Lowes Home Improvement: Sr Director Product Design & Trends

Mooresville

Job Description

Job Summary:
The primary purpose role is to lead the Product Trend & Design organization that is responsible for the development of product trends and designs for our private branded products driving growth and differentiation for Lowe’s. Trend development includes responsibility for surveying the landscape to identify emerging color, pattern and design trends, and leveraging customer insights to develop quarterly trends that the merchandising and product development organization use to build product assortments that customers will prefer each season. This role also provides a holistic view of the Retail design and home improvement ecosystem to help define and forecast future lifestyle trends and direction that may influence business (i.e. assortments, colors, etc.) direction and customer occasions.

Private brands are a critical piece of the Lowe’s product strategy and this position must champion, integrate, and socialize a forward-thinking and holistic approach to style, design, and customer trends for our brands such as allen + roth, Kobalt, Origin21 and STAINMASTER. This position will lead teams of both internal designers as well as third party design firms to create exclusive product designs for our private brands that uphold the intent of each brand’s positioning.

The Sr. Director gains alignment, influences, and negotiates across diverse stakeholders at many levels, including senior leaders and serves as the company’s expert on decor style, trend, and design.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversees a Trend & Design team of Trend and Design managers/analysts who apply best practices and methods to design and develop on-trend coordinated product solutions supporting Seasonal, Hardlines, Home Décor & Building Materials divisions.
• Establishes product design parameters that align with Lowe’s strategy and serves as the subject matter expertise on style, trend, and design.
• Leads the activities associated with how the team researches, defines and delivers actionable style and trend direction. Develop the recommended point of view by brand, category and by quarter to influence brand, product development and merch strategy/buying decisions.
• Direct effort to translate research and findings into usable and relevant information for the organization in order to define product assortments and to better plan for future customer experiences.
• Creates and develops product concepts and specifications by optimizing the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and product program over the life cycle of the individual product groups.
• Drives an iterative approach to design-led innovation including insight + foresight application, prototyping, evaluation, testing, and refinement to ensure targeted solution set is desirable, feasible, and consistent to brand Visual Brand Language (i.e. the system of rules and guardrails supporting product development and brand management).
• Collaborates with Lowe’s cross-functional groups such as: Merchandising, Marketing, and Communications, Private Brand, Store Environment, Digital, and Store Operations in order to ensure alignment across multiple customer touch points.
• Reviews and synthesizes insights tied to marketplace, competitor and customer behavior, especially relative the Home, to provide actionable direction that tracks against the customer needs.
• Thinks futuristically and proactively to best anticipate customer needs by category and channel to develop new products both with functionality and design.
• Develops the trend and design team in business and market analytics to ensure the information provided is applicable, useful, and understandable for enterprise stakeholders.
• Actively analyze external solutions online, in stores, through Trend resources and via experts in the industry in the US and Abroad. Help adapt and interpret findings to illustrate how they affect Lowe’s and ultimately, to improve the 360 experience for Lowe’s customers. Oversees a Trend & Design team of Trend and Design managers/analysts who apply best practices and methods to design and develop on-trend coordinated product solutions supporting Seasonal, Hardlines, Home Décor & Building Materials divisions and our Total Home Strategy.
• Establishes product design parameters that align with Lowe’s strategy and serves as the subject matter expertise on style, trend, and design.
• Leads the team that designs products for quarterly private brand trend activations across categories such as Décor, Kitchen & Bath and Lighting. Products must be designed with full product materials and details specified so that sourcing can find the best vendor partner to supply the products.
• Leads the activities associated with how the team researches, defines and delivers actionable style and trend direction. Develop the recommended point of view by brand, category and by quarter to influence brand, product development and merch strategy/buying decisions.
• Direct effort to translate research and findings into usable and relevant information for the organization in order to define product assortments and to better plan for future customer experiences.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree
• 10 years’ experience in design or design strategy
• 5 years’ experience building capabilities, inspiring strong creative teams and creating a collaborative environment
• Experience in a retail environment designing or developing product programs
• Proven capability to influence an organization at all levels and present to senior leadership
• Demonstrated experience applying design methodology
• Experience leading and developing trend or design managers and leaders

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in service design
• 5 years’ experience leading trend or design and development teams in a décor, fashion-related or hardlines business
• Experience in research and customer analytics
• Additional experience in retail stores design or creative director

About Lowe’s:
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE 50 home improvement company serving approximately 20 million customers a week in the United States and Canada. With fiscal year 2020 sales of nearly $90 billion, Lowe’s and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,200 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 300,000 associates. Based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s supports the communities it serves through programs focused on creating safe, affordable housing and helping to develop the next generation of skilled trade experts. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

About Lowe’s in the Community:
As a FORTUNE 50 home improvement company, Lowe’s is committed to creating safe, affordable housing and helping to develop the next generation of skilled trade experts through nonprofit partnerships. Across every community we serve, Lowe’s associates donate their time and expertise through the Lowe’s Heroes volunteer program. For the latest news, visit Newsroom.Lowes.com or follow @LowesMedia on Twitter.

Job ID: 2161371BR
Line of Business: Corporate
Job Category: Merchandising
Department: LWS_USA_Global Merchandising Mgmt
Employment Type I: Regular
Employment Type II: Full time
Location #: 1999
Location Name: Mooresville, NC (SSC)
Location Address: 1000 Lowes Boulevard
State: North Carolina
Zip Code: 28117

EEO Statement

Lowe’s is an equal opportunity employer and administers all personnel practices without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, gender, age, ancestry, national origin, mental or physical disability or medical condition, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other category protected under federal, state, or local law.