Design Director

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Design Director

Company: Sea To Summit Pty Ltd

Location: Rivervale, Western Australia, Australia

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design & Development / Operations Management

Date Posted: 2025-11-14

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (Implied 5-10 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Leads and manages a design team, fostering a culture of creativity, accountability, and innovation within the outdoor equipment industry.

• Drives end-to-end product development from concept to market, ensuring design excellence, adherence to product briefs, and alignment with business strategy.

• Manages multiple concurrent design projects, balancing creative output with critical commercial constraints like deadlines and cost targets.

• Acts as a key liaison between design and cross-functional teams (commercial, category, supply chain, marketing) to ensure cohesive product strategy and execution.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Design Director, implying a senior leadership capacity. While the input specifies "Design Director," the operational responsibilities related to managing timelines, costs, and cross-functional alignment are significant, positioning it as a hybrid role bridging creative leadership with operational execution within the GTM process. The "5-10 years" implied experience level supports this.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction, mentorship, and day-to-day management for the product design team, cultivating an environment conducive to innovation and high-quality output.

• Personally lead and deliver on key design projects, setting best practices and templates for the broader design team's processes and deliverables.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and Supply Chain teams to ensure design concepts precisely align with Product Briefs, stay within cost parameters, and meet staged timeline gate approvals.

• Develop, implement, and maintain robust design processes and workflows that minimize errors, manage financial risks, and streamline operations, directly supporting overall business strategy and company objectives.

• Partner with Global Marketing to establish a feedback loop where consumer and market insights are integrated into product design, which in turn informs brand storytelling and market positioning strategies.

• Maintain effective communication and strong working relationships with the Executive Leadership Team and other internal stakeholders, articulating creative vision while demonstrating a clear understanding of commercial realities and business impact.

• Motivate and inspire designers through influence and leadership, ensuring strong team cohesion and a shared commitment to the company's mission and product quality standards.

• Oversee product tooling development, proactively identifying and mitigating risks associated with time and cost overruns throughout the manufacturing setup phase.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a dual focus: leading a creative team and ensuring operational rigor. The mention of "stage-gate process," "product brief alignment," "cost constraints," and "timelines" directly links this role to GTM operations and product lifecycle management. The emphasis on managing conflicting deadlines for multiple seasons concurrently points to a need for sophisticated project and portfolio management skills within the design function.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, or a related creative/technical field is typically expected for a Design Director role.

Experience: A minimum of 5-10 years of progressive experience in consumer goods industrial design, with a significant portion in leadership or management roles, is essential. This should include end-to-end product development lifecycle experience.

Required Skills:

• Leadership & Team Management: Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop a team of designers, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture.

• Industrial Design Expertise: Deep understanding and hands-on experience in consumer goods industrial design, particularly within hard goods (metal, plastics) and soft goods (fabrics).

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Demonstrated success in partnering effectively with commercial, category management, supply chain, marketing, and executive leadership teams.

• Product Development Lifecycle: Comprehensive knowledge of the entire product development process, from concept generation through to manufacturing readiness.

• Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of cost constraints, timeline management, and the ability to balance creative vision with business objectives.

• Process Management: Ability to define, implement, and refine design processes, workflows, and stage-gate systems to ensure efficiency and quality.

• Strategic Thinking: Capacity to understand the broader business strategy and translate it into actionable design initiatives, with the ability to present strategic choices to senior leadership.

• Passion for Outdoors: A genuine personal passion for outdoor activities and adventure, crucial for authentic product design and brand connection.

Preferred Skills:

• Manufacturing Knowledge: In-depth understanding of diverse manufacturing techniques for both hard and soft goods.

• Tooling Oversight: Experience managing product tooling development, including risk assessment and mitigation for time and cost.

• Formal Stage Gate Process Experience: Familiarity and practical application of structured product development stage-gate methodologies.

