What are the responsibilities and job description for the New Product Industrial Designer position at Spectrum Brands?
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
The New Products Industrial Designer is integral to the new product development process within Spectrum Brands’ Home & Garden’s Research and Development working within Controls, Repellents, Insecticides, and Cleaning products. The designer will translate consumer's desires and needs into new, consumer-focused products. 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. An advanced knowledge of design-for-manufacturing and the ability to work closely with mechanical engineering to execute on product design is a must. The ability to further define and develop abstract ideas with a driven and open mindset is crucial for success in this role. 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
- Develop design concepts for hard and packaged goods through 2D digital sketching and rendering
- Develop quick physical form study models and mockups
- Be a proponent for consumer-led design within the organization by driving a consumer-first mentality when developing new products
- Ability to understand research data and extrapolate that to develop new consumer experiences and products
- Model, prototype, and test looks-like and functional prototypes through rapid prototyping and conventional fabrication techniques with an iterative development approach
- Design products and solutions with a focus on ergonomics, form, and function
- Create compelling new products with technical expertise that will delight consumers and drive profitable sales
- Leverage software to bring ideas to life by creating aesthetic solid models and digital rendering (2D and 3D)
- Work closely with legal and regulatory teams to ensure compliance and safety is met
- Develop key supplier relationships to help accelerate the development cycle and create efficiencies
- Work with internal and external partners on aesthetic design, part moldability, assembly, and design-for-manufacturing
- Work collaboratively with other departments including Marketing, New Product Development, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain to develop product specifications with a Design-for-Manufacturing approach
- Actively participate in technical and consumer focused brainstorm sessions
- Ability to set priorities and reconciles directions from competing interests
- Comply with all company policies and procedures
Education and Experience Profile
- Bachelor's degree in industrial design or equivalent
- Minimum 3 years experience in industrial design with experience on innovation projects and consumer product design
- 2 years in hard goods design execution
- Experience in consumer packaged goods preferred
- Advanced proficiency in 3D modeling (SolidWorks, Siemens NX)
- Skilled proficiency in 3D rendering (Keyshot preferred)
- 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
- Knowledge of materials used for hard and packaged goods production such as injected polypropylene, blow molded polyethylene, thermoformed polystyrene, corrugate, etc.
Required Skills
- Exceptional sense of design to create visually appealing and user-friendly products
- Abreast of current design trends in to be able to create current,
- Strong analytical abilities with attention to detail
- Strong sketching and conceptual abilities
- Works effectively across the organization and fosters teamwork
- Consumer-led design processes
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, are fundamental
- Ability to organize and carry out multiple projects with attention to detail
- Proficiency in: Acrobat Pro, SolidWorks (or other 3D modeling software), Keyshot, Adobe Creative Suite, PowerPoint
Work Environment
- Working conditions are normal for an office environment
- Travel up to 10% of the time
- Hybrid working environment with 3 days in-office per week (Tuesday – Thursday) in Earth City, MO
#LI-LF