New Product Industrial Designer

Division Information

The Home & Garden business unit of Spectrum Brands is based in St. Louis, Missouri with distribution, manufacturing and sales offices throughout the US and globe. We are a leading supplier of consumer products nationally for the home, lawn and garden, insect and weed control markets. We deliver groundbreaking products of exceptional value and top-notch quality to consumers with our well-recognized brands including Spectracide®, Hot Shot®, Cutter®, Repel®, Black Flag®, Garden Safe®, EcoLogic® and Liquid Fence®.

Job Summary

Location - this hybrid role is located in Earth City, MO corporate office. Relocation assistance may be provided for candidates who are not currently located within commuting distance of the position.

The New Product Industrial Designer is integral to the new product development process within Spectrum Brands’ Home & Garden’s Research and Development team. The designer will translate consumers’ desires and needs into new, consumer-focused delivery systems and devices. This role will work closely with engineering, marketing, manufacturing, and other R&D functions to design and prototype innovative new products. The industrial designer will have a knowledge base of industrial design processes that contribute to designing products with the highest levels of usability, ergonomics, form, function, and market trend relevance. This position requires a high level of technical proficiency and engineering knowledge. This role will be at the forefront of product development and will provide new ideas, new processes, and new capabilities to develop, test, and learn with consumers at the core of the process.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

Consumer Focused Design

• Ability to understand consumer insights and extrapolate that to develop new, unique consumer experiences and products
• An outspoken proponent for consumer-led innovation within the organization by driving a consumer-first mentality when developing new products
• Work collaboratively with other departments including Marketing, New Product Development, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain to develop innovation opportunities

Design Execution

• Develop design concepts with a focus on ergonomics, form, and function for hard and packaged goods through concept sketching and rendering
• Leverage software to bring ideas to life by creating aesthetic solid models and digital rendering (2D and 3D)
• Develop quick physical form study models and mockups utilizing our rapid and mechanical prototyping lab through a concept – prototype – iterate – repeat approach
• Model, prototype, and test looks-like and functional prototypes through rapid prototyping and conventional fabrication techniques
• Create compelling new products with technical expertise that will delight consumers and fulfill consumers’ unmet needs
• Develop key supplier relationships to help accelerate product implementation
• Ability to flex between an aesthetic design mentality and a technical, functional mindset
• Actively participate in technical and consumer focused brainstorm sessions
• Incorporate new capabilities in AI generation and iterational development.
• Assist in maintaining both mechanical prototype machinery (table saw, band saw, etc.) and rapid prototyping machinery (FDM, PolyJet, etc)

Education and Experience Profile

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design
• 4+ years of experience in industrial design
• 3+ years in hard goods design execution
• Proficiency in Acrobat Pro, SolidWorks (or other 3D modeling software), Keyshot, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), PowerPoint
• Experience in consumer-packaged goods preferred
• Consumer science experience with ability to assist in consumer research through central location tests, ethnographies, and in-home usage tests is preferred
• A portfolio that showcases design expertise with creative thinking, design thinking, problem solving, aesthetics, prototyping, and iterative design development
• Knowledge of materials used for hard and packaged goods production through processes such as injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming, etc.
• Strong collaboration skills, partnering with internal and external stakeholders on aesthetic design, part moldability, assembly, and design-for-manufacturing
• An always learning mindset with a strong curiosity and desire to fail fast to learn quickly
• Project and time management capabilities to execute project priorities and deliverables in a timely and efficient manner
• An advanced knowledge of design-for-manufacturing and the ability to work closely with mechanical engineering to execute on product design is a must

• Role not eligible for sponsorship

Required Skills

• Strong sketching and conceptual abilities
• Exceptional sense of design to create visually appealing and user-friendly products
• Ability to set priorities and reconcile directions from competing interests
• Consumer-led design mindset and processes
• Advanced proficiency in 3D modeling (SolidWorks, Siemens NX)
• Skilled proficiency in 3D rendering (Keyshot preferred)
• Strongly skilled in rapid and mechanical fabrication capabilities with a hands-on development approach
• Proficient in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) to maintain version control of CAD components and design documentation
• Experience with StageGate processes
• Skilled proficiency in hard goods and consumer packaged goods manufacturing and assembly to scale up for commercialization
• Ability to organize and carry out multiple projects with attention to detail
• Excellent problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, are fundamental

Work Environment

Working conditions are normal for an office environment

This is a hybrid role which allows for work from home on Monday and Friday and work in the office, Tuesday through Thursday.

Relocation assistance may be provided for candidates who are not currently located within commuting distance of the position.

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this job/classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Spectrum Brands is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

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