• Advanced Software Proficiency: High-level competence in industry-standard design and visualization tools such as Autodesk Fusion, Adobe Creative Suite, Keyshot 10, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Essential" qualifications heavily emphasize leadership, commercial understanding, and process management, which are core operational competencies. The "Preferred" skills highlight a need for deep technical and manufacturing knowledge, particularly relevant for an operations-focused product development role. The implied experience level is derived from the title "Director" and the scope of responsibilities.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design Process Documentation: Showcase a clear, structured design process, illustrating how you move from initial concept to final production-ready designs, highlighting problem-solving and iteration.

• Project Leadership Examples: Include case studies demonstrating leadership of complex product development projects from initiation to completion, detailing your role and team's contribution.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Evidence: Provide examples where you successfully integrated design with commercial, engineering, or supply chain teams, showing how collaboration led to successful outcomes.

• Innovation & Problem-Solving: Highlight projects that demonstrate innovative design solutions, particularly those that address specific consumer needs or overcome technical challenges within cost and time constraints.

• Commercial Alignment: Present projects that clearly show an understanding of market needs, cost targets, and timeline pressures, with demonstrable results in product success.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Demonstrate experience in mapping out and optimizing design workflows, including the implementation of stage-gate processes and other project management methodologies.

• System Implementation: Show evidence of implementing or improving design-related systems or tools that enhance team efficiency, collaboration, or output quality.

• Performance Measurement: Examples of how you track and measure design team performance, project adherence to timelines, and the commercial success of designed products.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Design Director role, especially one with significant operational oversight, a portfolio is critical. It's not just about aesthetics but about demonstrating a robust, efficient, and commercially viable design process. The emphasis on stage-gate, cost, and timelines suggests a need to showcase how design integrates seamlessly into the broader GTM operations.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the location (Rivervale, Western Australia), the seniority of the role (Director), and the industry (outdoor equipment), a competitive salary package is expected. Based on industry benchmarks for Design Director roles in Australia, a range of AUD $150,000 - $220,000 per annum is a reasonable estimate. This would be subject to the candidate's specific experience, qualifications, and the company's compensation philosophy.

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary Package: Acknowledged as a key offering.

• Staff Discounts: On Sea to Summit products, highly relevant for outdoor enthusiasts.

• Gear Allowance: Additional support for personal outdoor gear, reinforcing the company's culture.

• Volunteering Day Off: Encourages community engagement and aligns with brand values.

• Continuous Learning and Development: Opportunities for personal and professional growth, crucial for a director-level role.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Support for holistic wellbeing.

• Paid 16 Weeks Parental Leave: Generous family support benefit.

• Hybrid Work Model: Offers flexibility, balancing office collaboration with remote work.

Working Hours: The standard workweek is typically 40 hours, with the hybrid model offering flexibility in how these hours are scheduled and where they are performed, aligning with operational needs and employee wellbeing.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on research for senior design leadership roles in Australia, considering cost of living and industry standards for companies like Sea to Summit. The benefits listed are directly from the job description and are tailored to appeal to individuals in the outdoor industry.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Outdoor Equipment / Adventure Gear. Sea to Summit operates within a competitive global market, known for innovation and high-quality products. This industry demands a deep understanding of user needs in diverse environments, pushing the boundaries of material science and product functionality.

Company Size: Sea to Summit is an expanding global brand with offices in multiple countries (Australia, North America, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, China), indicating a mid-to-large size organization with established international operations. This means processes are likely formalized, but there's still room for agility and impact.

Founded: Established in 1990, Sea to Summit has a long-standing history and established reputation in the outdoor industry, built on innovation and quality. This longevity suggests a stable yet dynamic company culture that values expertise and forward-thinking.

Team Structure:

• The Design team is likely a core part of the Product Development function, comprising multiple designers with varying specializations (e.g., hard goods, soft goods, graphics).

• The Design Director will report into a senior leadership role, likely Head of Product, VP of Product, or potentially directly to the CEO/Managing Director, given the company's size and the strategic importance of design.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The role emphasizes integrating market and consumer insights into product design, suggesting a data-informed approach to creativity.

