Senior Manager, Product Development (baby Fashion)

Senior Manager, Product Development (Baby Fashion)

At Walmart, we help people save money so they can live better. This mission guides every decision we make and inspires us to shape the future of retail. As part of our Private Brand Product Development organization, you'll help create baby apparel that delivers unbeatable value, quality, comfort, and style to millions of customers in stores and online. As a Senior Manager, Product Development – Baby Fashion, you will bring Walmart's Private Brand product strategy to life through innovative product development, strong cross-functional leadership, and a deep understanding of baby customer needs (newborn–toddler) and caregiver expectations. You will guide product from concept through final sample approval, partnering closely with Design, Merchandising, Technical Design, Sourcing, Quality, and global teams to deliver exceptional results. This is a unique opportunity to elevate Walmart's Baby Fashion brands—balancing trend, comfort, safety, and value—and to influence the everyday lives of millions of families.

What You'll Do

• Product Strategy & Category Leadership
• Partner with Merchandising and Design to define and execute Private Brand Baby Fashion strategies grounded in customer insights, trend research, and competitive benchmarking.
• Serve as a category expert across baby apparel (e.g., bodysuits, sleepers, sets, outerwear, accessories), understanding caregiver needs, fabric/trim innovation, and supplier capabilities.
• Identify whitespace opportunities across good/better/best tiers, key price points, and seasonal moments.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Build strong relationships with Design, Merchandising, Technical Design, Sourcing, Quality/Compliance, Packaging, and global partners to bring assortments to life.
• Influence decisions across the product lifecycle including assortment architecture, pricing targets, manufacturing strategy, replenishment readiness, supply chain execution, and floor set planning.
• Align on brand standards and ensure product storytelling supports omni-channel execution.

Quality, Safety, Value & Execution

• Lead development of high-quality baby products that meet Walmart standards for fit, comfort, durability, and value.
• Ensure strict adherence to testing, compliance, and quality assurance protocols, with a strong focus on baby-specific requirements (e.g., material safety, trim safety, labeling, and performance standards).
• Own seasonal development calendars and deliver milestones with consistent on-time execution.

Business Ownership

• Analyze weekly and seasonal performance to identify trends, risks, and opportunities; translate insights into actions on future assortments.
• Partner with Sourcing to meet cost targets, negotiate pricing, and drive cost engineering (fabric optimization, construction efficiencies, packaging improvements) without compromising quality.
• Drive key business metrics across margin, sales, inventory efficiency, and assortment productivity.

Leadership & Team Development

• Manage and mentor Product Development team members across multiple levels; set clear expectations and develop capability in baby-specific product knowledge.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and proactive problem solving.
• Lead process improvements that increase efficiency, improve quality outcomes, and accelerate speed-to-market.

What You'll Bring

• Passion for baby fashion and delivering products that caregivers trust for comfort, safety, and value.
• Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills with the ability to influence across functions.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and multiple seasonal work-streams.
• Data-driven decision making paired with trend-right product instincts.
• A creative, solutions-oriented mindset and ability to remove obstacles for the team.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of global apparel product development and sourcing experience, preferably within Baby/Kids categories.
• Proven experience partnering cross-functionally with Design, Merchandising, Technical Design, Sourcing, and international teams.
• Strong cost engineering, negotiation, and vendor management capabilities.
• Experience managing multi-season calendars and delivering to key milestone gates.
• Demonstrated success in people leadership and talent development.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and presentation skills.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Product & Business Performance
• Achievement of annual sales, margin, and cost targets.
• On-time delivery of seasonal milestones (95%+ calendar compliance).
• Improved SKU productivity, sell-through, and inventory efficiency.

Quality, Safety & Compliance

• Reduction in quality defects and improved testing pass rates.
• 100% adherence to Walmart compliance, quality, and baby safety protocols.

Trend, Customer & Innovation Impact

• Seasonal delivery of trend-right assortments and meaningful innovations (comfort, fabric, easy-care, functional details).
• Improved customer ratings, reviews, and satisfaction metrics.

Leadership & Process Excellence

• High team engagement and development of talent pipelines.
• Successful execution of process improvements that enhance efficiency and/or speed-to-market.

Minimum Qualifications...

Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications.

Minimum Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Design, or related field and 4 years' experience in design, merchandising, marketing, or related area OR 6 years' experience in design, merchandising, marketing, or related area.

Preferred Qualifications...

Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.

Application development experience with emphasis on VBA and SQL programming languages, Creative design software, Financial modeling, Leading and completing cross-functional projects, Manufacturing, product development, or packaging, Microsoft Office, Supervisory Masters: Arts, Masters: Business, Masters: Science Project Management - Project Management Professional - Certification, Six Sigma - Certification

Primary Location...

600 Integrity Dr, Bentonville, AR 72716, United States of America Walmart and its subsidiaries are committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace and has a no tolerance policy regarding the use of illegal drugs and alcohol on the job. This policy applies to all employees and aims to create a safe and productive work environment.