Product Developer

About the ALDO Group  

Specializing in stylish and accessible footwear, handbags, and accessories, the ALDO Group has been around for more than 50 years. With over 1,500 stores in more than 100 countries, we operate under two signature brands, ALDO and Call It Spring, and we are the core footwear partner for Sperry in North America. The ALDO Group is also an industry-recognized wholesale licensed partner, specializing in the design, sourcing, and distribution of fashion footwear, handbags, and accessories. Our diverse portfolio includes household brands such as ROXY, Brooks Brothers, Ted Baker, Hunter, and G.H.BASS. In addition to our head office in Montreal, the ALDO Group maintains international offices in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.aldogroup.com.  

Enjoy meaningful recognition,flexible work options, great on‑site perks, generous discounts, and the pride of being part of a brand that leads with people, the planet, and its partners at heart.   

About the Role 
ALDO Product Services (APS) partners with major global retailers to deliver branded wholesale, private label, and sourcing solutions. As Product Developer, you’ll support communication between suppliers, internal teams, and retail partners while ensuring smooth product development from concept to sample. The Product Manager role is ideal for candidates that thrive in a fast-paced environment while being driven by their passion for footwear fashion.  

Key Responsibilities  

• Conduct research of current and upcoming fashion trends and interpret for the appropriate wholesale brand customer. 

• Assist in design meetings to provide brand-building ideas.  

• Develop relationships and work closely with suppliers to develop new products and negotiate initial product costs. 

• Calculate the IMU (initial markup) and provide recommendations to achieve both design and targeted IMU price targets in conjunction with suppliers. 

• Responsible for price closing and negotiations taking into consideration material, construction, etc. 

• Oversee sample development (prototypes, sales, and confirmation) to ensure proper execution.  Tracking the modifications and obtaining approvals with the director and design team. 

• Ensure that the product quality feedback is communicated to agents and internal teams (buyers, design and product engineering) 

• Lead communications for manufacturing lead times with our Operations team (XF and delivery dates). 

• Review development and confirmation samples for aesthetic, fit, design and quality, obtaining approval.  

• Supervise worksheet creation and updates. 

• Constantly analyzing sales results to propose new injections and repeats. 

• Manage Digital Filtering prep. (unbox proto samples, merchandise and set up the protos into sections to reflect digital deck layout) 

• Manage SMS specifications and requests. 

• Validate target costs to reflect SMS requests. 

• Track all SMS with the support of the Product Coordinator. 

• Prep showroom for Handover Finalization (Unbox samples, merchandise and set up the SMS into sections.  

• Manage HF regroup. Manage all sample comments and new additions.  

• Manage revised SMS request. 

• Validate all revised SMS. 

Key Requirements 

• University degree preferred. 

• At least 5 years in a footwear or handbag product development role. 

• Highly attuned to fashion trends with the ability to translate them visually. 

• Positive, self-motivated and strong attention to detail. 

• Capable of meeting multiple deadlines in a timely manner. 

• Able to work both independently and in a team setting. 

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Excel and Word. 

• Knowledge of Illustrator and Photoshop, an asset.