License Designer

Primark Stores Limited; Reading; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A major retail company in Reading is seeking a License Designer to lead the creation of seasonal licensed sportswear and brand campaigns. This role involves defining design strategies, analyzing trends, and collaborating with internal teams and external partners to deliver a compelling product range. The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of experience in fashion or sportswear and be proficient in design tools like Illustrator and Photoshop. This opportunity offers a dynamic work environment and benefits including healthcare and bonus potential.

Benefits

Healthcare

Pension

27 days of leave plus bank holidays

Tax Saver Tickets

Fitness centre

Subsidised cafeteria

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in retail fashion, sportswear, or brand‑led environments.
• Advanced trend forecasting skills across multiple categories.
• Solid understanding of fabrics, garment construction, and print techniques.

Responsibilities

• Define design strategy for licensed products and create a future-focused product vision.
• Analyze trends and translate them into commercially viable product direction.
• Build relationships across Design, Buying, Merchandising, and Branding departments.

Skills

Design Expertise

Trend & Product Knowledge

Brand & Stakeholder Management

Technical & Creative Skills

Commercial & Strategic Mindset

Leadership & Collaboration

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Photoshop

InDesign

Job description

License Designer

Because your ideas are our style. Design, our way.

Design at Primark

Our design specialists are at the heart of crafting captivating brand experiences. Immerse yourself in the world of visual storytelling, where your creativity will shape the aesthetics of our brand. Collaborate with a team of skilled designers and bring your artistic talent to a global stage.

In this role, you will lead the creation of seasonal licensed sportswear and brand campaigns, ensuring global macro trends across sport, streetwear, performance, and fanwear are translated into compelling design direction for Primark.

You will work with internal teams and external brand partners to deliver fashion-forward, commercially strong, globally relevant licensed ranges that elevate Primark’s sportswear proposition.

You will champion innovation, identifying new product opportunities, materials, and brand collaborations that resonate with today’s sportswear consumer.

What You’ll Do, as a License Designer

In your role, you’ll collaborate with different people across a range of skillsets. Here’s a flavour of your day-to-day:

• Define Design Strategy: Shape the sports and brand-led design strategy for Licensed Product, collaborating with the Head of License and Buying to create a future-focused product vision and lead seasonal trend direction through global insights and competitor benchmarking.
• Trend Identification: Analyse macro and micro trends across licensed categories (apparel, accessories, footwear, equipment, fanwear) and translate them into commercially strong, brand-aligned product direction; maintain external awareness through industry events and global inspiration trips.
• Brand Partnerships: Partner with License Managers and Licensors to set seasonal creative direction and secure exclusive assets, ensuring cohesive execution and strengthening brand relationships.
• Insight & Communication: Drive market-leading insight through comp shopping and category reviews; trend intelligence into creative communication to inspire teams with concepts, fabrication ideas, graphics, and silhouettes.
• Seasonal Trend Packs: Develop unified design narratives across colour, graphics, branding, and materials; influence senior stakeholders and support strategic decisions within the Licensing Steering Group.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Build strong relationships across Design, Buying, Merchandising, Brand, and Marketing to ensure licensed ranges reflect Primark’s brand and customer expectations, embedding broader department trends into licensed campaigns.

What You’ll Get

People are at the heart of what we do here, so it’s essential we provide you with the right environment to perform at your very best. Let’s talk lifestyle:

• Healthcare, pension, and potential bonus.
• 27 days of leave, plus bank holidays and if you want, you can buy 5 more.
• Because Primark is all about tailoring to you, we offer Tax Saver Tickets, fitness centre, and a subsidised cafeteria.

What You’ll Bring

Here at Primark, we want everyone to feel valued – so please bring your authentic self to work, of course with some other key experience and abilities for this role in particular:

• Design Expertise: 5+ years’ experience in retail fashion, sportswear, or brand‑led environments, with proven success in licensed, sports, or brand partnerships.
• Trend & Product Knowledge: Advanced trend forecasting skills and strong multi‑category expertise (apparel, accessories, performance), translating insights into profitable product direction.
• Brand & Stakeholder Management: Skilled in working with global licensors and brand partners, managing approvals, and delivering elevated, brand‑right design solutions while influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• Technical & Creative Skills: Solid understanding of fabrics, garment construction, print techniques, and production capabilities; highly proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign with strong visual storytelling ability.
• Commercial & Strategic Mindset: Deep commercial awareness, ability to manage multiple projects in a fast‑paced environment, and experience aligning creative outputs with brand and customer expectations.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Strong relationship builder and team player with leadership qualities—able to mentor designers, present persuasively to senior leaders, and drive cross‑functional collaboration effectively.

Does this sound like you? Great, because we can’t wait to see what you’ll bring. You’ll be supported within a team of equally capable people, celebrating who you are and aiding you reach your potential. At Primark, we’re excited about our future – and we’re excited to develop yours.

About Primark

At Primark, people matter. They’re the beating heart of our business and the reason we’ve grown from our first store in Dublin in 1969 to a £9bn+ turnover business and over 80,000 colleagues and over 440 stores in 17 countries today. Our values run through everything we do. In essence, we're Caring and always strive to put people first. We're also Dynamic, bravely pushing the boundaries to stay ahead. And finally, we succeed Together.

If you need any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility request during your recruitment journey, such as extended time or breaks between online assessments, a sign language interpreter, mobility access, or assistive technology, please contact your talent acquisition specialist.

All offers of employment are subject to background checks, including right to work, reference education and for some roles criminal, and financial checks. If you have any concerns, please reach out to our talent acquisition team to discuss.

Our fashion isn’t one‑size‑fits‑all and neither is our culture. Primark promotes equal employment opportunity, we strive to create an inclusive workplace where people can be themselves, access opportunities and thrive together.

If you require extra support at any stage of the selection process, please get in touch with our team at [e-mail].