Industrial Designer: Hands-on Prototyping & Storytelling

IDEO

San Francisco (CA)

Hybrid

USD 70,000 - 80,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Flexible work

Annual education stipend

Home office stipend

401K matching

Job summary

IDEO San Francisco is seeking an Industrial Designer to collaborate with interdisciplinary teams on human-centered physical products and services. The role emphasizes hands-on making, rapid prototyping, and advanced visual storytelling, with opportunities to design cutting-edge products and grow within IDEO’s Design Thinking network.

The hire will work across disciplines, balancing form and function, and will contribute to research, prototyping, and client presentations.

Qualifications

1-2+ years of experience in industrial design, including end-to-end contributions to projects in consumer products, medical devices, soft goods or packaging.
Fluency in digital tools such as SolidWorks, Rhino, Keyshot, Blender, and Adobe Creative Suite.
Go-to-market experience and ability to contribute to industrial design workstreams within multidisciplinary teams.
Prototyping expertise, including 3D printing and rapid prototyping methods.
Passion for building in 3D while actively prototyping to test insights.
Strong visual storytelling abilities, including graphic design and deck-building.
Understanding of design for manufacturing (DFM) processes.
Experience in Consumer Electronics Design, Health/Medical Product Design, or Packaging Design.

Responsibilities

Apply expertise to develop compelling physical product designs and systems, balancing form, function, constraints and manufacturability.
Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams including engineers, software developers, visual and interaction designers, brand strategists, and researchers.
Present ideas through sketches, CAD models, renderings, and physical mock-ups to clients and team members.
Contribute to and lead human-centered research to inform design strategies.
Create prototypes at varying fidelities using 3D printing and other rapid prototyping methods.
Drive cross-functional collaboration and demonstrate leadership over 12+ week projects.
Deliver visual storytelling using 2D and 3D tools to create compelling client presentations.
Explore early-stage inspiration through digital experimentation, including generative AI and other tools.
Mentor designers across disciplines by sharing knowledge and advanced craft techniques.