Soft Goods Designer – (Wearable Garments- sports Wear and performance Apparel - Medical Devices) Sun Scientific | R & D Division
Location: Dobbs Ferry, NY
Reports to COO
Salary: $120,000 -$160,000
Portfolio Requirements
Please submit a hyperlink of a 10-page portfolio (maximum) highlighting the technical requirements above. Please show one case study project that highlights your process.
Position Summary:
We are looking for an exceptionally talented Lead Industrial Designer Soft goods to join our product development team. Sun Scientific is a fast-growing, patient-centric medical device company bringing wearable therapeutic products into the future — with applications in both healthcare and consumer wellness. This is a hands-on, high-impact role where you will push the form, fit, and function of our current and next generation product lines.
You will own the design direction for the future of Sun Scientific product design language and define how each product line lives together as a family while differentiating itself from the competition and exceeding our patients' expectations with best-in-class design.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end design of soft-good products
- Collaborating with an internal cross functional team of product managers, mechanical engineers, manufacturing and quality engineers
- Meeting clinical performance requirements while creating best in class products that meet patient needs for fit comfort and ease of use
- Evolve the brand language of Sun Scientific across all new products to have a visual brand language that speaks to the established attributes of the brand.
- Define color material and finish for all soft goods products and develop a library of materials that will define the brand and provide a functional foundation for the technical products we build.
Functional & Technical Design
- Ability to create tech packages with construction definition, material break up and color definition
- Able to create flat patterns or direct a pattern maker to make samples and prototypes
- Work with textile mills to develop materials from ground up that meet color and performance specifications
- Deep understanding of soft goods construction including ultrasonic welding and performance stitching.
- Design and specify the integration of pneumatic systems including how air bladders attach to and interface with form-fitting liners, tube routing, port placement, and seal integrity under repeated use
- Ability to drive user testing to determine qualitative experience of the patient and adapt those changes into actionable design inputs
- Experience integrating technical hardware, and making delightful solutions for physical user interface details that differentiate the products from other brands
- Own ergonomic testing and assure that fit remains consistent across products
- Drive design intent through the design for manufacturing process while working with internal engineering and factory engineers
- Balance design proportions with wearability & functional details to make beautifully designed products
- Hands-on experience building prototypes - Ability to make and work with prototypers to iterate quickly through multiple rounds of physical samples to production-ready spec.
- Meaningful exposure to manufacturing methods beyond cut-and-sew — RF welding, ultrasonic bonding, heat bonding, lamination, or other tooled construction — with enough working knowledge to design for those processes and collaborate effectively with the people who run them
- Familiarity with washability standards, wear durability testing, and performance certification
Collaboration & Communication
- Ability to lead cross functional teams in brainstorms, mind mapping and storyboarding activities
- Able to manage project timelines and execute deliverables to that timeline
- Present design concepts and rationale confidently to clinical, regulatory, and commercial stakeholders — translating construction decisions into language non-designers can evaluate and approve
- Work closely with manufacturing and sourcing partners domestically and in Southeast Asia
- Conducting design reviews, sample approvals, and factory communications
Tools & Software
- Onshape, Solidworks, CLO 3D or equivalent 3D garment simulation software
- Keyshot, Blender or equivalent rendering software
- Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop — technical flats, mood boards, presentations
- Pen and Paper - Procreate, ideation and concept sketching
- Microsoft Office / Google Suite — spec sheets, project tracking
BOM management
PLM tools a plus
Qualifications -Required
- Bachelor's degree in industrial design, Shoe design or Apparel Design
- 6+ years of experience designing performance focused sportswear, soft goods or wearable products
- Basic understanding of injection molding and working with mold suppliers
- A portfolio of performance soft goods products that has shipped
- You have worked for a brand (s) in the medical, athletic, or wearable product space
Preferred
- Background with large brands known for design and innovation in a performance category of product
- wearable or medtech startup with strong product design DNA
- Understanding of working with electronic components and designing around them
- Experience working with Chinese manufacturing partners and textile mills
- Basic knowledge about FDA 21 CFR Part 801 labeling requirements, ISO 13485 standards, and biocompatibility testing.
- Experience working on Type 1 and 2 Medical devices
What Success Looks Like in the First Year
You have contributed to ongoing designs to move them into production while developing a design language and CMF that can be scaled across future lines of product. You have driven the design process to meet milestones for next gen projects and helped define what the design discipline needs to deliver at each stage.
Core Competencies
Leadership through design • User centric process • Relationship building • Resilience & adaptability • Clear, persuasive communication • Ownership and follow-through
Why Join Sun Scientific : This is a rare opportunity to set company design direction and help build the design discipline and process from the ground up inside a fast-growing, clinically respected medical device company. You'll have a direct line to leadership, the chance to shape the team and culture for product development.