Head of Product Design

You will own how every Lalo product looks, works and gets made. You'll take ideas from trend signal to sketch, to prototype, to a factory-ready spec, to the packaging on shelf and the images on the product page. You'll start as our first design leader, working with a bench of trusted freelancers you bring and direct. You'll partner closely with our SVP, Commercial, Engineering, Product Development and Marketing.

Lalo is a modern family brand designing thoughtfully made products that support families through the earliest stages of life. We are a fast-growing, design-driven company where ideas move quickly and ownership matters. Our work balances creativity with operational rigor, and we build through close collaboration, high standards, and a shared commitment to doing our work well.

• Ideation and concepting. Lead concept work from first sketch to the final model. Present clear options with a point of view at each stage gate (G0–G4).
• Trends and white space. Run a standing trend and competitor practice across art, design, home and adjacencies. Bring evidence-backed white-space ideas into the line-planning process each season.
• Merchandising and retailer partnership. Work with Commercial to turn line-plan briefs and retailer asks into concepts. Join key retailer meetings to present trend and design stories.
• Engineering and DFM. Partner with engineers and factories on function, materials, tooling, tolerances and cost. Collaborate on design-for-manufacturing calls that protect design intent and hit target landed cost. Review and approve samples (T1 through PP).
• Safety and compliance by design. Design with juvenile safety standards in mind from day one (for example ASTM F963, CPSIA, small parts, food-contact materials). Work with our compliance process so issues are caught at concept, not at testing.
• Packaging. Own structural and graphic packaging across our ten retail and e-commerce formats. Keep our packaging standards up to date. Deliver print-ready dielines and artwork on time.
• Product visuals. Own the product side of e-commerce imagery: renders, silhouettes, colorway assets, and art direction for product photography. Work with Marketing on lifestyle shoots so the product is shown as designed.
• Design system and quality bar. Set and document Lalo's design language: color, material and finish (CMF), form, and print/pattern. Make our products recognizably Lalo across categories.
• Freelance bench and vendors. Build and run a flexible team of freelance industrial, packaging, soft goods, graphic and industrial designers. Manage scope, briefs, budget and quality. Recommend when to convert freelance capacity into full-time hires.
• Calendar and process. Hit the development calendar. Keep design files, specs and approvals organized so engineering, sourcing and marketing can work from one source of truth.

• 10+ years designing physical consumer products, including 3+ years leading design work for a brand or category
• A portfolio of shipped products in juvenile, toy, housewares, tabletop or similar categories, with molded plastics, silicone, wood or textiles
• Hands-on DFM experience: worked directly with factories or in-house engineers on design impacts on tooling, sampling and cost; comfortable reading engineering drawings and CAD (Rhino, Solid Works or Fusion) and rendering (Key Shot or similar)
• Packaging delivered end to end, structure and graphics, for mass retail
• An active freelance bench: named industrial, packaging, graphic and 3D/render talent the candidate has used before and can activate within first two weeks
• Has presented design to retail buyers and worked inside a line-planning or merchandising process
• Strong taste with commercial judgment: can explain why a design will sell and what it costs
• Willing to travel to Asia factories and trade shows as needed
• Experience using Uses AI tools for concepting, rendering and visuals

The salary range for this role is $175,000-$250,000
, depending on experience and location. We offer the full Lalo benefits package — health, dental, vision, 12 weeks paid parental leave, unlimited PTO, 401(k), and one of every product we make if you have little ones at home.

Lalo is an equal opportunity employer. We're building a team that reflects the families we serve.