Sr Industrial Designer at
Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation

Senior Industrial Designer is a position held by a designer who has gained a minimum of 6 years professional design experience. Main duties center around product development activities such as exploring form, operation, aesthetics, and interactions between the user and the product or system. The assigned work is of moderate to high complexity. The Senior Industrial Designer will primarily work independently, but will also support Lead, Principal, or Manager initiatives. The Senior Industrial Designer will develop a specialist role focusing on an advanced function of industrial design. The Senior Industrial Designer will report to a Lead Industrial Designer or ID Manager.

The Senior Industrial Designer will:
Lead concept generation through ideation, competitive assessments, and identification of unmet user needs. Develop designs through paper and digital sketching, technical drawings, renderings, 2D illustrations and 3D CAD, and by hand-built mock-ups and models. Communicate the design intent through visual storytelling to gain acceptance by the project team.
Be well-attuned to manufacturing and cost parameters. Quickly develop an understanding of the Milwaukee visual brand language (VBL) and maintain compliance to VBL guidelines. Leverage knowledge of construction, mechanisms, manufacturing processes, and CMF to develop new products in cooperation with other business functions.
Evaluate and apply fundamentals of ergonomics and usability to the product solution.
Participate in internal research downloads, review of research reports, and hands-on activities related to projects. Regularly participate in observational job site visits to gain understanding of user requirements. Collaborate with Design Research and Product Management teams to analyze and shape observations into valuable insights.
Facilitate brainstorming and concept generation events to establish opportunities to explore and develop. Drive project initiatives that position the industrial design team as thought leaders. Analyze research and gathered data to build strategic opportunities for the business.
Drive collaboration with cross-functional teams, primarily marketing and engineering, to deliver designs based on established criteria. This will include attendance of weekly meetings, teleconferences, and leading design reviews with process partners and design peers.
Create the documentation necessary to convey the design solution to management or cross-functional partners through renderings, models, mechanical drawings, and written reports. Present designs within our phase gate development process to marketing and engineering leadership for their approval.
Continually monitor design trends involving form, materials, technology, etc. Attend professional tradeshows and design focused events as a means of continuing learning.
Directly oversee the project work of entry-level and mid-level designers. Provide mentorship to pass on best practices, learned experiences, and organizational navigation. Assist higher-level designers on more complex projects as a means of gaining experience. Delegate reasonable tasks that align with the designer’s professional development. Set example of leadership through trade best-practices and professional aptitude.
Work on several projects concurrently. Quickly respond to accelerated changes in project directions. Demonstrate stability and maintain focus during dynamic points of the project.
Monitor projects through pre-production stages to ensure detailing and design intent is intact. Review, document, and communicate craftsmanship assessments, design intent, and detailing of pre-production builds.