, review and measure prototypes and sales samples for workmanship, construction, fit, and production feasibility, and communicate findings to factories.
• Build product specifications including full graded measurements and detailed technical construction sketches with ISO callouts using Adobe Illustrator and 3D tools.
• Collaborate with Design on tech pack development, ensuring specs, measurements, and construction details are accurately maintained from first proto to production.
• Evaluate garment construction, fabric performance, trim functionality, and manufacturing methods to recommend improvements that enhance product performance and customer experience.
• Recommend construction techniques that meet design expectations and engineer products to pre-determined gross margin targets, including pre-cost estimates through final cost.
• Partner with the sourcing team to ensure products meet cost targets and identify technical risks early in development to proactively minimize delays.
• Maintain daily communication with factories to ensure integrity of design-approved prototypes, respond to technical questions, correct factory patterns, and apply grade rules as necessary.
• Support product lifecycle calendar milestones by driving timely sample reviews, fit approvals, and production readiness.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in apparel or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5–7 years of garment industry experience, with emphasis on outdoor apparel fit and construction.
• Solid knowledge of manufacturing processes and the full product development lifecycle.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator (sketching), MS Office (Word, Excel), and PLM systems.
• Ability to apply technical knowledge across various apparel categories and size ranges.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and in-person communication skills with the ability to articulate fit issues and present solutions to diverse stakeholders.
• Strong attention to detail with outstanding follow-through on deliverables and deadlines.
• Current passport and willingness to travel internationally and domestically up to 30%.
• Availability for after-hours meetings with overseas factories.