Senior Designer, Polo Women’s Footwear

Position Overview

The Senior Designer will work with Senior Creative Director for Polo Women to build a footwear line that is reflective of the creative vision of Ralph Lauren while pushing the aesthetic in a fresh and current direction. The candidate must be a positive team player who will collaborate with talented designers and cross-functional partners in the business.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Execute presentation quality sketches for footwear concepts and approved designs, hardware, and details.
• Research the market regularly for innovative & creative ideas, product awareness, and pricing in order to produce a creative and competitive product that will help grow the business.
• Responsible for tracking current and relevant shape & material trends via media, internet & shopping
• Work with Senior Brand Creative Director to initiate interesting and original seasonal concepts through tear sheets, material swatches, vintage or contemporary references and new sketches.
• Lead and oversee the development of design concept boards, pulling materials, trend analysis & the creation of presentation boards.
• Oversee product from concept right up to production and communicate any changes to the appropriate cross-functional partners
• Lead and execute design packages, full-scale specs and complete tech packs including all technical and materialization information needed for factories to produce the product.
• Able to render CADS in both Illustrator & Photoshop
• Able to present ideas & sketches digitally via Power Point & PDF decks.
• Lead in the conceptualization, design and fully spec new hardware development.
• Attending prototype reviews & fittings to ensure the continuity of designs.
• Lead communications to vendors and factories throughout all phases of product development.
• Lead and oversee updates to product changes throughout the season, i.e. color changes, quality changes and detail changes that might influence price, quantity & delivery.
• Partner with Merchandising and Product Development in all aspects of development from prototypes to market samples.
• Working within seasonal deadlines and design calendar milestones.
• Lead seasonal design meetings with Senior Leadership
• Maintain and organize the reference library and ensuring all records are stored properly.
• Create seasonal CADs for both internal and external design meetings.
• Lead & comment on all seasonal color lab dibs, materials and review seasonal masters.
• Assist in market research, trend analysis, sketching designs, CADS and building comprehensive full scale specs/mock ups.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

• Past experience as a Footwear Designer.
• Knowledgeable about current luxury market trends
• Strong knowledge of footwear construction
• Strong Technical Skills-AI, Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, Hand sketching, construction knowledge
• Ability to create full scale technical specs utilizing CAD, hand sketching, and make physical mock ups
• Proficient in sketching and illustrating.
• Skills to multitask and manage competing calendar deadlines
• Ability to set a creative tone and to inspire ideas/new concepts
• Ability to conceptually visualize and build a line
• Experience communicating the development with factories

Ralph Lauren will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of the law, including any applicable fair chance laws.