**READ THIS ENTIRELY BEFORE APPLYING!**
Shelfology is looking for a righteous industrial designer to help build our product line and level up our product design game! If you love solving real design problems fast and beautifully, geeking out on machinery, and turning prototypes into production winners, this is your shot to own the whole prototyping and rollout process. As a member of our small (but excellent (and humble)) design team, your primary focus will be to transform ideas into engaging and results-driven products.
You should be able to pivot from one project to another easily, as we have embraced the hungry hustle mentality of a startup. You don’t get bogged down in corporate buzzwords like “lean” vs “agile” but care more about stellar work, all day everyday. You love to follow and understand current design trends. We have broad needs, and the more skills you possess, the better. Expect to star in a video or two as well. The joys of being in a startup!
You should be able to create physical prototypes (3D printed or fully fabricated in the shop) and refine designs based on feedback, ensuring durability and easy installation for USA-made quality. This means you take the time to train and use the machinery across our org and become the SME within our shops regarding those machines. Laser, CNC, box maker, etc. Ability to propose production solutions for new product and utilize the full capability of our machinery.
Be ready to work with your directors and our vendors directly to solve complex problems under tight deadlines. You should also enjoy new challenges and be ready to share your talents in a highly creative and collaborative environment. No egos allowed, you should be happy to edit and refine your designs…nothing is precious and failure is part of the process.
Your mindset and skillset should enable you to:
Be a team player and self starter
Able to explore creative ideas without needing your hand held
Be able to spearhead new projects with little to no direction (exciting!)
Understand and improve the Shelfology brand
Take full ownership of every prototype that hits the shop—no excuses, just results
Get intimately familiar with every machine in the building (metal shop, wood shop, Boxmaker, CNC, you name it)
Hunt for efficiencies (WoodWop wizardry encouraged)
Keep costs smart while staying 100% within our in-house capabilities
Train the team to be pros during rollouts
Stay truly humble, collaborative, and ready to iterate until each product is ABSOLUTELY perfect
Key Responsibilities
Design Innovation: Sketch and develop 3D models for new shelving products and accessories, balancing aesthetics with usability. Incorporate trends like minimalist lines or bold color palettes to delight our designer audience. A strong understanding of the creative process, its steps, and a desire to work within this framework.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with the Product Manager, engineers, and production team to align designs with technical specs and manufacturing feasibility, while working with marketing to capture the brand’s vibrant voice.
Material Exploration: Experiment with materials like powder-coated steel and premium solid hardwoods and more to enhance product texture and strength, reflecting Shelfology’s craftsmanship ethos.
Trend Awareness: Stay ahead of design trends, drawing inspiration from modern living spaces to craft products that resonate with homeowners and professionals alike.
Project Coordination & Ownership: Work hand-in-hand with Steve D to keep everything moving. Take total accountability for every prototype—collaborate with shop leads and stakeholders to deliver fast, spot-on results every time.
Prototyping Powerhouse: Design and build prototypes from quick 3D prints all the way to full wood/metal shop builds. Fabricate custom jigs and fixtures to make new products production-ready.
Shop Mastery & Efficiency: Become the go-to expert on all our machinery so you can confidently produce parts yourself. Hunt for production efficiencies (especially on the CNC with WoodWop) and always look for smarter, faster ways to build.
Systems & Tracking Boss: Keep every project humming and accurately tracked in Asana. Input new shop orders into Shopify, work with the Fulcrum team to get every part loaded correctly for production, and coordinate hardware stocking with purchasing.
Training & Rollout Hero: Develop a deep understanding of each new product’s parts, functions, and production needs. Schedule and lead product training events with the production team to ensure smooth handoffs. Oversee new products through production for the first month to ensure repetitive quality has been achieved.
Fulfillment & Packaging Partner: Team up with fulfillment to nail the best packaging/shipping methods for new items. Create clear “recipe” documents so the team knows exactly how to pack everything right the first time.
Qualifications
Education & Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design or related field, with 2+ years of experience in product design (home furnishings or decor preferred).
Skills: Proficiency in (and efficient programming in) CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, Rhino, Keyshot), sketching, and prototyping. Strong understanding of materials and manufacturing processes and machinery.
Creativity: A portfolio showcasing innovative, user-centered designs with a playful yet refined aesthetic, ideally in furniture or hardware. A strong understanding of the creative process, its steps, and a desire to work within this framework.
Collaboration: Excellent communication skills to work seamlessly with diverse teams and translate ideas into tangible products.
Passion: A love for creating functional art that inspires, with an eye for detail and a knack for infusing joy into everyday items.
How to Apply
If you are thinking “Where has Shelfology been all my life?” We want to hear from you. We only need applicants that can work full time at our HQ, remote is not an option. School degree and years of experience are nice, but are effectively moot to us. Most of our heroes are college dropouts anyways. If you have real design chops, that’s all we need.
Last but not least, don’t even think about sending a half baked application without a web link. We need to see your entire digital portfolio from the comfort of our imaginary yacht, or wherever else we happen to be at the moment. Send a perfectly built resume and include 3 current references that we can contact. If you have physical items that you want to show off, stop by and we will oblige.
What you should understand by now is that we value excellence and hard work, but we also patently refuse to take ourselves seriously. If you can’t fit in an environment like this, please look elsewhere. We are having too much fun for anyone to ruin it for our team now. We need assets, not liabilities, in every sense of the word.
No remote work available here, please assume you will be in the office working side by side with us for the duration.
Ready? Let’s go!
Job Type: Full-time
Work Location: In person