Liberty Hardware Manufacturing Corporation is looking for a skilled designer in Chicago, IL. As a growing Masco company, Liberty Hardware Mfg. Corp. has built its reputation by offering high quality decorative and functional hardware products. Our product lines include bath hardware, bath safety, shower doors, decorative and functional cabinet hardware, hooks, hook rails, and wall plates and are available under the Liberty, Delta, Brainerd, and Franklin Brass brands. We offer our extensive line of hardware products through retailers (including The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menards, Target and Walmart), online (including Amazon.com), kitchen and bath design showrooms, builder and hospitality, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) distribution channels across the country. Liberty has a unique organizational culture that employees cite as one of the things they like most about working here. One of the reasons for this is that we embrace diversity – of people, backgrounds, thinking, and experiences. We want our employee population to mirror our communities and consumer population. We are proud of our talented employees who make up one of the most collaborative and winning teams you’ll find in any workplace! When you join Liberty Hardware, you join a team of professionals who work hard, support each other, and enjoy delivering results that make a real difference for our customers and one another. Since 2017, Liberty Hardware has annually been awarded the Great Place to Work certification! While this certification recognizes our complete package of benefits, compensation and employee programs, it is our people and teamwork that truly make Liberty Hardware great.
Job Scope:
The Industrial Designer is a key member of the Liberty Design Studio in Chicago (West Loop area). Liberty Hardware is known for its extraordinary Kitchen + Bath and innovative Home Hardware product solutions. Responsibilities include using research, ideation sessions, sketching, rendering, prototyping, CAID, and presentation techniques to conceptualize and design inspirational consumer products. Designers work collaboratively within the LDS team, and with engineering and the marketing teams in North Carolina. Candidates should have a good trend and style acumen. Designers also travel to design-related shows and events domestically and globally. They go out into the city for inspiration and retail knowledge. We work collaboratively between teams with other MASCO companies (such as Delta Faucets).
Key Responsibilities:
- Develops (alone or with a team of designers) a series of compelling design solutions around the opportunities or gaps that have the potential to add significant value to Liberty’s pipeline.
- Create product solutions to stated challenges by analyzing and translating consumer needs into tangible features and benefits.
- Develop and present concepts through sketching, 3D modeling, and prototyping. Design using ProE, Creo and other 3D packages, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Keyshot.
- Set and maintain design intent both visually and functionally.
- Work cross-functionally throughout the design process. Build relationships with Marketing to develop criteria for new programs, align on brand positioning and ensure brand consistency.
- Some internal and external client interactions – presentation preparation.
- Innovate and push forward new ideas, end-user solutions, and product platforms. Assist in the creation and implementation of Style and Trend reports.
Competencies
- Functional & Technical Skills
- 3D rendering, CAID, ProE, Creo
- Ideation, Sketching, Prototyping
- Team & Relationship Building
- Listening
- Collaboration
- Empathy
- Communication
- Listening
- Verbal and Written
- Presentation/Visual
- Operating Skills
- Thinking Ahead
- Setting Priorities
- Dealing with Ambiguity
- Problem Solving
- Making Decisions
- Drive for Results
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design is required.
Experience:
- 1 to 5 years of relevant design experience in consumer products; preferably in the home decorative durables category.
- Demonstrated capability in ProE/CREO as the main platform for CAID delivery (or in a similar 3D software, such as Solidworks).
- Competence in developing innovative design options around opportunities and gaps.
- Strong communication skills: verbal, visual, and written.
- Good technical and marketing acumen needed to know if and when tradeoffs should be made.
- Willingness to learn and use low fidelity and rapid prototyping capabilities.
- Some experience planning, managing and executing design projects with a certain level of complexity.
- Good at building relationships with key stakeholders across disciplines and throughout the organization.
- Ability to promote design at multiple levels of the organization.
Liberty Hardware (the “Company”) is an equal opportunity employer and we want to have the best available persons in every job. The Company makes employment decisions only based on merit. It is the Company’s policy to prohibit discrimination in any employment opportunity (including but not limited to recruitment, employment, promotion, salary increases, benefits, termination and all other terms and conditions of employment) based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, pregnancy, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, physical/mental disability, medical condition, marital/domestic partner status, military and veteran status, height, weight or any other such characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. The Company is committed to complying with all applicable laws providing equal employment opportunities. This commitment applies to all persons involved in the operations of the Company regardless of where the employee is located and prohibits unlawful discrimination by any employee of the Company.
Liberty Hardware is an E-Verify employer. E-Verify is an Internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees in the United States. Please click on the following links for more information.