Lead Senior Designer, Product Brand & Vision

SanMar-Internal; Issaquah (WA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k plan and matches

Life insurance

Short/long-term disability

Paid maternity/paternity leave

Job summary

SanMar-Internal in Issaquah, WA, seeks Lead Senior Designer for Product Brand & Vision. Own product direction, brand storytelling, and seasonal narratives across apparel, bags, and headwear. Lead cross-functional teams to align design with brand strategy and business goals.

You will mentor junior designers, drive concept development, and ensure brand clarity across multiple brands. Salary range $120,000-$160,000 with up to 10% discretionary bonus; hybrid office in Issaquah, with Tue-Thu

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Design or related field or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years progressive design experience across apparel, accessories and related categories.
• Strong ability to connect brand strategy, consumer insight and product design.
• Expert level Adobe suite and 3D rendering tools.

Responsibilities

• Define and own product direction from concept to execution aligned with brand vision.
• Create design concepts, seasonal presentations and storytelling tools for executive alignment.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gain agreement on direction and execution.
• Mentor junior designers and maintain high creative standards across brands.
• Drive brand narratives and seasonal frameworks that meet business goals.

Skills

Brand strategy

Adobe Creative Suite

Design leadership

Storytelling

Collaboration

Presentation skills

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Design or related field

Tools

NewArc

Viscom

Clo

Microsoft Office

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

Lead Senior Designer, Product Brand & Vision

Issaquah, WA

What's the Short Version?

The Lead Sr Designer, Product Brand & Vision owns product and brand clarity across a portfolio of private label and licensed retail brands. This role is accountable for designing and managing the clear, differentiated product solutions, strategies and seasonal narratives, ensuring consistent brand expression, customer and consumer relevance, and alignment with business goals.

What Will You Be Doing?

• Define and own product direction from inspiration and concept through execution, ensuring design solutions deliver against brand vision, customer and consumer relevance, and commercial goals.
• Create and deliver compelling design concepts, seasonal presentations, and strategic storytelling tools that inspire alignment and drive executive decision-making.
• Collaborate with merchandising and other cross-functional team members to determine and gain agreement on direction and execution throughout the product creation process; establish understanding of the product and process to facilitate buy-in from the team and management.
• Own and drive product-brand clarity across assigned brands, ensuring each maintains a distinct, consistent, and compelling market position.
• Serve as the product brand steward, accountable for translating creative vision into cohesive seasonal product direction that strengthens brand equity and business performance.
• Lead the development of brand-right product narratives, seasonal frameworks, and creative strategies that align consumer needs, market opportunities, and business objectives.
• Design and champion seasonal concepts, material platforms, and product visions across apparel, bags, accessories, and headwear categories.
• Establish and communicate clear creative direction for color, materials, graphics, silhouettes, construction, and product architecture across assigned brands.
• Partner with category designers to guide product creation, influence design decisions, and ensure consistent execution of brand strategy across all product categories.
• Interpret macro trends, consumer behaviors, cultural movements, and competitive insights to proactively shape future product opportunities and brand evolution.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen differentiation, eliminate duplication, and improve cohesion across the brand portfolio.
• Balance creative ambition with market realities, ensuring product concepts are innovative, scalable, and commercially viable.
• Influence cross-functional partners and senior stakeholders to align product vision, development priorities, merchandising strategies, and go-to-market execution.
• Raise the quality and consistency of design output through active review, coaching, and creative oversight of product and brands across the apparel, bags and headwear categories.
• Mentor, develop, and inspire junior and associate designers by providing ongoing feedback, skill development, and career guidance that builds organizational capability.
• Foster a culture of accountability, creative excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the design organization.
• Demonstrate expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and current digital design tools to create highly detailed product illustrations, renderings, technical artwork, and presentation assets that support product development and execution.
• Communicate product vision, design rationale, and strategic recommendations with confidence and influence across all levels of the organization.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
• Comply with all policies and standards.

What Are We Looking For?

• Bachelor's Degree in Design, Apparel Design, Product Design, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years years of progressive design experience across apparel, accessories, bags, headwear, or related categories
• Strong ability to connect brand strategy, consumer insight, and product design.
• Experience with product storytelling, seasonal concept development, and brand differentiation.
• Experience mentoring or providing direction to junior design talent.
• Expert level Adobe suite, Microsoft office, AI and 3D rendering software (NewArc, Viscom, Clo).
• Portfolio demonstrating concept-led design and brand-right execution.
• Strong understanding of color, materials, graphics, silhouettes, and construction.
• Ability to design across multiple brands while maintaining distinct identities.
• Strong communication, presentation, and collaboration skills.

What's Our Offer?

Salary Range: You`ll earn between $120,000 - $160,000 annually, depending on experience.

Bonus: You`ll be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus up to 10% of base salary.

Paid Time Off: You`ll accrue paid time off on a bi-weekly basis based on hours worked up to 112 hours per year to start. Employees also receive 8 paid holidays and 1 paid family day off.

Additional Benefits:

• 401k plan and matches $1 for $1 up to 4% of earnings, matched & vested at every pay cycle
• Life insurance
• Short/long-term disability coverage
• Paid maternity/paternity leave

What Should You Expect?

Hybrid: SanMar's Eastpointe office is located in Issaquah, WA in the Seattle metropolitan area. Employees are required to work in our offices Tuesday through Thursday each week and additional days may be added based on business needs. Our standard working hours are 8:00-5:00 PST. Periodic travel may be required. The employee is regularly required to sit for extended periods while working on a computer and participating in virtual and in-person meetings. Frequent use of hands for keyboarding and standard office equipment is required. Occasional standing, walking, and reaching may be needed to attend meetings or collaborate in an office setting. The role requires the ability to perform close visual work on a computer for extended periods. The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 10–15 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in SanMar-Internal ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.