Industrial Design/ Advanced Concepts Manager

Position Responsibilities

The Advanced Concepts Manager will be based in Chicago, Illinois, and will have responsibility for developing new product concepts to strengthen the existing product portfolio.  The selected candidate will work closely with the Vice President of Product Development to build a team of creative individuals to work on projects that will position the company for continued growth via new product concepts.  He or she will investigate new materials, technologies, manufacturing methods for possible application to customers products.  The Advanced Concepts Manager will evaluate consumer research to identify consumer insights for new product concepts.  He or she will brainstorm new product concepts and lead the early development of new and innovative products.  The Advanced Concepts Manager will build mock-ups and prototypes to evaluate the engineering feasibility of new product concepts and create solutions to insure a working model stage.  In addition, he or she will need to effectively communicate design intent and project details to domestic vendors and overseas engineering staff for preliminary costing evaluation.  The Advance Concepts Manager will be required to travel to China on occasion.

 

 

Experience and Background

 

The ideal candidate will have will have a minimum of 5 years of designing consumer products, preferably within a toy, sporting goods, house wares, or related consumer products manufacturing company.  A Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering or Industrial Design is required.  The selected candidate will have strong Computer-Aided Design (CAD) skills and knowledge of a variety of rapid prototyping technologies.  This position is ideally suited to a team player with an entrepreneurial spirit and outstanding communication skills.  He or she must have proven ability to balance multiple priorities, and work towards big picture objective with special attention to detail. He or she must have a high level of enthusiasm and energy, and be able to solve problems in a team environment.