Long-term Freelance Retail Designer

Happy Socks AB; Stockholms kommun; Hybrid; SEK 892,800 - 1,227,600; Part time

Job summary

Happy Socks AB is seeking an experienced Freelance Retail Designer to act as the in-house design expert across shop-in-shops, pop-ups, and premium displays. You will lead agency collaboration, ensure brand coherence, and translate concepts into scalable retail environments globally.

You will drive hands-on store planning, 3D visualisations, and artwork adaptations for seasonal spaces while partnering with operations and the Head of Creative to deliver on time and within budget.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in retail design with production, sustainability, and compliance.
• Strong technical skills in Rhino, Keyshot, SketchUp, and Adobe Creative Suite.
• Excellent project management and cross-functional collaboration abilities.
• Experience with PLM systems such as Delogue and with Asana.
• Fluent in English; Swedish is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Serve as in-house retail design expert guiding agency work.
• Own retail concept offerings ensuring functional, scalable concepts.
• Design and execute seasonal spaces, window displays, and pop-ups.
• Produce 3D visualisations and adapt artworks for stores.
• Review technical drawings for production quality and sustainability.
• Coordinate with operations and Head of Creative for brand cohesion.
• Create guidelines for pop-ups and shop-in-shops worldwide.
• Manage briefs from local markets and map timelines.
• Handle product development and PLM data in Delogue.

Skills

Retail design

Rhino

KeyShot

SketchUp

Adobe Creative Suite

Asana

Delogue PLM

English fluency

Swedish language

Tools

Delogue PLM

Job description

Long-term Freelance Retail Designer

Reports to: Head of Creative

Type: Long-term Freelance, 3 days per week, start in August

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced and highly organized Freelance Retail Designer to act as our in-house retail design expert. This role serves as a vital link between our internal teams, external partners, and our external retail agency. You will ensure that all physical retail environments consistently reflect our brand vision, are produced to the highest quality, are delivered on time and to budget, meet our functional and commercial needs, while remaining hand-on with adaptations and store planning.

Who we are looking for

You are a creative problem solver with a keen eye for detail and a passion for turning concepts into outstanding retail executions. You are a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced, global environment where you can balance hands-on development, seamlessly moving between ideation, execution and refinement - sometimes all in the same day!

Collaboration is at the heart of how you work. You partner closely with cross-functional teams to challenge ideas and refine products to perfection. Rather than sticking to rigid processes, you embrace agility, always looking for smarter, more innovative ways of working.

Most importantly, you bring the energy, creativity, and curiosity to thrive in a playful and colorful environment. You're shaping experiences, embracing the unexpected and adding your own spark of creative magic along the way.

Key Responsibilities

• Agency Collaboration & Management: Act as the primary point of contact for our external retail design agency. You will guide their work, deliver creative feedback, and ensure the display programs they develop align with our creative vision.
• In-House Retail Design Expert: Serve as the internal owner of our retail concept offering from a creative and strategic perspective. Ensure that the concepts designed by the agency are functional, scalable, and applied consistently across physical channels like shop-in-shops, outlets, pop-ups, and window displays.
• Ownership of Premium & Seasonal Spaces: Take full ownership of designing and executing seasonal retail spaces, window installations, and premium pop-ups that elevate the brand experience and go beyond our display program.
• Design Adaptation & Execution: Take the display programs created by the agency and execute hands-on store planning and visualisations (3D mock-ups) for permanent stores and pop-ups. Adapt artworks for physical environments and customise window designs based on overarching campaign concepts.
• Production & Quality Oversight: Review the agency's technical drawings and ensure excellence in production and quality for all retail environments. Advocate for solutions that maintain and improve sustainability, compliance, cost-effectiveness, and functionality across our retail fixtures.
• Cross-Functional Communication: Manage the dialogue and delivery of projects internally. Work closely with operations to ensure correct stock levels and pricing for retail displays, and collaborate with the Head of Creative to ensure brand cohesion.
• Guidelines & Merchandising: Create and distribute guidelines for pop-ups, shop-in-shops, and general merchandising to ensure our partners around the world (concept stores, distribution, and wholesale) can flawlessly execute the agency's display program.
• Project Management: Take briefs from local markets and partners, translate them into actionable to-do's, map out a timeline, communicate with stakeholders and manage your schedule in order to deliver on time and to budget, every time.
• Product Development & Systems: Responsible for product developments and article management in our PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) system Delogue, ensuring that article information and master data is accurate and up-to-date, managing communications with suppliers, and other administrative work.

Requirements & Skills

• Proven experience in retail design, encompassing both a creative vision and a strong understanding of physical production, material, sustainability, and compliance.
• Strong technical skills; the role requires proficiency in Rhino, Keyshot, SketchUp and Adobe Creative Suite.
• Excellent project management, administrative, and communication skills, with the ability to act as the primary liaison with internal teams, external partners and ourexternal agency.
• Ability to evaluate technical drawings and oversee the journey from concept to production-ready products.
• Capacity to work on several projects at once, under pressure, and to tight deadlines.
• Experience working with PLM systems, Delogue is a plus!
• Experience of working with project management tools like Asana
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written, Swedish is a plus

Locations Stockholm Workplace type Hybrid