Director of Design And Development

About Us

Kokatat is a prominent Paddle Sports Apparel and Gear company that takes pride in its commitment to quality and innovation. As an ISO 9001:2015 certified organization, we strive to deliver exceptional products that meet the highest standards in the industry.

As the Director of Design and Development at Kokatat, your role is to lead the product creation team in launching beautiful, functional, and highly desirable product solutions that align with the brand/company strategy. These products will answer consumer problems and represent market opportunities as identified by yourself and the category manager. These efforts contribute to design leadership within the business unit and will establish Kokatat as an innovative product leader in each of its categories.

• Build, empower, support and inspire a team of high‑performing designers and developers in the creation of cutting‑edge marine products – from concept through to final product.
• Promote a culture of creative problem solving and out‑of‑the‑box thinking that drives innovative product solutions.
• In collaboration with product management and Engineering and based on the company objectives, assist in defining the seasonal product strategy and the individual projects to bring this vision to life.
• Work closely each season with engineering, product management, R&D, materials, and supply chain/sourcing to ensure all design and development dates and tasks are accurately captured and reflected in the master calendar.
• Accountable for managing the team resources while balancing the company’s objectives and goals.
• Understand and mitigate the impact of late deliverables, ensure the process is transparent and highly visible to all, and all key milestones are achieved.

• You have a strong and extensive understanding of the design and development process and are accountable for the execution of products from concept to bulk production.
• Develop a deep user‑based understanding on the design and development team of Kokatat’s consumer targets. Utilize this empathetic understanding to drive innovative product solutions for our end‑users.
• Constantly keep up to date with market, industry and design trends and utilize this understanding to inform designs.
• Continuously research innovative material/process/technology opportunities to prove user concepts or product construction techniques.
• Identify improvements to current product designs and market gaps and opportunities for new product developments.
• Investigate and maintain awareness of new material, construction, and design developments in the industry as well as new regulatory standards.
• Working with your team of designers and developers and across the organization with operations and our external partners, ensure products hit their cost targets as aligned with the product management team.
• Partner with supply chain to set‑up/vet/foster factory relationships.
• Oversee the development and maintenance of product data on new projects. Product data includes material specifications, bill of materials, tech packs, drawings and other related information.
• Oversee the design and develop prototypes and mock‑ups using new and existing materials and process technologies.
• Ensure conformance of all new and revised products to appropriate test standards and requirements as applicable.

• Develop and maintain the brand design guidelines that defines the design ethos and the basis for the design language at Kokatat.
• Create and present the seasonal creative direction that informs the design language and underpins product designs for the season across the range of recreational product for the team and other key stakeholders.
• Document thought/decision making process and communicate to partners, including internal stakeholders (sales, marketing, PD, supply chain etc), athletes/ambassadors, external partners (vendors, manufacturers, etc).

This position requires some travel internationally to visit Supply Chain partners, trade shows, sales meetings, and consumer events on behalf of the company to support the above key result areas.

• Bachelors or apparel…