Senior Industrial Designer

About Learning Resources:

We are Learning Resources, and learning is where we play. Voted one of the Chicago Tribune's Top Workplaces, we're a growing, family-owned company known for our award-winning educational toys, including top sellers Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register, Farmer's Market Color Sorting Set and multiple Toy of the Year winners! We even help pets learn and grow through our pet brand Brightkins. If you're curious, collaborative, and a kid at heart, you'll feel right at home here. Join us in shaping the future of learning with our award-winning team!

Team & Position Description:

We are looking for a Senior Industrial Designer to join our Creative team in Vernon Hills, IL. This role offers the opportunity to design across a diverse range of toy and pet brands, including high-impact products for both Learning Resources and Brightkins. You'll work on a collaborative, fast-paced team that values creativity, ownership, and bringing products to life quickly-from early concept exploration through production. This is a hands-on role for a senior designer who enjoys building, iterating, and solving real product challenges. If you're passionate about toy design and want to make a direct impact in a growing, family-owned company, we'd love to hear from you.

What you'll do day to day:

• Lead the design and development of 15-20 Learning Resources children toy products and 10-14 Brightkins pet toy products annually, from concept through production
• Own projects end-to-end, proactively driving progress, identifying risks, and moving work forward with minimal supervision
• Generate multiple concept directions and quickly iterate from sketch through 3D models and functional prototypes
• Develop CAD models, renderings, and specification documents to communicate concepts to internal teams and external vendors
• Translate concepts into manufacturable, durable, and functional products by resolving engineering, material, and assembly challenges
• Partner with cross-functional teams (Product Management, Manufacturers/engineering, Packaging, Creative, Marketing, Sales) to maintain momentum and meet timelines
• Support user testing and incorporate feedback to refine and validate product concepts
• Mentor junior designers and contribute to a collaborative, high-performing team environment

What we're looking for (Key Performance Objectives):

• Independently drive product development to deliver assigned projects on schedule with minimal oversight throughout the development lifecycle (concept through production)
• Deliver high-quality design solutions that meet project timelines and achieve ~95% approval rate from cross-functional partners within each project phase
• Generate and iterate multiple design concepts to arrive at strong final solutions early in each development phase (concept + refinement stages)
• Develop manufacturable, durable products by resolving design, engineering, and material challenges prior to final production handoff
• Collaborate cross-functionally and with vendors to maintain project momentum and ensure 100% milestone alignment across development timelines

Requirements / Ideal Attributes:

• Portfolio showcasing strong toy design and product development experience
• BS/BA in Industrial Design, Toy Design, or equivalent
• 10+ years of consumer product development experience, expert-level experience in children's toys (pet product experience also a plus)
• Proficiency in Rhino, KeyShot, Adobe Creative Suite, and 3D prototyping tools
• Strong hands-on prototyping skills across materials and methods
• Deep knowledge of plastics, manufacturing processes, and design for manufacturing
• Strong communicator and collaborator across teams and external partners
• Highly proactive, independent, and detail-oriented with strong ownership mindset

We are a drug-free workplace and an EEO employer.

Please note: This role will be filled by our internal recruitment team, so no assistance is needed from any outside staffing agency at this time.

Compensation Range: $100,000 - $110,000 annual salary - Actual compensation may vary due to other factors such as: years of experience, skill set and location. Total compensation includes profit sharing bonus potential, 401k matching, and a variety of other benefits (details can be found here).

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