Associate Designer

Sundae School is a Korean heritage streetwear brand where Korean identity is the engine, not the costume. The brand operates between New York and Seoul — creative direction in NYC, the studio and production team in Korea (three product designers and a production MD on the ground, with a growing vendor and factory network). We're hiring a bilingual Associate Designer in NYC to be the founder's design right hand: the person who translates his creative intent into briefs the Korea team can execute against, reviews their work before it reaches him, and increasingly represents him in Korea team meetings when he can't be in them. This is a hands‑on role with real proxy authority over time. You start as the brief author and reviewer; you grow into leading full design on your own styles. What you'll do The design brief is yours. Turn the founder's direction — verbal, sketched, mood‑boarded — into concept CADs, mood boards, and written briefs in Korean. Illustrator essential, CLO3D a plus. Korea designers build their production techpacks from your briefs, so the cleaner and more specific the brief, the closer samples come back to intent. Review production techpacks coming back from Korea. Korea designers author the production‑ready spec; you read it, catch issues, ask the right questions in Korean, and route a clean version for the founder's approval. You're the founder's eyes before he sees the work. Run the sample approval pipeline. Receive sample photos and physical samples from Korea, organize them, write fit and finish notes, prep what the founder needs to approve in a single session per drop. As trust builds, sign off on routine samples yourself. Lead the weekly Korea team meeting in Korean on behalf of the founder when he can't be there. Drop status, design questions, blockers, sample reviews. Walk away with action items the team commits to in writing. Own the design pipeline in Monday.com. Every active style, where it is, who's blocking it, when it's due. The founder should glance at one board and see the state of design for every active drop. What you’re not doing Production techpacks — those belong to the Korea designers who are physically near the factories and pattern makers. Daily factory back‑and‑forth — that's the Korea designers' channel, with 생산 MD coordinating production execution. You step in directly only when the founder isn't available and a creative call has to be made, with Korea CCed. What you bring 2–4 years in fashion design at a brand with overseas production. You've held a techpack before and can read one critically. Korean fluency, written and spoken — comfortable leading a meeting in Korean with the Seoul studio. This role doesn't work without it. Strong Adobe Illustrator (essential), CLO3D (real plus), pattern and construction literacy. Cultural fluency in both Korean and US fashion contexts — you can read the room in either. Exceptional organization and written communication; you hold detail others drop. Comfort with a fast‑moving founder; you create structure rather than wait for it. Genuine interest in Korean heritage and the brand's mission. Growth path Start as the founder's brief author and reviewer. As trust builds, you lead full design execution on assigned styles — your own techpacks, your own samples, your own approvals when the founder isn't in the room. The path is Associate Designer Designer, NY. What success looks like (first 6 months) Korea team meetings happen without the founder in the room and the work still moves; samples come back closer to intent on the first pass because your briefs are tighter; the design pipeline holds against the production calendar; the founder spends less time coordinating design and more time directing it. #J-18808-Ljbffr