Senior Product Designer, Bags & Soft Goods

TOM BIHN designs and manufactures thoughtfully engineered bags for travel, work, and everyday life. Since 1972, we have built a loyal following by creating products that are exceptionally functional, durable, and considered down to the smallest detail.

We operate our own factory in Seattle, where our designers work closely with pattern makers, sewing teams, production leaders, and customers. We also work with carefully selected manufacturing partners to expand our capabilities while maintaining our standards for materials, construction, and quality. We are growing, but we do not want to become a company that prioritizes launch volume over great product.

Product obsession remains central to who we are.

We are looking for an experienced product designer with a strong background in backpacks, bags, or technical soft goods to join our product team.

This person will help us increase our design capacity while preserving the rigor and attention to detail that define TOM BIHN. You will work across both established and new categories—from everyday backpacks and travel bags to more transformative or experimental product concepts.

You will also work closely with the CEO to help shape TOM BIHN’s product roadmap for the coming year. You will bring forward product opportunities, contribute design and development expertise, and help translate broader company priorities into a realistic pipeline of projects.

This is a hands‑on design role. You should be comfortable moving between early‑stage concept development, detailed construction decisions, prototype evaluation, material selection, user testing, and production refinement. You will not simply create renderings and hand them off. You will stay closely involved as products move from idea to physical prototype to production.

• Design original backpacks, travel bags, work bags, accessories, and other soft-goods products from concept through production
• Explore new and potentially transformative product categories while maintaining a clear connection to the TOM BIHN brand
• Translate customer needs and use cases into thoughtful product architecture, organization, access, carry comfort, and construction
• Create sketches, technical drawings, specifications, construction details, and other documentation needed to communicate product intent
• Work directly with pattern makers, sample makers, sewing teams, sourcing partners, and production leaders
• Build, review, test, and refine multiple rounds of prototypes
• Evaluate fit, carry comfort, weight distribution, pocket placement, access, usability, durability, and manufacturability
• Select and develop materials, hardware, foam, webbing, zippers, and other components
• Balance product performance, manufacturing complexity, target cost, quality, and commercial opportunity without compromising the product’s essential purpose
• Conduct competitive research and identify meaningful opportunities rather than following short‑lived trends
• Participate in wear testing, field testing, and post‑launch product reviews
• Contribute to the development of TOM BIHN’s annual and rolling product roadmap
• Work with the CEO and cross‑functional team members to identify and evaluate potential new products, product improvements, category opportunities, and experimental concepts
• Help assess proposed projects based on customer need, brand fit, design opportunity, development complexity, manufacturing feasibility, and commercial potential
• Translate roadmap priorities into clear product briefs, development plans, and realistic project timelines
• Bring forward original product opportunities based on customer observation, competitive research, material developments, and gaps in the existing assortment
• Help improve our product‑development process, documentation, and design standards
• Support and contribute to a collaborative, highly opinionated, detail‑oriented product culture

• Approximately 5+ years of professional experience designing backpacks, bags, luggage, outdoor equipment, or other sewn soft goods
• Direct experience developing commercially produced backpacks
• A portfolio demonstrating commercially produced products, not only concepts or…