• Stage-Gate Process: A formal stage-gate process is mentioned, indicating a structured, phased approach to product development, requiring rigorous documentation, review, and sign-off at each stage.

• Agile/Iterative Design: While stage-gate is formal, the need for innovation and concurrent seasonal design implies an iterative process within the defined gates.

Company Website: https://seatosummit.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company description highlights a strong brand identity focused on adventure and innovation. This context is crucial for a Design Director, who must embody and translate this ethos into tangible products while managing the operational realities of a global business. The "expanding global brand" aspect suggests opportunities for growth and influence.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a senior leadership position within the product development function, directly impacting Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy through product innovation. It sits at the intersection of creative direction and operational execution, requiring a blend of design leadership and project/process management expertise. The scope includes managing a team, owning key projects, and influencing business strategy.

Reporting Structure: The Design Director will report to a senior executive (e.g., Head of Product, VP of Product, or Managing Director). They will manage a team of designers, and collaborate extensively with peers in Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and Supply Chain.

Operations Impact: This role's operations impact is significant:

• Product Innovation: Driving the creation of new, market-leading products that directly influence revenue and market share.

• Efficiency & Cost Management: Ensuring designs are manufacturable within cost targets and meet timeline requirements, reducing GTM friction and potential delays.

• Brand Storytelling: Creating products that embody the brand's promise ("your relentless ally in every adventure"), which directly supports marketing and sales efforts.

• Process Improvement: Optimizing the design process to enhance team productivity and product quality.

Growth Opportunities:

• Strategic Leadership: Potential to influence broader product strategy, business direction, and company vision.

• Global Impact: Opportunity to shape product lines for a globally recognized brand, impacting diverse markets.

• Mentorship & Development: Growing leadership skills by nurturing a team of talented designers and potentially expanding the design function.

• Industry Influence: Contributing to the reputation of Sea to Summit as an innovator in the outdoor gear industry.

• Potential Advancement: Opportunities to move into higher executive roles within Product Development or Operations as the company continues its global expansion.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Director" title and responsibilities clearly indicate a strategic role. The growth opportunities are framed around increasing leadership scope, strategic influence, and contributing to the operational success and growth of a global brand.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model. This suggests a balance between in-office collaboration and remote work flexibility. The office in Rivervale, Western Australia, will serve as the primary hub for team meetings, brainstorming sessions, stakeholder interactions, and hands-on design work.

Office Location(s): 5 Eyre Street, Rivervale, Western Australia, 6103, Australia. This location will be the central point for the Design Director and their team, facilitating necessary in-person collaboration.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and emphasis on cross-functional collaboration suggest an office designed to support teamwork, with meeting rooms, potentially open-plan areas for brainstorming, and dedicated spaces for focused design work.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design software (AutoDesk Fusion, Adobe Creative Suite, Keyshot 10), potentially 3D printers or prototyping labs, and standard office technology will be available.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with the design team, as well as with product managers, engineers, marketers, and leadership during in-office days.

Work Schedule: The hybrid work arrangement allows for flexibility. While core working hours might be expected for team collaboration and meetings, there's likely autonomy in structuring the workday to accommodate personal needs and optimize productivity, provided deadlines and project milestones are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature is a key aspect of the work environment, requiring strong self-management and communication skills from the candidate. The emphasis on collaboration within the office days is important for roles involving creative direction and cross-functional alignment.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and interest.

• Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion with the direct manager (e.g., Head of Product) focusing on leadership experience, design philosophy, and operational approach.

• Portfolio Review & Presentation: A critical stage where the candidate presents their portfolio, showcasing design process, leadership examples, and commercial/operational considerations. This will likely involve a design challenge or case study.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and potentially Supply Chain/Operations to assess collaboration skills and strategic alignment.

• Executive Interview: Final discussion with senior leadership (e.g., CEO, MD) to evaluate strategic thinking, cultural fit, and overall leadership potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure for Operations: Organize your portfolio to clearly articulate the process behind your designs, not just the final aesthetics. Highlight your role in managing timelines, costs, and cross-functional input.

