Are you a visionary leader with a passion for transforming creative ideas into iconic, high-quality products? Do you thrive at the intersection of design, innovation and technical excellence—where creativity meets commercial success? If so, we’d love for you to apply for this exciting opportunity as VP Design Development, for a 12 month Maternity cover.
Based at Pandora’s Global Headquarters in Copenhagen, this pivotal role leads our global product development strategy and oversees three core areas: Collection Development, Innovation, and Creative Sourcing. As a key member of the Product leadership team, you will shape the future of Pandora’s collections—ensuring every product reflects our design DNA, supports our brand ambitions, and delights customers around the world.
Your Role
We are seeking an experienced and visionary Vice President of Design Development to lead Pandora’s global product development strategy on a fixed-term maternity cover. Based at Pandora’s Global Headquarters in Copenhagen and reporting directly to the Chief Product Officer, this role oversees and integrates three core areas: Collection Development, Innovation, and Creative Sourcing. You will be responsible for steering the end-to-end product creation process—translating creative concepts into technically viable, commercially successful and scalable products that reflect Pandora’s design DNA and long-term brand ambitions.
This role is pivotal to delivering global collections — iconic, relevant and rooted in quality craftsmanship. You’ll be working cross-functionally with Design, Marketing, Merchandising, Manufacturing and Procurement to bring collections to life and drive innovation across new materials, techniques and processes.
Key Responsibilities
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Lead and inspire a high-performing development team, overseeing three core areas that not only fuels design evolution but also supports Pandora’s long-term business goals and scalable growth:
- Collection Teams: Translate creative concepts into technically viable, high-quality finished products across all core product categories—delivering both the full global assortment and tailored, local-market requests. This includes managing timelines and execution for core collections, collaborations, engraving platforms and special editions, ensuring every product reflects Pandora’s design DNA and meets commercial and operational requirements.
- Innovation: Lead the development of new materials, manufacturing techniques, and technical solutions that push creative boundaries and elevate product execution for the Design team. The Innovation team also plays a critical role in driving key strategic initiatives—such as new category expansion, cost optimization and operational efficiency.
- Creative Sourcing: Establish and nurture strategic supplier relationships that enable advanced technical execution while also serving as a source of creative inspiration for the Design team—supporting both short-term collection development and long-term innovation and sustainability initiatives.
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Serve as the key link between the Creative, Commercial and the Manufacturing—ensuring a balance between creativity, cost, quality and delivery of product.
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Oversee the full product development lifecycle—from concept and sampling through to production readiness.
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Drive high-level discussions across timelines, feasibility assessments, cost discussions and quality benchmarks.
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Drive high-level alignment between Design, Merchandising, Marketing and Manufacturing regarding product escalations.
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Strengthen and support supplier and manufacturer partnerships to deliver quality and scale.
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Continuously monitor material innovation and competitor activity
Core Competencies
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Collaborative Leadership: Leads with empathy, clarity, and confidence. Brings out the best in cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams by fostering a culture of trust, accountability, and shared purpose. Actively coaches and mentors talent across levels, creating space for development, growth, and high performance in a fast-paced environment.
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Creative Agility: Ability to translate visionary design into tangible, commercially viable product solutions.
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Technical Excellence: Strong understanding of materials, product development and product construction—particularly in jewellery or accessory categories.
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Strategic Thinking: Skilled at setting direction and balancing short-term priorities. Aligns creative direction and technical feasibility with commercial goals ensuring that design development decisions support business growth.
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Adaptability & Change Management: Thrives in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment. Brings strong change management skills and the ability to lead teams through transformation while maintaining focus, energy and delivery excellence.
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Cultural Awareness: Brings a global mindset and sensitivity to cultural nuances – actively encouraging collaboration across diverse teams.
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Communication & Influence: Communicates clearly and confidently, adapting style to different audiences. Capable of aligning stakeholders around a shared vision and navigating complexity with clarity and confidence.
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Commercial Acumen: Strong awareness of consumer expectations, price positioning and global market dynamics.
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Supplier & Vendor Expertise: Experience working with diverse global manufacturing partners and unlocking value through innovation.
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Executional Focus: Strong project management mindset, able to drive end-to-end timelines while ensuring excellence in delivery.
Key Requirements
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12+ years of experience in product development within the jewellery, accessories, fashion or luxury goods sectors.
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Proven track record of successfully leading multidisciplinary teams across creatives, product development, innovation and sourcing.
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Expertise in scaling complex product assortments within a consumer-driven brand.
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Strong commercial and operational understanding of product development lifecycles.
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Excellent stakeholder management and leadership presence.
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Passion for product, craftsmanship, and elevating customer experience.
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Fluent in English; additional languages are a plus.
Icing on the cake
You’ll be working out of our beautiful Head Office in Copenhagen V, designed to unite and inspire our teams. Established in 2016 and proudly LEED Gold Certified for Energy and Environmental Design, our headquarters reflects Pandora’s commitment to sustainability and innovation. It’s a dynamic, collaborative space that brings our brand to life—where creativity thrives and every detail is crafted to inspire.
About Pandora
Pandora is the world's largest jewellery brand, specialising in the design, crafting and marketing of accessible luxury jewellery made from high-quality materials. Each piece is created to inspire self-expression, allowing people to share their stories and passions through meaningful jewellery. Pandora jewellery is sold in more than 100 countries through 6,800 points of sale, including more than 2,700 concept stores.
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Pandora employs 37,000 people worldwide and crafts its jewellery using only recycled silver and gold. Pandora is committed to leadership in sustainability and has set out to halve greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2030. Pandora is listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange and generated revenue of DKK 31.7 billion (EUR 4.2 billion) in 2024.
At Pandora, we believe that creating an inclusive and diverse workplace and reflecting societal diversity in our customer engagement is essential to delivering on our company purpose: to give a voice to people’s loves. We dedicate ourselves to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of inclusion and diversity where everyone feels respected and valued—and we’re proud to be named one of Europe’s Best Workplaces by the Financial Times, as well as being ranked #1 among Danish companies.
We would love to hear from you, so if you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch.