Position summary:

• Asia based Product Operations Department manages the development process and are the eyes, ears, and hands of the USA/Cham product management teams.
• As an extension of the brand, they are to uphold the standards of performance, quality, integrity and delivery Specialized customers and riders expect.
• Ensures bicycle spec’s, colors, costs and test results meet the expectations of the product management team and are approved in time for production.
• Maintaining the development tracking tools, sending weekly status reports, and being able to report the status for a given project for deliver control is standard work for this role.
• The Bike developer is chartered with getting the most out of our assemblers, so relationship skills and communications are as important as technical knowledge and work ethic.
• The Bike developer will need to act as leader in diagnosing, solving and defining a corrective action plan when product issues arise that threaten production.

Role Responsibilities:

Product Development:

• Work with SBC and assemblers to develop new bicycles, finishes and systems in line with the design direction
• Ride, understand the needs of riders, participate in the categories you work on to bring rider empathy to the work you do.

Data Management:

• Manage bicycle information: Bill of Materials, pricing, approvals, test results, photos, color matching, component specification and descriptions.
• Maintain Bicycle status & timeline in PLM systems
• Send Weekly Report(s) Every Friday on Bicycle status

Quality\Compliance:

• Communicate issues found in the field and work with Quality and Engineering teams to expedite our response and ability to solve them.
• Work with QC on the diagnosis and holding the assemblers accountable when production issues are found.
• Work with Assemblers and uphold SBC policy and ensure vendor alignment with SBC strategy.
• Collaborate with Compliance \ Product Developers to ensure ALL new components and combinations are tested
• Collaborate with Product Managers \ Engineering to ensure ALL specifications are compatible with one another (including Frames, Forks, accessories, and new components

Supply Chain:

• Helping to discover new sourcing options & new technologies and introduce them to the team for future business consideration.
• Work with Assemblers closely to build and maintain the relationship and trust
• Work with Assemblers to improve product performance, quality, testing and delivery while pushing them to innovate both in product and manufacturing to bring new products to market with improved efficiency.
• Collaborate with Product Development Team \ Supply Chain Team to ensure on time delivery of bicycles.

Photoshoot:

• Lead annual catalogue photo shoots and ensure accuracy of spec, color and set up while making sure it’s completed on time.

Service Parts

• Work with Global Customer Service team to identify parts used, and provide information to purchasing

Travel:

• Attend Tradeshows, Vendors, Events, Field, Specialized offices as needed.

Skills & Knowledge:

• Good communication skills, both in English and Mandarin/Taiwanese, including listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• Familiar with MS system (Outlook, Word, Excel etc.)
• Experience working with international cultures
• Understanding of principles for intellectual property ownership and confidentiality.
• Good problem solving abilities and a sense for getting to the cause of issues
• Knowledge of bicycle assembly, process, material, logistic and delivery flow.

Experience:

• Three year’s work experience of product development, project management or trading. (Preferably experience in Bicycle Assembler)