Director of Design

About the role

The Director of Design will lead the complete design organization and shape commercially strong, forward-looking product concepts across travel, luggage, and soft goods. This position blends creative direction with operational discipline, strategic thinking, and commercial awareness so that design decisions support company goals, market demand, and financial outcomes. Consumer insights, market trends, and competitor analysis will all be used to guide the product vision and support category expansion. This role reports to the VP of Product Development and Design.

Design leadership and product strategy

• Set the direction for market-ready product concepts using trend research, forecasting resources, and competitive review, while keeping brand positioning and business objectives in view.
• Shape seasonal and core assortments with emphasis on innovation, practicality, cost control, and scalability.
• Use a product-focused business mindset to spot opportunities and potential risks through sales patterns, market intelligence, and competitive comparisons.
• Work closely with Merchandising, Product Development, and Marketing to build aligned product strategies and support successful launches.
• Help the team turn insights into actionable product guidance, not just conceptual ideas.

Category expertise: cut-and-sew and luggage

• Bring strong knowledge of cut-and-sew construction, luggage, and travel products to guide high-quality product development.
• Oversee design decisions involving materials, construction methods, hardware, and finishing, with attention to performance and durability.
• Collaborate with factories and suppliers to protect product quality, improve feasibility, and encourage innovation.

Team leadership and development

• Lead and grow the full design team, including designers and technical design support.
• Create a collaborative, accountable, and high-performance team culture centered on innovation and continuous improvement.
• Provide clear direction, coaching, and performance feedback to strengthen both creative and technical skills across the team.

Operations and administration

• Own the design function’s day-to-day operations, including budget planning and monitoring, resource allocation, prioritization, and workflow management.
• Lead relationships with outside partners, vendors, and suppliers, including negotiation and ongoing communication.
• Manage contractor and freelance support to ensure quality, efficiency, and business alignment.
• Identify process bottlenecks and build scalable ways of working that improve team productivity.

Execution and quality

• Ensure products meet design standards, cost goals, quality requirements, and timeline expectations from concept through commercialization.
• Resolve development and production issues with a practical, solutions-oriented approach.
• Maintain adherence to originality expectations and brand design standards.

Experience and qualifications

The ideal candidate brings 8+ years of experience in Product Design or Industrial Design within cut-and-sew, bags, or luggage categories, along with a track record of leading and scaling design teams that include technical design functions. Experience managing at least three direct reports is required. The role also calls for strong financial and business judgment, budget ownership, outside partner management, and supplier/contractor coordination. Candidates should understand materials, construction, pattern making, and product engineering for soft goods, and have direct experience working with factories and global supply chains. Strong trend analysis, forecasting, and competitive benchmarking capabilities are important, as are leadership, communication, collaboration, organization, and prioritization skills. Advanced ability in Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office is needed. Fashion design education is a plus, and graphic design or rendering skills are also advantageous.

Compensation

The annual base salary for this role is between $170,000 and $180,000, depending on experience and qualifications.

Additional information

Beach House Group describes itself as a disruptive innovator in the beauty and lifestyle space, operating as a brand incubator that develops thoughtful products and bold strategies based on consumer needs. Its capabilities include brand and product development, design, licensing, and procurement services, with an ongoing focus on identifying unmet market opportunities.

The company notes that job duties may be changed or expanded at any time during employment, whether communicated verbally or in writing, and employees may be asked to perform tasks outside their usual role.

Beach House Group is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Join the team and help build the next version of BÉIS.