Industrial Product Designer

Role Description

Furls, a DTC ecommerce company in the fiberarts industry, seeks an ambitious product designer with strong talent in conceptualizing, drawing, designing, and rendering physical products. 

As our first full-time hire in Furls’ product development department, you will lead and own the projects you work on everyday. Your responsibility will be to ideate and design new products for Furls, assist our operations department in sourcing those products, and assist our revenue department in launching those products. 

Candidates must be very strong at concepting, drafting, and 3D modeling - these are the primary skills required for this role. While experience with market analysis, manufacturing knowledge, technical drawings, and sourcing gives candidates an advantage, it is not required. 

An example of success in the first year of this role looks like: 3-5 new products you designed selling on our website and 3-5 new products you designed moving through our pipeline.
Ownership

In this role, your ideas really matter. Everyday, you will lead the design and development of the products we launch. You will get to engage with excited and fanatic customers and design what they want to see. You will not be isolated from the customer and you will not be stuck working on boring, disintegrated product features. You will see the results of the product you developed in the business.

This role is the first product development department hire and you will work directly with the founder and C-Suite. There is immediate opportunity for department leadership and role growth.

Location

This role has a flexible work location requirement. Our expectation is an average of 3 in-office days per week. This may vary from time to time depending on where we are in the product development cycle, but we expect that you will be in Austin, TX for the majority of the year. You will be expected to travel internationally to visit our factories at least once a year (approximately 10 traveling days).

Skills

Our current product development stack is pen and paper, Fusion360, Illustrator, Blender, and Photoshop - experience with these or industry equivalents is expected. The core requirement of this role is conceptualizing, drafting, and 3D modeling. 

The ideal candidate is immensely creative, results oriented, loves beautiful products, and is a lifelong learner. Experience in craft is a plus; experience in ergonomics is a plus; experience with DTC or ecommerce is a plus; experience in technical drawings is a plus. 

Compensation

Base salary will depend on experience and skill level. Bonuses will depend on performance and product sales. Full compensation breakdown below. We are open to covering part or all of your relocation expenses. Opportunities to increase compensation quickly are available and are directly connected to the results you bring to Furls and leadership potential.  
 

Product Scope

The main product scope of this role is crochet hooks, knitting needles, and other small hard goods. The secondary product scope of this role includes packaging, jewelry, handbags, and small boxes and notions. Scale varies by product, but most products are 20x20x200mm (0.75x0.75x6”) with some larger accessories above 300x300x600mm (12x12x24”). Materials include cast jewelry metal, CNC machined metals, wood, resin, injection molded plastics, and leather.

Because of the breadth of Furls’ product scope, we will consider applicants from a diverse range of design backgrounds and not just ID or PD. 

About Furls Crochet

For 14 years, Furls has been selling the best crochet hooks and knitting needles on earth to happy crafters in over 100 countries. Our signature crochet hooks promise an unparalleled degree of comfort, stitch quality, and beauty to our customers. 

We’re a small, energetic, and creative team of 16 based in Austin, Texas. This role is our first product development department hire. You will work directly with the founder and CEO, Harrison Richards, and you will own and lead the future of our product pipeline. 

Learn more about Furls and our products at furlscrochet.com and instagram.com/furlscrochet. 

What Makes This Role Different

Your ideas matter here. Make a difference immediately to a tight-knit team. Learn production. Come visit our factories in year one. See how your product impacts the business. Own the whole process. Meet our customers - design what they love!

Who This Role Is For

Designers who value beauty.

Designers who are excited to learn.

Designers who want ownership of the process.

Designers who care about who they are designing for.

Application & Interviews

First round interviews: Remote

• 30 minute conversation
• Please provide portfolio ahead of time

Remote Sample Project

• Product design sample project
• Compensated

Final interviews: In-Person

• Interview in Austin, Texas (60 minutes)
• Compensated collaborative project (90-120 minutes)
  • Cowork with Harrison Richards in Austin, TX on a product design sample project
• Come meet the team and see our facility
• Travel provided by Furls

Hiring Timeline:

While we’d like to hire and onboard for this role as soon as possible, we’ll take the time needed to find and select the right candidate. We expect to hire in Q2 or Q3. 

Compensation Structure

• Base Salary: $65,000-85,000 (depending on experience and skill)
• Performance Bonus: up to $5,000 (performance based)
• Product Royalty Bonus: up to $15,000 (product sales based) 
• Relocation reimbursement: negotiable

Portfolio Expectations

• Rough product sketches all the way through to polished final renders; let us see your whole thought process
• Photos of physical products, sketchbook or digital drawings, and CAD / 3D renderings
• More than one aesthetic / style
• The work you are most proud of
• Show us work that didn't ship but taught you something