Designer & Product Development Associate

Fourth Floor; New York (NY); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Fourth Floor in New York City seeks a Designer & Product Development Associate to join the HBA & Tech division, covering hair accessories, hair tools, and tech accessories. On-site five days a week, reporting to the Design & Development Director.

You will partner with overseas offices and factories, build showroom assortments, and assist with CAD drawings in Illustrator while keeping timelines and samples on track.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Fashion, Accessories, or Product Development.
• 3 years in accessories design or related field.
• Strong Excel, Illustrator, and Photoshop skills.
• Good eye for typography and layout.
• Highly organized with proactive planning and scheduling.

Responsibilities

• Partner daily with overseas offices and factory teams to coordinate development.
• Contribute to trend and market research for product, packaging, and materials.
• Build CADs in Illustrator with specs for overseas production and sign‑offs on samples.
• Track deadlines and manage multiple timelines to keep orders on schedule.

Skills

Excel

Illustrator

Photoshop

Typography & layout

Organized & planning

Multi‑project management

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's in Fashion/Accessories/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