Associate Product Developer – Haircare & Consumer Accessories

Fourth Floor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Fourth Floor in New York City is seeking a Designer & Product Development Associate to bridge design and product development for hair accessories, hair tools, and tech accessories. The role sits on-site in NYC five days a week and reports to the Design & Development Director.

You will collaborate with overseas offices and factories, build CADs in Illustrator, review samples, and help craft assortments and packaging concepts.

Qualifications

• Associate's or Bachelor's in Fashion, Accessories, or Product Development.
• About 3 years of experience in accessories design.
• Strong Excel, Illustrator, and Photoshop skills.

Responsibilities

• Partner daily with overseas offices and factory teams.
• Build CADs in Illustrator with accompanying specs for overseas production.
• Review and sign off on pre-production and production samples.
• Help build showroom assortments and packaging concepts.
• Track deadlines and manage multiple timelines.

Skills

Typography and layout

Excel

Education

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

Tools

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