International Product Legislation Manager

This is a fantastic opportunity to join Next as a Product Legislation Manager and ensure that all products offered on our International websites are compliant with each country’s relevant legislation

Contract

If your experience combines a love of product as well as understanding how to interpret legislation to ensure compliance whilst maximising sales, then this opportunity is going to be something you might be interested in.

Managing a team of two, you will build strong business relationships both internally and externally with responsibility to maximise the products available on our International websites.

We are looking for someone who is confident and enjoys having multiple tasks running in tandem with varying timelines and levels of complexity. Experience of international product legislation is needed and working within a similar role is beneficial. You will also have excellent communication skills and the ability to collate and interpret information, legislation and data as well as real interest in product.

About the role:
The Product Legislation Manager’s main responsibilities are to identify, be aware and informed of new legislation relating to all Next and brands products sold via our International websites, as well as changes to current legislation before publication for all Country/Federal/Regional/State to ensure Next trades compliantly in all countries.
You will ensure Next and brands products sold through our International websites comply with new and changing legislation for all product categories covering requirements for:- Safety, performance, chemicals, styling, labelling and customs requirements- Certification requirements for customs entry- Product exclusions management- Producer responsibility reporting for international countries

Responsibilities

Compare and review country requirements against UK/EU legislation to: – Identify risks, gaps and failures and determine potential viable solutions including design restrictions/lead times for development/cost and margin implications – Undertake testing programmes where required to understand in-country legislation – Monitor in-country marketplace issues e.g. litigation, product liability, product recall to identify risks for Next – Work with the relevant teams to ensure implementation and compliance within re quired timescales

– Identify and evaluate compliance issues for new product categories to establish impacts on the business, working to resolve to maintain compliance to maximise sales potential internationally- Provide specialist advice by developing contacts with country specialists through relevant external bodies- Inform, train and monitor our internal product teams where country requirements need to be incorporated into existing product development to ensure compliance with country legislation requirements- Develop and maintain final protocol by country detailing all decisions, additional testing and labelling requirements and product/sub-group restrictions- Develop and maintain communication process for technical requirements to ensure website content is accurate per country requirement, including auditing for compliance- Identify Systems requirements to maximise automation to convert/translate UK technical information, where possible, into country specific requirements e.g. product fibre labelling- Manage the upload of data across internal systems identified through exception reporting to allow products to be positively released for sale

Criteria

Criteria
Essential Criteria:– Minimum of 5 years’ experience within a Product Technical function within retailing, related industry or regulatory environment- Proven experience in data collation/auditing- Excellent analytical skills – able to quickly identify root cause and solutions- Excellent communication skills – written and verbal- To be commercially aware, with a good understanding of retail business processes- Strong project management and implementation skills and able to work to strict deadlines- Highly self-motivated to achieve deadlines, investigate and research new areas and have an inquisitive nature
Desirable Criteria:– Demonstrate a resilient and dynamic approach- Good IT skills