ABOUT US
Peak Design makes radical, meticulously-engineered gear for detail-obsessed people. Our backpacks, travel bags, camera gear, and phone accessories are used dang-near everywhere. If you’ve visited Machu Picchu, Tokyo, or an REI store in the last 10 years, you’ve been within ogling distance of a Peak Design product.
Alongside our award-winning gear is a brand that truly reflects who we are as people-passionate about design, deeply caring about our environmental and social impact, unafraid to speak up, radically transparent, and generally down to clown. Whether we’re explaining a product, running a sale, launching a nonprofit, sponsoring a film, or razzing the biggest company on Earth, we do it with our trademark honesty, warmth, and wit. Through our products and our brand, we aim to create delight, and leave this world better than how we found it.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are hiring a Senior Industrial Designer to support the Tripod, Mobile, Travel, and Camera Accessories product teams (collectively known as Hard Goods), focusing on design ideation, concept generation, styling refinement, and visualization of new products launching in the future as we grow our product catalog and expand into new product verticals.
The person we hire is considered an internal floating resource that consults and collaborates closely with design engineers across all teams. They are the project owners responsible for getting products to mass production, and you will provide ongoing design support throughout the whole project. A sample of your responsibilities might include:
• Conceptualize, develop, and refine new, forward-thinking, and brand-centric products with a shared design language across different product lines.
• Create original design concepts and solutions through sketching, 3D modeling, rendering, and rapid prototyping.
• Define color, material, and finish specifications for new product concepts, and coordinate with contract manufacturers to create sample parts and prototypes with desired CMF and design intent.
• Conduct product maintenance: design scrubbing, redesigning, optimizing, or refreshing existing products.
• Actively contribute to team brainstorms, design reviews, and project progress meetings
ABOUT YOU
The following list represents a range of traits and experience that would help make you highly effective and impactful in this role:
• You are a visual communication expert, capable of visually capturing and synthesizing your ideas as well as those of other team members:
• Proficient at 2D sketching and rendering, both analog and digital.
• Expert in surface modeling on any major 3D CAD system (We use Fusion 360 and Onshape).
• Efficient with product visualization and rendering (Keyshot preferred).
• Adept in rapid prototyping techniques: 3D printing, making mock-ups and looks-like models.
• You champion design intent, skillfully create compelling presentations to showcase your design decisions, and can communicate these to technical and non-technical audiences.
• You thrive in managing multiple design projects simultaneously, and can handle deliverables at different levels of fidelity and type of execution depending on each project’s timeline and team needs.
• Strong organizational skills for both physical and digital assets ( We use Google Docs and Adobe Creative Cloud for file creation and management; and keep a library of physical material and finish samples in our headquarters).
• The ones below might be more Peak Design specific, but having these would set you apart from the rest of the candidate pool:
• Strong mechanical aptitude. You have worked extensively with moving parts and mechanisms.
• Familiarity with basic materials properties of aluminum alloys, steels, plastics, elastomers.
• Familiarity with these manufacturing processes: CNC milling, die casting, injection molding, stamping, extrusion, and assembly.
• Familiarity with various surface finishes: anodization, powder coating, painting, plating.
• Familiarity with phase-gates manufacturing system (Proto, EVT, DVT, PVT, Mass Production).
REQUIREMENTS
- Undergraduate or graduate degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, or comparable degree or experience.
- 4+ years of post-grad work experience doing some form of Industrial Design ideally in consumer products.
- A portfolio showcasing your best work. Focus on 3-4 big projects instead of 10 small ones. Team projects are ok, please be clear about what pieces of the work you owned.
- You have shipped at least 2 consumer products to market that carry your design intent and a differentiated design language.
- You’re able to travel to China or other parts of Asia to visit our suppliers at least once per year.
- You’re local to the San Francisco Bay Area or are willing to relocate for this role.
- You’re willing to work from our office/workshop in the Dogpatch neighborhood a minimum of 2-3 days per week (i.e. this is not a remote role, though we do maintain flexibility).
- You possess hustle, humility, and a technical growth mindset. You want to grow tremendously as a designer by helping to design & ship many products. You lean into technical challenges, and go deep on topics to build specific and applicable knowledge. You want to learn more than you want to be right.
- You use and care a lot about gear (photography, outdoor, or other areas). You are passionate about the physical products that you use in your life and enjoy debating what makes these products great.
- You have experience and willingness to design and collaborate in virtual spaces using VR/AR/MR tools.
- You have some familiarity with soft goods and textiles. You know your way around a sewing machine and can make simple sewn prototypes.
Not required, but always valued
$130,000 – $170,000 a year
COMPENSATION
Final compensation offers may vary from the range listed above. We consider the skills and experience you bring, market data for your role, level, and location, and internal equitability across these areas as defined by our compensation framework.
INTERVIEW PROCESS
Here’s what you can expect:
– Written application, including a short answer technical screen – online.
– Technical screen – phone – 30 min.
– Take home assignment, followed by a review presentation and interview – Zoom – 60 min.
– Final round interviews – Zoom or in person – 120+ min.
We intend to kickoff the interview process in mid-late October.
WHAT WE OFFER
– 100% covered employee premiums for medical, dental, and vision insurance
– Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options
– Life/AD&D, long-term disability, and short-term disability coverage
– Generous mental health and fertility health reimbursement options
– 401(k) plan with employer matching
– Unlimited PTO policy, 12 paid company holidays, and flexible work schedules
– 100% paid parental leave
– Peak Design product and exclusive industry discounts
– Monthly cell phone reimbursement
– Pre-tax commuter benefits
– Annual career development stipend
– Charitable donation program with employer matching
– Quarterly onsite or offsite collaboration weeks with the whole Peak Design team
WHY US?
Thanks to the folks at Outside Magazine, we can tell you that Peak Design is an objectively great place to work. Why? We provide opportunities to go deep in your craft, work both autonomously and collaboratively, drive your professional growth, and recharge with flexible Fridays and unlimited paid time off — the saucy list of perks and benefits goes on. So, how do we maintain this exquisite way of working while also pulling off an exceptionally thoughtful brand and product line? A close-knit culture that values transparency, community, trust, and questioning the status quo.
Many employees find the way we run our business to be radically different from what they’ve experienced elsewhere. You might call it the opposite of micromanagement: employees are often expected to set their own priorities and roadmaps for their areas of the business. Who thrives here? Self-starters. Question-askers. People who make their own to-do lists. Folks who can do a little bit of everything. People who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty with nitty-gritty details in order to see a vision through.
If you prefer to work in a more traditional corporate environment, Peak Design might not be the place for you. But if you’re pickin’ up what we’re putting down, we look forward to hearing from you!
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION & BELONGING
At Peak Design we believe a diverse team is an innovative team and something worth celebrating. A range of perspectives and backgrounds creates a stronger and more creative work environment (not to mention more fun). We’re committed to equality and inclusivity across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experience.
Some candidates may see a long list of job requirements and feel discouraged because they don’t match every single bullet point – we strongly encourage you to apply anyway! If what we do resonates with you, and you feel excited and able to contribute, we’re equally stoked for the opportunity to engage with you.
ACCOMODATIONS
Peak Design provides reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in the job application and interview process (including if you have any difficulty using our online system). If you need such an accommodation, please complete the application form below.