Director of Design

MIRACLE RECREATION E•Lewisburg, PA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Design provides strategic, creative, and organizational leadership for PlayPower’s Outdoor Play design function. This role sets the long-term design vision, fosters a culture of innovation, and ensures high-quality, market-relevant product design aligned with PlayPower’s mission, brand strategies, and business objectives. The Director of Design operates at a broader organizational level—guiding multiple brands, mentoring design leaders, and integrating design strategy across Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Operations. The Director of Design champions meaningful, relevant, and innovative play experiences while ensuring design excellence, scalability, and commercial success.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Design or a related field (Master’s degree strongly preferred).
Extensive experience in product design leadership within a consumer, industrial, or play/recreational environment.
Proven ability to lead and inspire multidisciplinary creative teams.
Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to translate vision into executable plans.
Excellent design critique, storytelling, and communication skills (written, verbal, and visual).
Deep understanding of innovation processes, design thinking, and product development lifecycles.
Proficiency in visual communication, sketching, rendering, or equivalent design expression.
Ability to balance creative ambition with business, cost, and manufacturing realities.

Responsibilities

Define and lead the overall design vision, strategy, and creative direction for PlayPower Outdoor Play brands.
Partner with executive leadership to align design strategy with corporate goals, brand positioning, and multi-year product roadmaps.
Champion a learning organization that encourages experimentation, innovation, and continuous improvement in design and development.
Establish and evolve design processes, governance, and best practices across brands and teams.
Oversee the concept-to-launch design lifecycle to ensure products balance play value, form and function, manufacturability, cost targets, and customer value.
Lead and inspire innovation efforts, futuring initiatives, and exploratory concept development.
Ensure strong Visual Brand Languages for each Outdoor Play brand, maintaining consistency while supporting brand differentiation.
Guide the Creative Problem-Solving process and ensure design solutions align with PlayPower’s mission, vision, and 1–3 year product development plans
Lead, mentor, and develop design leaders, managers, and creative teams across Outdoor Play brands.
Conduct high-level design reviews and critiques, setting quality standards and coaching teams toward excellence.
Foster an inclusive, collaborative environment that values diverse perspectives and high-performance teamwork.
Oversee design resources, budgets, capacity planning, and prioritization across multiple programs and brands.
Ensure design teams are properly staffed, trained, and equipped to meet current and future business needs.
Evaluate the effectiveness of tools, systems, and workflows; recommend and implement improvements.
Manage external partnerships with vendors, agencies, and innovation partners to enhance creative output.
Maintain a strong understanding of competitive products, market trends, child culture, materials, manufacturing methods, and outdoor play experiences.
Support Sales and Marketing by articulating and communicating the design and innovation story internally and externally.
Represent PlayPower in the marketplace through industry events, customer engagements, training sessions, seminars, and speaking opportunities
Disseminate design vision, concepts, and insights throughout the organization.
Ensure alignment between innovation objectives and commercial execution.