Industrial Design Director
Company: Northern Tool + Equipment
Location: Burnsville
Posted on: May 4, 2022
Job Description:
Are you an experienced, design leader who enjoys rolling up your
sleeves and making a significant impact for the company you work
for and the people you touch with your solutions? Northern Tool +
Equipment is looking for an Industrial Design Director to join our
growing development team and lead our design future from the ground
up. We're looking for a "player / coach" that is adept at creating
designs themselves but also has the experience and vision to
strategically build the design function over time. If this sounds
like you, see the qualifications below and send us your resume and
portfolio today!PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF POSITION:To develop innovative
new product solutions that resonate with future and existing
customers in regard to product appearance, features, and ease of
use. The resulting goal is to deliver a superior customer
experience and build brand equity through the creation and
management of a Visual Brand Language (VBL) for NTE brands. Through
strategic partnership with product management and cross-functional
engineering, the Industrial Design Director will be instrumental in
developing design process methodology and delivering product
solutions which fulfill customer needs, manufacturing and
engineering requirements, and are on-time and on-budget.MAJOR AREAS
OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
- Cultivates innovation by leveraging market, trend, and user
research to creatively solve customer needs, define visual
direction, and create key product attributes across NTE's product
lines.
- Creates, documents, and maintains NTE's Visual Brand Language
and insures adherence to this methodology for both internal and
external development.
- Responsible for successful leadership and hands-on execution of
all industrial design deliverables for new product development.
This includes sketches, renderings, CAD models, and prototypes,
where applicable.
- Collaborates with other new product development teams to create
feasible solutions that meet both customer and brand aspirations as
well as cost, development schedule, and manufacturing
objectives.
- Defines the look and feel of key product interfaces (UI) to
best serve the needs of target users.
- Partners with product management and advanced product
development teams to create innovative product solutions that will
result in increased market share, revenue, and potential
intellectual property.
- Leverages industry best practices to user-test innovation
concepts for customer acceptance and commercial viability.
- Responsible for industrial design visualizations to communicate
key design intent and features to NTE leadership, vendors, and
customers. This could include sketches, renderings, CAD models, VR
simulations and physical prototypes where appropriate.
- Provides strategic input and participates in the customer
research process to glean new insights to meet articulated and
non-articulated customer needs.
- Employs published ergonomic data to improve user intuitiveness
and ease-of-use of all product user interfaces.
- Responsible for external design partner selection and
management. Creates scope of work documentation, evaluates proposal
methodology, and ensures schedule adherence and deliverable quality
for NTE.
- Manages internal industrial design resources. Responsible for
ensuring the quality of work and adherence to project
schedules.
- Responsible for the future recruitment and development of ID
team members.
- Manages ID cost center budget. Participates in annual budget
planning process and ensures departmental financial goals and
objectives are met.
- Selects and curate's innovative software and tools to best
collaborate with internal and external colleagues, expediently
share ideas, and enhance creative productivity.
- Keeps supervisor informed of important developments, potential
problems, and related information necessary for effective
management. Coordinates and communicates plans and activities with
others, as appropriate, to ensure a coordinated work effort and
team approach.
- Performs related work as apparent or assigned.QUALIFICATIONS:To
perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to
perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed
below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability
required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable
individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- BS or BFA in Industrial Design from an accredited four-year
college or university
- At least 10 years of design experience - preferably in tools,
hardware, or agricultural products
- A minimum of 3 years of supervisory experience
- Design portfolio must be included with resume for
consideration
- Relentless creative mindset that strives for continuous,
incremental and break-through improvement through a persistent
attitude of "How might we?..."
- Demonstrated strategic thinker who has developed and documented
successful design processes and strategies
- Demonstrated proficiency in communicating industrial design
strategy and proposals to all levels of the organization
- Ability to provide stimulating creative leadership to internal
and external ID teams
- Demonstrated excellence in design skills such as sketching,
rendering, modeling, CAD, and VR technology tools
- Demonstrated, excellent interpersonal skills, including written
and verbal communication
- Demonstrated thorough understanding of customer research and a
direct correlation to successfully commercialized solutions
- Ability to give and take constructive criticism and
critique
- Demonstrated success in partnering with cross-functional
development teams to see concepts through to production
success
- Demonstrated, thorough understanding of a wide variety of
manufacturing materials and processes
- Demonstrated thorough understanding of engineering principles
and design constraints
- Mastery of PC applications for design, drawing and
communication
- Demonstrated mastery of strategically managing multiple
projects simultaneously
- Demonstrates Northern Tool + Equipment's 12 Core Competencies
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:The physical demands described here are
representative of those that must be met by an employee to
successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Frequently required to sit, use hands to handle objects and
talk or hear.
- Frequent wrist and/or hand movement is required.
- Occasionally required to stand, walk and reach with hands and
arms.
- Must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.
- Specific vision abilities required include close vision,
distant vision and the ability to adjust focus.
- May require minimal travel of less than 10%
At Northern Tool & Equipment We Offer:
- A fast-growing nationwide brand - over 121 locations in 22
states.
- Competitive wages plus commission.
- Clean and organized work environment.
- Supplied tools and uniforms.
- A defined training program to support your success.
- Competitive benefits package: health, retirement, employee
assistance and more!
- Generous employee discount at all of the Kotula family of
companies - Northern Tool & Equipment, Tractorseats.com, Great
Northern Equipment.
Keywords: Northern Tool + Equipment, Burnsville , Industrial Design Director, Executive , Burnsville, Minnesota
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