• Case Study Focus: Select 3-5 key projects that best demonstrate your leadership, innovation, and ability to deliver commercially viable products. For each, detail the challenge, your approach (including process and collaboration), the solutions, and the measurable outcomes (e.g., market success, cost savings, efficiency gains).

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the impact of your design decisions and leadership. This includes cost savings, time to market improvements, product performance metrics, or sales figures.

• Highlight Process Management: Explicitly discuss how you managed the stage-gate process, integrated feedback, mitigated risks (especially with tooling), and ensured alignment with product briefs and business goals.

• Presentation Clarity: Be prepared to articulate your design strategy, decision-making rationale, and leadership approach concisely and engagingly. Practice your presentation to ensure it flows well and fits within the allotted time.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design Problem-Solving: Be ready for a hypothetical design challenge related to outdoor gear. Focus on your problem-definition process, ideation methods, consideration of constraints (materials, cost, manufacturing), and how you'd involve a team and stakeholders.

• Process Design: You might be asked to outline a process for managing concurrent seasonal product development or improving the handover from design to manufacturing.

• Leadership Scenarios: Prepare for questions about how you handle team conflicts, motivate designers, or manage underperforming team members.

• Strategic Alignment: Be ready to discuss how design decisions connect to broader business objectives, market trends, and brand positioning.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is anticipated to be thorough, with a strong emphasis on the portfolio as a demonstration of operational capability within a design context. The advice focuses on framing design work through an operational lens, highlighting process, collaboration, and business impact.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• 3D CAD Software: Proficiency expected in industry-standard tools like AutoDesk Fusion is explicitly mentioned. Experience with other professional CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, Rhino) would be beneficial.

• 2D Design & Graphics: Strong command of the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) is essential for visual design, rendering, and asset creation.

• Rendering Software: High-level competence in Keyshot 10 (or similar) for realistic product visualizations and presentations.

• Presentation Software: Expertise in Microsoft PowerPoint for developing and delivering compelling presentations to stakeholders.

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the core design function, but an understanding of how CRM data and marketing automation inform product strategy and consumer insights could be a plus. Familiarity with project management tools used for tracking design progress and workflows (e.g., Asana, Jira, Wrike) is highly probable.

📝 Enhancement Note: The listed software tools are critical for a Design Director. Explicitly mentioning them in the description ensures candidates understand the technical requirements. The note about analytics and project management tools acknowledges the operational context of the role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Relentless Ally in Every Adventure: This core promise drives a culture of dedication, resilience, and customer-centricity. Operations professionals are expected to be dependable problem-solvers who support the user's journey.

• Innovation & Design Excellence: A commitment to pushing boundaries and delivering high-quality, thoughtfully engineered products. This translates to a value placed on continuous improvement and creative problem-solving within operational processes.

• Accountability & Deliverability: A strong focus on meeting deadlines, managing costs, and ensuring that projects are successfully brought to market. This means valuing reliability, responsibility, and a results-oriented mindset in operations.

• Collaboration & Teamwork: Fostering a supportive environment where cross-functional teams work seamlessly. Operations values clear communication, shared goals, and mutual respect.

• Passion for the Outdoors: A genuine enthusiasm for the company's mission and products, influencing decision-making and driving a shared purpose.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Operations and design teams must work in lockstep, ensuring that product briefs are met, technical constraints are understood, and market feedback is integrated efficiently.

• Process-Oriented Feedback: A culture where feedback on processes and workflows is welcomed and acted upon to drive continuous improvement. This involves open communication channels between design, product, and manufacturing/supply chain.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the sharing of insights and best practices, particularly regarding materials, manufacturing techniques, and consumer behavior, to benefit both design and operational efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company slogan and stated values provide a strong foundation for understanding the desired culture. For an operations-focused role, the emphasis is on how these values translate into practical application: reliability, efficiency, problem-solving, and a commitment to delivering quality products that enable adventure.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Innovation with Constraints: The primary challenge will be to continuously drive innovation and design excellence while rigorously adhering to strict timelines, cost targets, and manufacturing realities.

