Industrial Design Manager, Trends & CMF (Color, Finish & Materials)

Fortune Brands • Deerfield, IL

4d • $105,000 - $165,000

About The Position

As the Industrial Design Manager, Trends & CMF (Color, Finish & Materials), you will inspire and partner with a world-class industrial design team that shapes thoughtful, meaningful product experiences across the brand. This role focuses on inspiring a creative team, supporting effective execution, and evolving the practice of Trends forecasting and execution to inform both future and short term growth. We’re looking for someone who brings expertise in Design Strategy, Trends and Color, Finish and Material, a strong understanding of industrial design, and the ability to create and enhance the emotional connection between physical products and user experiences. This person will support cross-functional collaboration, uplift team members, and contribute to the company’s long-term design strategy through vision, empathy, adaptability, and clear communication. We value individuals who can Think Fast by integrating trends and CMF with business strategy and leveraging technology to enhance creativity and accelerate impact; Work It Together by building trust-based relationships across cross-functional teams to ensure alignment on roadmaps and innovation pipelines; and Make the Hard Call by confidently navigating ambiguity, prioritizing work with clarity, and balancing forward looking design with execution realities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in CMF, Industrial Design or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in industrial design, with a strong portfolio of consumer or interior goods.
• Solid knowledge of global design trends in architecture and interior design with proven ability to translate and communicate actionable recommendations.
• Ability to take macros trends and translate to product solutions that enhance the overall emotional conection with the user.
• Confident speaking to and presenting trend strategies to internal cross functional teams and external media.
• Experience taking physical products from concept to launch preferably including connected or digitally enabled products.
• Proficient in design tools like Keyshot, Adobe Creative Cloud, and familiar with VR/AR or AI-enhanced design tools.

Nice To Haves

• 5+ years leading and mentoring design teams.
• Experience working for fashion, interior, architecture, home or connected products.
• Experience in plastics, metal manufacturing and finishing.
• Knowledge of design systems, visual brand language, and working across multiple brands.

Responsibilities

• Team Development Inspire and inform worldclass industrial design team. Foster a culture infused with creativity
• Design & Project Leadership Lead the Trend Strategy and Color, Finish, Materials application to our portfolio of brands. Spot emergent design trends and work cross functionally to size cultural themes. Contextualize macro trends and scale relevant to FBIN products. Define inspiration and any relevant guardrails. Inspire design strategy balancing short term initiavies with future forward strategies and execution across kitchen, bath showering environments and accessories. Deliver elevated product and experience design that advances brand relevance and business growth. Spot blindspots in Trend strategies and define solutions to address. Develop design documentation to support new products. Defines, documents and developes technically feasible, elevated CMF across ID projects. Manages CMF database and CMF finish library. Work It Together with the Industrial Design Team to align on emerging initiatives and concept development. Directly lead key initiatives, managing internal and external resources to deliver compelling solutions.
• Process & Capability Development Establish and evolve best-in-class trend forecasting processes, methods, and tools. Advance adoption of Trend and Color Finish, Materials methodologies User-Centered Design, and Design Thinking. Translate Annual Design Trend Strategy macro level insights to design application. Embrace and implement new technologies including AI-augmented design tools and emerging platforms. Lead by example in technical tools including Adobe Creative Cloud, Keyshot, VizCom and VR environments. Encourage skillsets that blend technical craft with empathy, creativity, and strategic collaboration.

Benefits

• robust health plans
• a market-leading 401(k) program with a company contribution
• product discounts
• flexible time off benefits
• adoption benefits
• We offer numerous ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) to foster a sense of belonging for all associates.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees