New Product Design Lead (Industrial Designer) - Consumer Goods & Lifestyle Products

We are building a design-led product innovation engine and are looking for an Industrial Designer who can transform consumer insight briefs into beautifully designed, manufacturable products. This is a lead role — you will own the end-to-end physical design of new products, from the first concept sketch all the way through to a production-ready specification. You will work closely with the Category Manager, who brings deep consumer and market intelligence — the "what and why". Your job is to deliver the "how it looks, feels, and works". This is not a graphic design or digital role. We need someone who has held, tested, and shipped real physical products.

Product Concept & Design • Receive consumer and category briefs and independently generate multiple product design concepts • Lead industrial design of new products — defining form, structure, ergonomics, materials, surface finish, and user interaction • Translate abstract consumer needs and emotional language into concrete, functional design directions • Create detailed sketches, mood boards, CAD models, and rendered visualisations to communicate concepts to cross-functional stakeholders Packaging Structure Design • Own structural packaging design — form factor, closure mechanisms, dispensing systems, and material selection • Work with packaging engineers and vendors to develop prototypes and finalise production-ready dielines • Balance aesthetics, functionality, sustainability, and cost in every packaging decision • Ensure pack designs are shelf-ready, retailer-compliant, and consumer-intuitive Prototyping & Iteration • Build rapid prototypes (physical and digital) to test form, usability, and consumer appeal • Conduct internal and consumer-facing prototype testing; iterate fast based on feedback • Drive multiple design rounds simultaneously across different product lines Vendor & Manufacturing Coordination • Collaborate directly with manufacturers, tooling vendors, and packaging suppliers to ensure designs are production-feasible • Manage tooling development timelines, sample review cycles, and pre-production sign-offs • Negotiate material and tooling costs without compromising design intent • Maintain a reliable vendor network for rapid prototyping and production scale-up Documentation & Standards • Create and maintain comprehensive design documentation — spec sheets, dielines, material callouts, tolerances, and BOM inputs • Establish and own the design-to-prototype process, including stage gates and review checkpoints • Build a centralised design library and asset repository for the team Team & Collaboration • Work as the design bridge between the Category Manager (insights/briefs), Brand Manager (aesthetics/identity), and Supply Chain (feasibility/cost) • Build and eventually manage a small in-house design team as the company scales • Present design work clearly and confidently to founders and senior leadership