• Managing Concurrent Projects: Overseeing multiple product development cycles across different seasons simultaneously requires exceptional organizational skills, prioritization, and risk management.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent communication and buy-in from diverse departments (marketing, sales, engineering, supply chain) with potentially competing priorities.

• Global Market Demands: Designing products that appeal to a diverse global customer base with varying needs and preferences.

• Tooling & Manufacturing Risks: Proactively identifying and mitigating potential delays or cost overruns in tooling and manufacturing processes.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Strategic Product Development: Deepening understanding of global product strategy, market positioning, and the end-to-end GTM process.

• Leadership Expansion: Developing advanced leadership and team-building skills within a growing international organization.

• Industry & Technical Expertise: Expanding knowledge of advanced materials, manufacturing processes, and emerging technologies relevant to outdoor equipment.

• Business Acumen: Gaining broader exposure to business operations, financial management, and strategic decision-making at an executive level.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to be mentored by senior leadership and to mentor emerging talent within the design team.

📝 Enhancement Note: These challenges are inherent to senior product development roles with operational responsibilities. The growth opportunities are framed to appeal to ambitious professionals seeking to expand their strategic influence and leadership capabilities.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to managing multiple concurrent product development cycles with conflicting deadlines. How do you prioritize and ensure quality across all projects?" (Focus on your process, project management tools, and stakeholder communication strategies.)

• "How do you balance creative freedom and innovation with strict commercial constraints like cost targets and time-to-market? Provide an example." (Highlight your understanding of the business implications of design decisions.)

• "Walk us through a time you had to collaborate with supply chain or manufacturing teams to overcome a design or tooling challenge. What was your role, and what was the outcome?" (Demonstrate your cross-functional operational collaboration and problem-solving skills.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Sea to Summit's brand and mission, and how do you see your design leadership contributing to our 'relentless ally' promise?" (Connect your passion for the outdoors and your leadership style to the company's ethos.)

• "Describe your leadership style within a creative team. How do you foster creativity while maintaining accountability and driving towards business objectives?" (Focus on mentorship, empowerment, and results.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: For each project, tell a story: the problem, your strategic approach, the collaborative process, the solution, and the impact.

• Visuals with Context: Use high-quality visuals (sketches, renders, prototypes, final products) but ensure they are always accompanied by explanations of the why and how – the process, the decisions, and the challenges overcome.

• Operational Emphasis: Clearly articulate your role in managing the project lifecycle, including timelines, budgets, stakeholder inputs, and risk mitigation, especially concerning manufacturing and tooling.

• Data & Metrics: Be ready to present any available data on product performance, cost savings, or efficiency improvements directly attributable to your design work or team's efforts.

• Conciseness: Respect the time allocated. Practice to deliver a compelling overview without getting lost in excessive detail. Be prepared for Q&A.

📝 Enhancement Note: These questions are designed to probe the intersection of creative leadership and operational execution. The advice focuses on framing responses and portfolio presentations to highlight process, collaboration, and business impact, aligning with the operational demands of the role.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-centric design leadership position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on SmartRecruiters.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight projects demonstrating strong leadership, commercial understanding, process management (especially stage-gate), and cross-functional collaboration. Focus on case studies that showcase how you delivered innovative products within operational constraints (time, cost).

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your experience in product development leadership, industrial design, team management, and process improvement. Use keywords from the job description such as "Design Director," "Product Development," "Cross-Functional Collaboration," "Stage Gate Process," and specific software proficiency.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, leadership philosophy, and operational approach. Prepare specific examples for behavioral questions related to managing teams, stakeholders, and complex projects. Rehearse your portfolio presentation to be clear, concise, and impactful.

• Company Research: Deeply understand Sea to Summit's brand, products, and values. Consider how your passion for the outdoors aligns with the company culture and how your operational expertise can contribute to their mission of being "your relentless ally in every adventure." Research their recent product launches and market positioning.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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