An exciting opportunity for a mid-weight designer to join a leading established Fashion Supplier. Reporting to the Product Development Director, the Senior Product Designer will play a key leadership role within the Product Development team. You will be responsible for driving the creative direction and development of multiple brands, ensuring all products align with brand guidelines while delivering commercial, innovative and customer-focused ranges. Experience required in apparel/ loungewear or soft accessories.
Key Responsibilities
- Support the Product Development Director in achieving departmental objectives through effective workload planning, delegation and team coordination.
- Work closely with the Design Director to set team objectives, mentor designers and encourage their professional development.
- Foster a positive, collaborative and high-performing team culture.
- Communicate expectations clearly while planning, briefing, monitoring and reviewing design work across the team.
- Continuously review and improve departmental processes to increase efficiency and support business growth.
- Design and develop commercially successful product ranges from customer briefs, retailer requirements and licensed brand guidelines.
- Work closely with the Product Development Director to ensure all product development meets customer, business and market requirements.
- Champion assigned brands, maintaining an excellent understanding of their identity, standards and future direction.
- Research seasonal fashion trends, fabrics, colour palettes, packaging innovations and new technologies to inspire future collections.
- Create and present seasonal trend reports, mood boards and design presentations for both internal teams and customers.
- Identify opportunities to introduce new product concepts whilst continuously improving existing product ranges.
- Work alongside sourcing teams to identify new materials, suppliers and product opportunities.
- Manage seasonal development critical paths, ensuring all customer meetings, approvals and production deadlines are achieved.
- Coordinate development samples, communicating supplier approvals and comments promptly to meet key milestone dates.
- Ensure all development projects remain on schedule through effective planning and project management.
- Maintain an organised sample library and cataloguing system to support the wider business.
- Develop products with a strong technical understanding, working alongside suppliers and technical teams to assess construction, fit and manufacturing feasibility.
- Collaborate with the Technical team to review PP samples and attend Critical Path meetings to ensure quality standards meet both Orrsum and customer expectations.
- Support the development of packaging solutions that complement the product and align with brand positioning and marketing requirements.
- Partner with Sales teams to ensure customer expectations are understood and exceeded.
- Prepare engaging customer presentations, range overviews and product samples for retailer meetings.
- Attend customer presentations where required to showcase seasonal collections, product innovation and development.
- Build strong working relationships across Design, Sales, Sourcing, Technical and Supply Chain teams to solve problems, improve processes and identify new business opportunities.
Skills & Experience
- Proven experience within product design and development, ideally within hosiery, underwear, loungewear or apparel.
- Strong commercial awareness with the ability to balance creativity and customer requirements.
- Excellent project management and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
- Strong presentation and communication skills with confidence presenting to customers and stakeholders.
- Experience managing product development critical paths and supplier communication.
- A collaborative leadership style with experience mentoring or managing designers.
- Excellent knowledge of fashion trends, product innovation, fabrics, packaging and garment construction.
- Highly organised with exceptional attention to detail and problem-solving skills.
- Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.