Senior Designer — Licensed Merchandise & Retail Products

Warren James is the leading creator commerce partner for top digital talent, specializing in building premium consumer products and brands. They are seeking a highly conceptual and execution-driven Senior Designer to lead creative development across licensed merchandise programs, overseeing the entire creative process from concept ideation to product design and packaging.

Responsibilities:

• Lead end-to-end creative development for licensed merchandise collections across multiple creator and entertainment properties in soft lines and hard lines
• Translate IP, brand guidelines, and fan insights into innovative, retail-ready product concepts
• Ideate product assortments across categories including apparel, accessories, hard goods, collectibles, and lifestyle merchandise
• Ensure concepts balance fan authenticity, trend relevance, and commercial viability
• Interpret brand assets, style guides (when available), channel assets, and content into viable, on-brand/franchise product concepts
• Develop production-ready product mocks across soft goods, cut-and-sew, accessories, and lifestyle categories
• Create detailed design specifications and tech packs for manufacturing handoff
• Partner with Product Development and vendors to review samples, materials, and construction
• Provide design markups and approvals throughout sampling stages (proto, pre-production, TOP)
• Ensure product designs meet cost, quality, and licensing standards
• Design structural and graphic packaging for retail and direct-to-consumer environments
• Build scalable packaging systems supporting multi-SKU collections
• Ensure packaging aligns with licensor requirements, retailer compliance, and brand storytelling
• Prepare print-ready packaging files and production specs
• Research pop culture, fashion, market, and licensing trends to inform product direction
• Analyze competitive retail assortments and fan communities to identify whitespace opportunities
• Apply trend forecasting to licensed IP in culturally relevant ways
• Bring forward new category, product, and collaboration ideas
• Build high-impact creative presentations for internal, licensor, and creator approvals
• Translate early concepts into polished retail pitches and assortment line plans
• Present design rationale, fan insights, and trend alignment to stakeholders
• Support sell-in decks and retailer presentations as needed
• Partner with Brand Managers, Licensing, Product Development, and Sales teams
• Incorporate licensor, creator, and retailer feedback while maintaining creative integrity
• Align creative vision with production feasibility and go-to-market strategy
• Support approvals across licensors, creators, and internal stakeholders
• Own creative direction across assigned merchandise programs
• Provide art direction and feedback to junior designers and freelancers
• Mentor team members on product thinking, mock execution, and brand alignment
• Elevate overall creative quality across projects
• Build scalable templates for product mocks, packaging, and presentations
• Contribute to creative process improvements across development pipelines
• Support onboarding and creative guidance for external freelancers
• Help establish best practices for licensed product execution

Requirements:

• 5–7+ years in product, graphic, or merchandise design
• Licensed consumer products, entertainment, or creator merchandise experience preferred
• Experience designing for retail assortments and product launches
• Strong product mock examples across multiple categories
• Packaging design samples
• Licensed or IP-driven work preferred
• Presentation/pitch deck examples a plus
• Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign
• Product mock development (apparel + accessories)
• Tech pack creation and production specs
• Packaging dielines and print production
• Deep understanding of fan communities and pop culture
• Strong product storytelling and assortment building
• High taste level and trend awareness
• Ability to balance creativity with commerciality
• Strong presentation and communication skills
• Ability to art direct freelancers in the creation of original assets for licensed properties
• Ability to represent Creative in client-facing meetings and lead client approval discussions
• Detail-oriented with production follow-through
• Work within a team dynamic with multiple internal and external stakeholders managing varying points of view