Lead, Technical Apparel Product Development & Design

Lead, Technical Apparel Product Development & Design

Location: San Leandro, CA, on-site Type: Full-time

About Supercarb

Supercarb develops sustainable, high-performance fibers by converting industrial biopolymer waste streams into next-generation materials for apparel and beyond.

We believe the best way to prove a new material is to build exceptional products with it. We move fast, stay scrappy, and solve real problems for real users.

We are looking for a Lead, Technical Apparel Product Development & Design to own products end to end, from unmet user need through materials, design, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, and launch.

The Role

Our development cycle:

Problem Identification → Solution Building → Material & Product Development → Prototyping → Testing → Final Product → Bulk Production → Launch

You will work at the intersection of material science, technical apparel design, product development, manufacturing, performance testing, and consumer experience.

You should be equally comfortable interviewing athletes, discussing yarn construction with a mill, adjusting fit and seam placement, building a tech pack, reviewing performance data, and working with a factory through production.

What You’ll Own

1. Identify Problems Worth Solving

• Talk with beginner, intermediate, and experienced users to understand needs, frustrations, use conditions, and behaviors.
• Observe how people actually use apparel in the real world.
• Identify problems meaningful enough to solve and translate them into clear product requirements.
• Continually ask: Are we solving the original problem, and is the solution meaningfully better?

1. Build the Solution

• Benchmark leading products, brands, materials, constructions, and technologies.
• Analyze competitor products, pricing, positioning, customer feedback, distribution, and sales signals.
• Use AI and research tools to accelerate competitive intelligence.
• Determine where Supercarb can create a meaningfully better solution.

1. Develop Materials Into Products

• Translate user and performance needs into material requirements.
• Work with Supercarb’s technical team to convert our fibers into appropriate yarn and fabric constructions.
• Evaluate blends, yarn structures, fabric construction, GSM, stretch, recovery, hand feel, durability, moisture management, and other performance requirements.
• Identify and manage yarn, fabric, dyeing, finishing, trim, and garment manufacturing partners.
• Balance performance, manufacturability, cost, MOQ, lead time, and scalability.

1. Own Technical Apparel Design

• Develop technical apparel concepts around clearly defined user problems.
• Translate 3D body and movement requirements into 2D pattern and cut-and-sew solutions, and understand how 2D pattern changes affect the garment in 3D.
• Create production-ready tech packs including technical flats, BOMs, measurements, grading guidance, seams, stitches, trims, labels, and packaging.
• Make informed decisions around patternmaking, grading, seam placement, stitch selection, trims, and construction.
• Design for movement, comfort, durability, performance, and manufacturability.

Experience with climbing, outdoor, running, training, or other performance apparel is especially valuable.

1. Prototype Fast and Iterate

• Work directly with factories and sample rooms to translate tech packs into prototypes.
• Conduct fit sessions and communicate precise corrections.
• Coordinate or execute local cut-and-sew prototyping when useful.
• Organize wear trials and listen closely to user feedback on fit, function, comfort, and value proposition.
• Convert fit and wear-test feedback into clear design revisions.
• Reduce development cycles by anticipating problems before sampling.

1. Test in Parallel

Develop testing plans covering laboratory performance and real-world use, including abrasion, pilling, stretch and recovery, dimensional stability, moisture management, colorfastness, seam performance, wash durability, and wear and tear. Connect laboratory data with what users actually experience in the field.

1. Build the Supplier Network

Source and evaluate Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners across fibers, yarns, fabrics, trims, sampling, and garment manufacturing.

Evaluate partners based on quality, cost, MOQ, lead time, sampling speed, responsiveness, technical capability, ownership, ability to source trims, speed incorporating feedback, and reliability at bulk scale.

1. Take Products Into Bulk Production

• Finalize production specifications and release products for bulk.
• Establish timelines, critical paths, QA, and QC requirements.
• Review pre-production and approval samples.
• Identify production risks early.
• Resolve manufacturing and quality issues directly with factories.
• Ensure the final product reflects the original design and user need.

Product Launch & Brand Building

Your primary responsibility is building exceptional products, but product development does not end when production starts.

You will contribute to launches, athlete/gym/community collaborations, pop-ups, photography and creative direction, Meta ad creatives, website/deck visuals, naming, positioning, storytelling, and merchandising.

You should have a strong creative point of view and understand how great products connect with people both functionally and emotionally.

Who You Are

You have high agency, take ownership, and are self-driven, resourceful, hands-on, and hungry to grow. You are relentless with hard problems, comfortable navigating ambiguity, data-driven when data exists, and capable of using sound judgment when it does not. You move quickly without becoming careless, recover from setbacks, listen closely to users, care deeply about details, and want to build products that win because they are genuinely better. You believe products can perform exceptionally while leaving Earth better than we found it.

Required Experience

• Significant experience in technical apparel product development, technical design, or apparel design and production.
• Deep understanding of fit, patternmaking, grading, garment construction, stitches, seams, trims, costing, and fabrics.
• Strong understanding of fibers, yarns, fabrics, and how material properties affect garment performance.
• Demonstrated ability to translate 3D fit and movement challenges into 2D pattern and construction solutions.
• Experience developing production-ready tech packs and communicating directly with factories.
• Experience managing apparel development from concept through sampling and bulk production.
• Strong understanding of sourcing and manufacturing workflows, including MOQs, lead times, BOMs, trims, costing, sampling cycles, QA, and QC.
• Experience running fit sessions and translating feedback into pattern and construction changes.
• Proficiency with Adobe Illustrator.
• Experience with CLO 3D, Browzwear, Optitex, or equivalent tools.
• Portfolio of technical apparel products you have personally helped develop.
• Strong communication and ability to manage multiple suppliers and development tracks simultaneously.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience developing performance, outdoor, climbing, running, training, or adjacent technical apparel.
• Experience at or with leading performance brands.
• Hands-on patternmaking and cut-and-sew capabilities.
• Experience sourcing small-run or flexible manufacturing partners.
• Strong understanding of apparel performance testing.
• Experience with new materials or textile innovation.
• Experience bringing a product from concept through commercial launch.
• Strong visual instincts and interest in brand, storytelling, and consumer behavior.

Working at Supercarb

This is an on-site role in San Leandro, California and is not available remotely.

Supercarb is an early-stage company operating at a high pace. Product launches, sampling cycles, testing, or manufacturing deadlines may require work outside conventional business hours, including evenings or weekends.

This role is best suited to someone who actively wants ownership, speed, experimentation, and the opportunity to build something from the ground up.

Compensation, Equity & Benefits

Base Salary

• $120,000 per year

Equity

• 80,000 shares of Supercarb equity
• Four-year vesting with a one-year cliff
• Monthly vesting thereafter

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Unlimited PTO

Professional Development

Support may include conference budget, training stipend, tuition reimbursement, books, certifications, coaching, mentorship, language classes, and other professional development resources as needed.

You will also have significant ownership, direct exposure to material science and manufacturing, a steep growth curve, and the opportunity to build products using an entirely new class of materials.

If you are obsessed with products, understand how great apparel is actually built, and want to turn new materials into products people genuinely love using, we want to hear from you.