Sales and Design Consultant (full-time)

Ernesta Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 27,552 - 41,328; Full time

Job summary

Ernesta is seeking an experienced full-time Sales and Design Consultant (Design Assistant) for our new showroom in the Southport Corridor. You will educate customers on rug selection, materials, and spatial planning while acting as a customer champion handling inquiries and order-related matters.

You will wear two hats—design advisor and customer advocate—delighting clients across multiple channels and helping visualize spaces with CAD/3D tools. Weekend/holiday availability is required.

Qualifications

• 2+ years in a consumer-facing role with direct sales or account management experience.
• Passion for interior design and home décor; keeps up with trends.
• Excellent communication, listening, empathy, and problem-solving abilities.

Responsibilities

• Set the industry standard for customer experience and sales.
• Drive sales through follow-up and outreach to customers.
• Provide design expertise and product knowledge to customers.
• Maintain an organized, on-brand showroom and delightful customer touchpoints.
• Assist with inquiries, order tracking, delivery logistics, and related issues.
• Learn and apply CAD, Adobe, and 3D rendering tools to help customers visualize spaces.

Skills

Customer facing

Communication skills

Time management

Design passion

Tech savvy

Education

BA in interior design or related field

Tools

CAD

Adobe

3D rendering

Zoom

Google Workspace

Job description

About Ernesta

Ernesta is on a mission to bring gorgeous, design-focused custom rugs to homes and places of gathering through an enjoyable, frictionless, and affordable experience. At the same price as a store-bought standard-sized rug, a custom‑cut rug from Ernesta will not only be a better fit, but also a better buying experience. We believe that high‑quality custom design shouldn't be out of reach for consumers and aim to address this need in the multi‑billion dollar global rug industry.

Driven by our collective mission, our team is hungry, hardworking, and highly ambitious. We’re problem solvers, innovators, design enthusiasts, and executors. We are relentlessly focused on creating and delivering beautiful and delightfully simple solutions and experiences for our customers. Together, we are excited and humbled by the opportunity to expand the market for custom rugs and allow more people to live in elevated design settings. Put simply, we believe more soft surfaces mean happier homes.

About the Role

Ernesta is looking for an experienced full‑time Sales and Design Consultant (a Design Assistant) to join the Retail team in our soon to be opened showroom located in the Southport Corridor. This key hire will help build an enjoyable, frictionless, and industry‑defining rug‑buying experience. As a Design Assistant you will wear two hats: first, educating and advising customers on rug selection, material selection, and spatial planning; second, acting as a customer champion – delighting customers and assisting with inquiries, concerns, and matters related to orders, delivery, and more.

What You’ll Do

• Set the industry standard for customer experience and sales
• Drive sales through customer follow‑up and outreach
• Deliver exceptional design and product expertise to customers
• Maintain a clean, organized, and on‑brand showroom that delights customers at every touchpoint
• Provide customers a high quality and personalized experience through multiple channels – in person, chat, text, email, video, phone
• Advise customers on floor plan layout, material selection, and custom rug measurements
• Provide a fantastic experience to our customers by responding to inquiries and resolving order‑related matters such as order tracking, product inquiries, delivery logistics, and more
• Surprise and delight customers – exceed their expectations and create memorable experiences
• Learn innovative technologies to help customers visualize their space (CAD modeling, Adobe, 3D rendering, etc.)
• Maintain feedback loops to improve internal processes

Qualifications Include

• 2+ years of experience in a consumer‑facing role, with 2+ years of direct consumer sales and/or account management experience
• Passionate about interior design and home décor, staying up to date on home décor trends
• Delights in communicating and building trust with customers, self‑motivated, curious, empathetic, and great at listening
• Solutions oriented with sound judgment, business sense, and high integrity; willing to provide creative solutions and wear many hats
• High level of proficiency working online across multiple software tools, 2D/3D tools, Zoom, Google Workspace, etc.
• Excellent time management and organizational skills with a high level of accountability
• Ability to establish and improve processes; excited to build feedback loops within the organization and across business units
• This role is located in our Retail Showroom and will require a flexible schedule, including weekend and holiday hours

Nice to Have

• Experience with design tools and spatial planning
• BA or experience working in a creative field (interior design, art history, architecture, etc.)

Ernesta is committed to inclusion. We are an equal‑opportunity employer and do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

The anticipated starting base pay for this role is between $20 - $30 per hour. This range represents the low and high end of the anticipated pay range for this role. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as experience, education, and skills.