Industrial Designer / Product Designer (physical Product)

About Us

KiwiCo is an innovative eCommerce company that sparks kids’ creativity and curiosity through offline and online materials and inspiration. We offer kids a delightful, engaging way to explore, create, and learn. Our core offering is a subscription service. We design and deliver awesome hands-on projects to kids. We also manage an e-commerce storefront and content platform. We take great pride and ownership in the products we build and in the community of parents and kids we serve. Our office is located in Mountain View, within walking distance to the Caltrain station. Currently, we work a hybrid schedule of Tuesday and Wednesday in-office and remote work the rest of the week.

We’re looking for a designer to join our Product Design team to help us develop compelling products and experiences for kids and families, from the moment of unboxing to fun and engaging play. As a Product Designer with an industrial design background, you are responsible for ideating and concepting new products that expand the KiwiCo product assortment by leveraging new play patterns, materials and price points to appeal to a large audience. You are an independent go-getter, with strong mechanical intuition, ability to make things both fun and functional, and a passion for user testing. You are experienced form-giving and in applying brand and visual design guidelines to products that capture the imaginations of kids and their adults at a glance. In this role, you’ll be responsible for leading your own projects, from conception through to a finished product. This includes brainstorming, prototyping, pitching, refining, testing, preparing product specs and sampling.  While you will work on your own projects, you’ll have an opportunity to collaborate and get support from the whole Product Design team. 

Required Qualifications:

• Experience designing for manufacture: 4+ years designing physical products. Experience with all aspects of the product development process, from conception through to a finished product. You are passionate about the design process and pursue excellence in all aspects.
• Experience with user testing and insights: You are passionate about channeling the voices of the people (kids!) who use our products and identifying ways products should change to better meet their needs and be more engaging. Experience play testing with kids is a plus.
• Strong prototyping skills. You’re a maker at heart and love getting creative with your hands. You are proficient with a range of making tools: laser cutting, 3D printing, hand building.
• Strong visualization skills. You can communicate new product ideas with compelling sketches and renders. You are proficient with 3D modeling in Solidworks or Fusion360, and others.
• Time management skills and ability to multitask. You will be responsible for prioritizing, organizing, and proactively bringing creative leadership across multiple projects. Effective time management is a must.
• Passionate about kids, creativity, and play. You love kids and the power of hands-on learning and exploration for all ages. You love design that sparks curiosity and engagement.
• Collaboration & communication skills. We work closely with our Operations, Sourcing, Editorial, and Marketing teams. You have exceptional communication skills that allow fluid cross-functional team discussions, projects, and collaborations. A true team player.
• Always learning. We enthusiastically dive into the unknown. You are someone who loves to learn, grow, and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Desired Qualifications:

• Proficient in 3D modeling software (Solidworks or Fusion360)
• Proficient in Adobe Suite
• Bachelor or Masters degree in relevant field (Industrial Design or Product Design)
• 4+ years experience designing products from concept to manufacturing