Overview
General Manager / MD Jobs in Seoul, South Korea at Sundae School
About Sundae School
Sundae School is a Korean heritage streetwear brand — Korean identity translated into clothing, not worn as a costume. The brand operates between New York and Seoul: creative direction in NYC, studio and production in Korea. We opened our Chinatown NYC flagship in 2026 and are on a ~$9M annual revenue trajectory.
Position Overview
We’re hiring a General Manager for our Korea office — a Planning MD (기획 MD) who owns the full product P&L and PLM: planning, development, production, and reorder, end to end, in service of the revenue targets set by the CEO. This is not a product-only role. This person owns the numbers and the product at the same time: holds the budget, builds the line plan, enforces the timeline, builds the Korea team, and owns the vendor relationships.
Key Responsibilities1. P&L Ownership — Korea Office (Core)
- Operational cost management: Sampling, reference samples, production management, and Korea personnel expenses (finance execution supported by JMY)
- Buy budget design: Build seasonal buy budgets that support revenue goals — including how deposit and balance payment schedules flow through cashflow
- Reorder reserve: Always maintain a reserve budget to execute chase/reorder buys
- Budget roll-up: Own the full cycle from line plan → vendor costing → budget → total budget roll-up
2. Product Analysis & Development Direction
- Analyze product performance, DSV (daily sales velocity), and velocity deltas to propose chase/reorder items
- Connect sales data directly to next-season development, carryover, and stock replenishment decisions
- Identify categories to double down on, sunset, or expand into
- Have the instinct to develop samples and items that expand the creative vision and brand awareness — even when they won’t translate 1:1 into sales
3. PLM — Planning Through Reorder
Own the full cycle: planning → design → product ideation → sample → production → reorder. Work cross-functionally with the creative director, designers, and marketing — using data to inform and push the creative vision, not just report on it.
The operating cycle:
- Develop the product assortment using data and communication
- Set up the line plan
- Translate the line plan into a time & action plan
- Work with vendors to get it costed
- Move costing into the budget
- Roll up the total budget
4. Timeline & Action Management (T&A)
- Set and enforce timelines from sampling → QC → PP → TOP based on the budget and plan
- Manage schedules and deliverables across vendors, designers, trim suppliers (부자재 업체), and internal/external teams
- Run the full production pipeline on a work-back calendar from each launch date
5. Team Building & Vendor Relationships — the Sundae Standard
- Build the Korea team: Beyond day-to-day management of the Seoul team (designers, production MD), define the positions the org needs as it grows and lead hiring and onboarding directly
- Own vendor relationships: Hold the senior relationships across the full vendor network — sewing factories, fabric mills, trim suppliers — from sourcing, evaluating, and onboarding new vendors to negotiating price, timeline, and quality with existing ones
- Systematize vendor and factory knowledge so it accumulates in the company as the brand scales
- Define the “Sundae Standard” for quality, timeline, and communication, and embed it across the team and vendor network
Requirements
- 7+ years as a fashion planning MD or head of product (team lead experience required)
- Hands-on P&L and buy budget management required — costing, deposit/balance structures, cashflow implications
- Sales data analysis capability — experience making reorder/development decisions from velocity and sell-through
- Working knowledge of the full production calendar, from sampling through TOP
- Bilingual Korean/English communication (collaboration with the New York HQ)
Preferred
- Experience on both the brand side (head of product) and the sourcing/trading side
- Streetwear/contemporary category experience
- Fluency with collaboration tools like Monday.com
- Startup or small-team experience — comfortable being hands-on
Title: General Manager / MD
Company: Sundae School
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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