Description You can make a salary. Or you can make a difference. Or you can work as a CMF Design Director at Herman Miller and make both.
About this Opportunity
As a CMF Design Director, you'll serve as design leader to help conceptualize, develop, and implement corporate Color, Materials, and Finishes (CMF) solutions and strategies in alignment with brand and global product positioning. You will lead creative design directionality and outcome for new materials and improvement to existing material selections and palettes, in partnership with the Materials Category and Commercialization Teams. You will work with business leaders across Herman Miller Group to ensure the CMF creative strategy aligns with corporate goals and the product/brand vision. You'll play an essential role on the internal design team, building an organizational understanding of the CMF creative vision and how CMF is a critical element in Herman Miller's position as a design leader.
What You'll Do
You'll have opportunities to speak up, solve problems, lead others, and be an owner every day as you...
- Author, contribute to, and/or review design briefs for material design initiatives.
- Assign or present briefs to design partners or internal teams.
- Collaborate with authored product and/or material designers (externally) to ensure the cohesion of the original design intent and the associated Herman Miller Group brand vision.
- Develop material concepts and proprietary designs for CMF under the authorship of Herman Miller Group brands.
- Infuse color palette and theory strategy into CMF programs.
- Explore color forecasts and trends applications as well as anticipate user needs and social changes with a future-focus.
- Partner with industry leaders to expand the range of CMF offering and co-develop new offerings to align with Herman Miller Group design legacy.
- Provide design point-of-view support to materials marketing.
- Provide leadership in and/or participate on cross-functional teams during the materials design and development process to arrive at excellent design results within aesthetic, performance, time, and cost constraints.
- Provide design direction to material designers and design partners, including feedback in areas of material visual, brand, portfolio, and strategic alignment.
- Speak to and represent design at Herman Miller to customers and stakeholders in formal and informal situations.
- Support the development of environmental initiatives as related to the use of materials on Herman Miller Group products.
- Perform additional responsibilities as requested to achieve business objectives.
Sound Like You?
You might be just who we're looking for if you have...
- A Bachelor's degree in Interior Design, Architecture, Industrial Design, Fine Arts, Textiles, Apparel, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. A graduate degree and advanced certifications are preferred.
- 10 years of increasingly progressive professional design experience, including five years of leading strategy development and implementation. Global experience is desired.
- Three years of general management or leadership experience.
- Strong knowledge of design principles and technical knowledge in the area of expertise - e.g., textiles, hard surfaces, and/or processes.
- Strong knowledge of the furniture industry.
- A deep understanding of design and the correlation it has with user behaviors and productivity.
- The ability for in-depth problem identification and translation into material design criteria.
- The ability to represent a design point of view in a cross-functional setting.
- Well-rounded knowledge of design history, current design trends, and the competitive landscape.
- Ability to build long-term relationships with designers, clients, and business partners.
- In-depth understanding of the product development process, from small to large scale.
- Knowledge of existing and emergent materials, processes, and related technologies.
- The ability to partner with and coach design talent, from external partners to junior designers.
- Demonstrated leadership competence, including the proven ability to effectively focus resources to implement a business strategy, generate excitement for and commitment to the vision, and implement goals that drive innovation and change.
- Excellent coaching, mentoring, and people development skills.
- Outstanding written/verbal communication skills, and a proven capability to present complex concepts in a concise and understandable way to a variety of audiences, including the highest level of the organization.
- The ability to perform all essential job functions of the position with or without accommodations.
Who We Are
At Herman Miller, our unique culture represents the collective attitudes, ideas, and experiences of the people who work here. We focus on protecting the environment, impacting our communities, exceeding the expectations of our customers through high quality products, and championing diversity in all areas of the business, and together we are on a journey toward a better world. We support the well-being of our employees in and outside of work by providing a variety of opportunities including award-winning work-life integration resources, development programs, complex health and wellness offerings, and much more.
Herman Miller is a globally recognized provider of furnishings and related technologies and services. Headquartered in West Michigan, we have relied on innovative design for over 100 years to solve problems for people wherever they work, live, learn, and heal.
Herman Miller is committed to diversity and inclusion. We are an equal opportunity employer including veterans and people with disabilities. Schedule: Full-time
Employee Status: Regular
Travel: Yes, 25 % of the Time
Shift: First
Work Schedule: 8am-5pm
Primary Location: United States-Michigan-Holland
