Associate Product Developer – Haircare & Consumer Accessories

Fourth Floor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Fourth Floor in New York, NY seeks a Designer & Product Development Associate to bridge Design and Product Development across hair accessories, tools, and tech accessories. This on-site role reports to the Design & Development Director and requires collaboration with overseas offices and factories in a fast-paced, detail-oriented environment.

The candidate will create CADs, build assortments, and review samples, balancing trend research with production feasibility.

Qualifications

• An Associate's or Bachelor's in Fashion, Accessories, or Product Development.
• ≈3 years in accessories design.
• Strong Excel, Illustrator, and Photoshop skills with an eye for typography and layout.

Responsibilities

• Partner daily with overseas offices and factory teams.
• Come to the table with fresh product ideas and concepts.
• Build out showroom and account-specific assortments.
• Shop the competition and fold findings into assortment planning.
• Keep sales, production, and operations aligned with the same information.
• Support concept and research work for each seasonal delivery.
• Build CADs in Illustrator with specs for overseas production.
• Review and sign off on pre-production and production samples.
• Track deadlines and chase follow-ups to hold order timelines.
• Prepare and submit artwork for licensor approval.
• Design prints and graphics.
• Build packaging concepts and die line details for sampling and production.
• Work with factories to source new product ideas that hit target pricing.
• Pull specification details from overseas offices and factories on every development.
• Own a master spreadsheet tracking pricing, material content, and dimensions.

Skills

Organized

Typography

Layout design

Teamwork

Education

Associate's or Bachelor's in Fashion, Accessories, or Product Development

Tools

Excel

Illustrator

Photoshop

Job description

One of our clients a well-established consumer products company with offices in New York and New Jersey is adding a Designer & Product Development Associate to their HBA & Tech division.

The role sits across both Design and Product Development, covering hair accessories, hair tools, and tech accessories. It reports into the Design & Development Director and is on-site five days a week in NYC.

What you'll be doing

Day to day

• Partner daily with overseas offices and factory teams
• Come to the table with fresh product ideas and concepts
• Build out showroom and account-specific assortments
• Shop the competition, read the retail landscape, and fold those findings into assortment planning
• Keep sales, production, and operations aligned so everyone is working off the same information

Design

• Support concept and research work for each seasonal delivery
• Contribute to trend and market research across product, packaging, and materials
• Build CADs in Illustrator with the accompanying specs for overseas production
• Help review and sign off on pre-production and production samples
• Track deadlines and chase follow-ups so order timelines hold
• Prepare and submit artwork for licensor approval
• Design prints and graphics
• Build packaging concepts and die line details for both sampling and production

Product Development

• Work with factories to source new product and ideas that hit target pricing
• Review and finalize factory pricing, then package it up for sales meetings
• Pull specification details from overseas offices and factories on every development
• Own a master spreadsheet tracking pricing, material content, and dimensions

What they're looking for

• An Associate's or Bachelor's in Fashion, Accessories, or Product Development
• Roughly 3 years in accessories design
• Strong Excel, Illustrator, and Photoshop skills
• A good eye for typography and layout
• Highly organized, with a habit of planning ahead
• Comfortable working solo and as part of a team
• Able to run several projects on different timelines at once
• Collaborative, takes direction well, and sweats the details