Product Designer

DS Smith is seeking a Product Designer to be based at their DS Smith Plastics site in Gloucester. You will work closely with the commercial and production teams to develop and deliver innovative structural packaging solutions across a wide range of industries including automotive, pharmaceutical, and retail.

What being a Product Designer at DS Smith will involve:

We are looking for an individual with excellent problem solving and communication skills to work actively on client projects to create structural designs and respond promptly to the changing priorities and demands of our customers. The successful candidate will need strong organisation skills to liaise with the Sales, Quality Control, and Production departments to ensure the product is 'Right First Time' for the customer. You must have the drive to go the extra mile for customers and to develop innovative solutions in a deadline driven environment.

Your duties will include but not be limited to:

• Interpreting design briefs from the Commercial team & Customers
• Developing solutions from first concept through to production drawings and providing all necessary technical support for customers
• Revisiting existing products to improve performance or production processes
• New product development activities
• Producing prototypes
• Testing & validating your ideas
• Providing information to the commercial team to generate prices
• Creating and maintaining print ready artwork
• Specifying and ordering production tooling
• Working with the procurement department to source quotes and samples from suppliers
• Ensuring all production data and documents are kept current
• Liaising with the Sales Team and customers to set realistic schedules for design and artwork approvals

What we would like our candidate to have:

• A degree in relevant Product/Industrial design, packaging/graphic design or equivalent
• Excellent design skills, CAD, sketching, layout, prototyping, and problem solving abilities
• A strong creative streak and a generator of new ideas
• A desire to explore new concepts and think 'outside the box'
• The drive to explore new solutions both individually and collaboratively
• A proactive and engaging attitude to the people and environment around them
• Highly motivated - taking ownership of projects and problems whilst remaining responsive to feedback and commercial priorities
• Software tools, CAD (ArtiosCAD and/or Solidworks preferred) Illustrator and Photoshop
• A good understanding of manufacturing processes and how they influence design and production