Job Description
Product Design Manager (Physical Consumer Goods)
Leading the innovation side of a much-loved brand. Real, made objects, not apps or interfaces.
- Salary: £55,000 to £60,000, dependent on experience
- Location: West London
- Working pattern: Hybrid (three days in the office)
- Software: Adobe Creative Suite
- Sector: Physical Product Design, Consumer Goods
About the Brand
Quick note before you read on, because it matters: this is physical product design. Real, made things you can pick up, collect, and put on a shelf. It is not UX, UI, digital, or app design, and there is no screen work here. If designing tangible products is your world, keep reading.
This is a London brand that makes characterful, collectable things, the sort of products people of all ages fall for. The work is original, instantly recognisable in feel, and made with an unusual amount of care. Nothing here is off the shelf.
It's a design-led house with a genuine point of view. Ideas matter, craft matters, and personality is the whole point. The team is small enough to feel close, with a roster of talented freelance designers orbiting a tight core, and the output reaches a devoted audience well beyond these shores.
It is also, by all accounts, a nice place to be. Joy is taken seriously here, which is rarer than it sounds, and the people who do well are the ones who care about the detail as much as the bigger picture.
About the Role
The Product Design Manager leads the innovation branch of the design team, driving new ideas from first sketch through to a finished, manufactured product. That means setting strategy and visual direction, shaping ranges, and steering designs through development, sampling, and production. You'll brief and inspire a core group of freelance designers, then go out and find the next ones, sourcing and onboarding fresh talent as the team grows.
Reporting to the Head of Design, with two direct reports of your own, this is a proper leadership role with real autonomy. You'll own the critical path, build the briefing and approval processes that keep everything moving, and handle the unglamorous but vital business of budgets, contracts, and rates. You'll also keep the creative engine running: research, trends, inspiration, and the steady supply of new direction.
It's a good moment to step in. The processes are there to be built and improved, the team is there to be grown, and the person who takes this on gets to leave a real mark on what the brand makes next.
Your days will look something like this...
- Lead, inspire, and develop the existing design team
- Set the strategy and visual direction that shapes new ideas and physical ranges
- Steer designs from concept through development, sampling, and production to the finished object
- Brief and guide a team of core freelance designers, keeping everyone pointed in the same direction
- Own the critical path so every collection lands on time, from first direction to final sign off
- Oversee artwork and product development, making sure each design meets the brand's standards
- Source, onboard, and grow a roster of freelance design talent
- Build briefing, onboarding, and approval processes that genuinely work
- Manage freelance budgets, contracts, rates, and invoicing without losing the plot
You might be our perfect match if...
- Your background is in physical product design, industrial design, illustration, or a related field, and your portfolio is made things rather than screens (essential)
- You have a degree in product design, illustration, or a related creative field (essential)
- You've led or supervised a design team before, and people liked working for you
- You bring around five years of design experience across a mix of physical product projects
- You can take a loose idea and turn it into a finished, manufactured product, on time and on brief
- You understand how a design moves through development, sampling, and production
- You lead in an empowering, collaborative way rather than a top-down one
- You communicate and present clearly, and with a bit of warmth
- Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite is a welcome bonus, not a dealbreaker
Why this one...
- You get a real seat at the table, shaping what gets made rather than just keeping the trains running
- Two direct reports and a roster of talented freelancers to lead, mentor, and grow
- A design culture that takes joy seriously and makes things people genuinely treasure
- The chance to build processes from the ground up, and the trust to do it your way
- A London brand with a global audience and a quietly devoted following
- A salary of £55,000 to £60,000, dependent on experience, in a studio that is, by all accounts, a lovely place to spend your days