Senior Designer

A Senior Menswear Designer leads the creative development of seasonal collections, ensuring alignment with brand identity, market trends, and commercial goals.

Role Responsibilities
Vision/Strategy
Be the custodian of the creative vision for FatFace Men's wear
Create seasonal Design strategy in collaboration with the design team
Ensure the product strategy always reflects and re-enforces FatFace style whilst pushing for innovation and newness
Lead design projects as required including the development of new products ranges or collaborations
Collaborate with Creative & Marketing leads to deliver vision
Align self to companies social and environmental mission and champion any actions that you can directly impact at all times'

Design
Identify season trends appropriate for the FatFace brand through trips, research, competitor's visits and reviews of past performance.
Category design ownership, creating product spec's, fabric/yarn sourcing and developing with suppliers.
Providing design direction and updates at department level to ensure the best product possible is selected and successfully signed off working in collaboration with buyer & merchandiser
Monitor supplier and market activity to update own knowledge with latest trends techniques and washes to ensure the FatFace products are up to date, high quality, pushing our sustainability strategy forwards and meet the current and future customer needs
Keep up to date with company, department and product sales performance and trading activity and feedback into the design process

Lead
Inspire, Motivate and lead the mens wear design team
Provide the team with clear accountabilities and direction
Ensure the team understands and buys into the FatFace visions and strategy
Build an effective team through coaching and feedback
Manage timelines to ensure all critical dates are met
Manage department budgets & freelance spend
Develop and maintain effective relationships with product teams, creative & marketing teams and companywide managers to ensure all functions operate as a team working towards achieving common objectives

Innovative
Commercial acumen
Presentation skills
Influencing skills
Ability to react quickly in a fast-paced environment, redefining goals where necessary.
Instinctive taste level and leadership skills to inspire, motivate and suggest ways to make improvements to their team, to deliver a cohesive and inspiring brand experience.
Understand market trends to ensure FatFace develops business performance. Balance of creative and process skills to manage deadlines and continually seek ways to improve working practices.

Role Competencies
Understands the FatFace style, customer and thrive to deliver the best ranges possible.
Strong team player and people manager with the ability to gain trust, respect and confidence quickly & effectively.
Builds relationships with suppliers to deliver product vision
Strong presentation skills, ability to present at board level with confidence & leadership
Understands and works within annual budget guidelines
Collaborates with the creative and marketing teams to deliver successful PR and press events/initiatives

For over 30 years, we've travelled, we've laughed, we've grown. We believe life is for living and more fun with those we love. We are Made for Life.

Internal:
Product team
Creative & Marketing team
VM
People Team
Finance
FF Directors
Retail ops

External:
Freelance Designers
Suppliers
Industry contacts
Industry fairs

Accountable for Resources:
Budget - freelance spend
People plan and development
Represents the brand image and handwriting - impacting on a wide area of customer facing brand collateral and seasonal communications. The visual proposition of these assets can strongly effect sales, plus both brand integrity and customer brand loyalty.

FatFace Benefits:
Financial & Protection Benefits
Sick pay allowances
Critical Illness Income protection/ Death in service (for salaried colleagues)
Pension scheme - with net deduction and salary sacrifice options
Dental insurance (colleague funded)

Discounts & Perks
60% off FatFace products
25% discount at Next stores (across full price products)
O2 phone discount
Discounted gym membership
Cycle to Work scheme (for salaried colleagues)
EV vehicle scheme (for salaried colleagues)
Perkbox - our online platform offering:
Day-one access
Exclusive brand discounts
Wellbeing content
Home workouts and more

Health & Wellbeing
Specsavers eye care scheme
Eye tests and contributions to glasses
Free period products
EAP support 24/7 via UNUM, Retail Trust, and Fashion & Textiles Support

Learning & Development
THRIVE - our learning management system:
Day-one access
1,000s of learning resources

Time Off & Leave
25 days holiday plus bank holidays
Sabbatical leave (in line with service)
Enhanced family-friendly policies - including enhanced maternity leave
Flexible Working Opportunities - flexible working requests can be made from day one of employment and are considered on an individual basis.