Senior Industrial Designer

Sidekick; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Performance-based bonus

Collaborative colleagues

Fast-paced environment

Hybrid with WFH days

Job summary

Sidekick in Toronto is seeking an Industrial Designer to lead concept development and design execution across our product portfolio. You will generate innovative concepts, build and test prototypes, and refine products based on real user feedback, collaborating with product managers, physiotherapists, and manufacturing partners from brief to golden sample.

The role emphasizes prolific concept generation, strong visual communication, hands-on prototyping, and a deep understanding of

Qualifications

• Prolific concept generation across multiple directions.
• Strong visual communication through sketches, renders or quick mockups.
• Hands-on prototyping using foam, fabric, off-the-shelf hardware or 3D-printed parts.
• Experience with rigid and textile components and integrated straps.
• Ability to consider tooling, tolerances and assembly from the start.

Responsibilities

• Lead concept development for 10–20+ concepts per brief.
• Build and test early-stage prototypes to validate mechanisms.
• Synthesize ergonomic and user feedback from focus groups.
• Collaborate with engineering and manufacturing to optimize for production.
• Support development of the golden sample and ensure manufacturability.

Skills

Prolific concept generator

Strong visual communicator

Hands-on prototyper

Hard and soft goods experience

Understands manufacturability

User-research capable

Collaborative

Job description

Hybrid (Toronto) | Full-Time | $80,000-$100,000 CAD

About Sidekick

At Sidekick, our mission is simple: help people recover faster from persistent injuries. Trusted by Olympic champions and everyday individuals, our products have been featured in Men’s Health, Running Magazine, and more. With 94% of users reporting relief from chronic pain, we’re on a mission to become the go-to injury relief brand.

About the Role

As we continue to grow our line of rehabilitation and pain relief products, we’re looking for an Industrial Designer to lead concept development and design execution across our product portfolio. You’ll be the creative engine behind our product line — generating innovative concepts, building and testing prototypes, and refining products based on real user feedback. You’ll work closely with our Product Manager, physiotherapists, and manufacturing partners to bring products from brief to golden sample.

Key Responsibilities

1) Concept Development Phase

• Generate 10–20+ diverse product concepts per brief, exploring varied mechanisms, materials, and ergonomic approaches
• Conduct benchmarking and ergonomic research to inform concept direction
• Rapidly visualize and communicate concepts through sketching, rendering, or quick mockups
• Build early-stage mockups to validate mechanisms and usability before committing to a direction
• Lead structured focus group testing sessions and synthesize ergonomic and user value feedback
• Refine comfort, usability, aesthetics, and interaction design based on testing outcomes
• Collaborate with engineering and manufacturing partners to optimize designs for production
• Support development of the golden sample, ensuring the final design meets quality and manufacturability standards

Skills, Experience & Ideal Fit

• Prolific concept generator — you explore the full solution space before converging, not just iterating on what exists
• Strong visual communicator — sketches, renders, or whatever gets the idea across quickly
• Hands-on prototyper — comfortable with foam, fabric, off-the-shelf hardware, 3D printing, whatever the fidelity calls for
• Hard and soft goods experience — our products combine rigid structures with textiles and straps, so both matter
• Understands manufacturability — you think about tooling, tolerances, and assembly from the start, not at handoff
• User-research capable — you can run a focus group, synthesize feedback, and translate it into design decisions
• Collaborative — you’ll work within a structured process alongside PMs, physios, and engineers, not in isolation
• Competitive compensation + Performance-based bonus
• Dedicated, collaborative, and supportive colleagues
• Fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Opportunity to shape entire product lines from concept through production
• Hybrid with work-from-home days