Design Director Jobs

Skills Required:

• Coaches, provides creative guidance and fosters teamwork
• Creates and fosters interdepartmental relationships
• Must be able to provide input to the packaging team to ensure that final products are merchandised effectively, and key features are communicated to the end user.
• Promotes process improvement
• Should be self-directed, proactive and able to own the full creative development process
• Manages projects and people
• Develops creative standards
• Conducts market research
• Proactive and self-motivated, with a high level of organizational skills
• Should be skilled at working with merchants to discuss the needs of the business and work together to execute on new product development strategies
• Stays abreast of new and emerging technologies
• Highly skilled in illustration and graphic design
• Needs to be an excellent communicator to be able to present trends to both merchants and customers and to be able to “sell” new ideas, concepts and designs.
• Needs to have a strong understanding of the product creation lifecycle

Qualifications:

• Must be able to collaborate with internal teams to proactively manage timelines and coordinate trend and product presentations.
• Bachelor's degree required
• Experience driving the product vision and directing a design team.
• Proficiency in PhotoShop and Illustrator
• Experience with 3D Design Software is a plus
• Knowledge of garment construction and mold processes is a plus
• Extensive experience in product design (both 2D and 3D), fashion design or in a field with related skill sets

Expected Salary Range: min $100,560 mid $125,700

Party City Holdco Inc. (PCHI) is a global leader in the celebrations industry, with its offerings spanning more than 70 countries around the world. PCHI is also the largest vertically integrated designer, manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of party goods in North America.

PCHI team members demonstrate a daily commitment to the company's Brand Purpose: to inspire joy by making it easy for customers to create unforgettable memories.

PCHI operates across multiple businesses within its Retail Division and Consumer Products Division. On the retail side, Party City (partycity.com) is the leading omnichannel retailer in the celebrations category, operating more than 800 company-owned and franchise stores, as well as Halloween City (halloweencity.com) seasonal pop-up stores. The Consumer Products Division includes design and manufacturing entities Amscan, an industry leader in celebration décor, tableware, costumes, and accessories, and Anagram, the global market leader in foil balloons.

PCHI is headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. with additional locations throughout the Americas and Asia.

Job Overview:

The Design Director will drive the product creation process from concept through production, ensuring delivery in line with critical dates, product specifications and profitability goals. The Director will lead a portion of the costume and wearable design team to create innovative products that are priced right.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Takes ownership of all creative aspects of programs from trend research and concept to final sample and category presentation.
• Communicates well with other departments, stays on top of all relevant new product development from other teams and collaborates with department heads and team members to achieve optimal company results.
• The Design Director should be able to think creatively to develop the best products possible. He/she should be able to evaluate the performance of existing products and then think creatively to develop new products that make sense using that information. He/she needs to balance workloads and juggle priorities to achieve goals and deliverables.
• Responsible for researching and identifying trends including, but not limited to, fashion, pop-culture, surface design, color, and fabrication trends and ensures that their team is “in the know.”
• Leads and gives guidance to the costume and wearable creative team and manages the workflow to maintain development schedules. Prioritizes work and resources while balancing short term and long-term goals and deliverables.
• Presents product designs and entire programs that are “shelf ready” due to their understanding of what is commercially viable in the market and their expertise of the needs of the business.
• Responsible for creating and giving presentations on trends and new business initiatives
• Directs the creation of professional visual presentation materials for customers that portray a high level of design quality from our company.
• Works with Product Managers, Retail Merchants and Overseas offices to have an understanding of sales performance, manufacturing capabilities and costing to manage the development of high performing products that are priced right in the marketplace.
• Able to work with licensors, interpret assets and work within the guidelines of brand and character style guides.
• Responsible for the design of fresh and innovative products and product categories to help create a vision for the Costumes & Wearables division
• Demonstrates sound judgment and pro-activity in problem solving.