Senior Technical Designer (Hybrid, Seattle)

Nordstrom•Seattle, WA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Senior Technical Designer at Nordstrom, reporting to the Director of Design and Construction, you manage the millwork and fixture design program. You partner with internal stakeholders to turn varied requirements and priorities into thoughtful design solutions, champion the customer experience, build trust, shape expectations, and keep vendors and workstreams moving. You mentor others, remove obstacles across teams, and embrace the Owners at Heart value by delivering results. You manage the millwork and fixture design program from initial concept through final rollout. This includes gathering customer, store team, and business requirements; setting program strategy and vision; deciding whether to design new or improve existing fixtures; balancing aesthetics, function, and cost; and using data to recommend trade-offs and value engineering opportunities. You translate creative ideas into technical specifications, shop drawings, and prototypes, and maintain design documentation, including finishes, materials, equipment catalogs, and schedules. You create processes, tracking tools, and retrospectives to improve efficiency and scale; ensure smooth stakeholder handoffs; track schedules and budgets; keep cut sheets and databases current; set standards for prototype approval, first-run quality assurance, and ongoing durability; identify issues early; and drive continuous improvement across vendors and the FF&E catalog. You own vendor relationships and performance, oversee and onboard casework and fixture manufacturers, direct fabricators, and hold partners to high standards for aesthetics, quality, schedule, and cost. In partnership with Procurement, Construction, Visual Merchandising, Facilities, and Strategic Sourcing, you improve transparency, consistency, and accuracy; drive the RFP process and own technical criteria and vendor recommendations; evaluate finishes, materials, and manufacturing methods for supply-chain fit, sustainability, and commercial viability; support pricing and shipping strategies; reduce costs across brands; supply cost data for capital expenditure requests; and ensure compliance with brand standards. The role is hybrid in Seattle and may require travel up to 30%.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in casework or fixture design and manufacturing, or design engineering.
A four-year degree in industrial design, architecture, interior design, or a related field.
Proven experience running a millwork or fixture program end to end, including vendor performance management and RFPs.
Advanced proficiency in 3D modeling and rendering software such as SketchUp, Rhino, Vectorworks, Revit, or comparable platforms.
Proficiency with AutoCAD, Bluebeam, Adobe Creative Suite, Smartsheet, and Microsoft Office, and fluency in reading technical design drawings.
A strong portfolio demonstrating deep retail fixture knowledge, including sourcing, installation, fabrication, materials and finish specification, and first article review and approval experience.
Strong written, verbal, presentation, and relationship-building skills, including VP-level communication that translates technical concepts for non-technical audiences and drives alignment through respectful, two-way dialogue and knowledge sharing.
Ability to independently manage multiple priorities, navigate ambiguity, make decisions, influence cross-functional partners at all levels, and work in a fast-paced environment.
Analytical thinking, problem-solving ability, and attention to detail.
Willingness to travel up to 30%.

Responsibilities

Manage the millwork and fixture design program from initial concept through final rollout.
Gather customer, store team, and business requirements and objectives, and set the program's strategy and vision.
Determine whether to design new fixtures or improve existing ones, balancing aesthetics, function, and cost and using data to recommend trade-offs and value engineering opportunities.
Translate creative ideas into technical specifications, shop drawings, and prototypes, and maintain design documentation, finishes, materials, equipment catalogs, and schedules.
Develop processes, tracking tools, and retrospectives that improve efficiency and support scale.
Ensure smooth handoffs between internal stakeholders, track program schedules and budgets, and keep cut sheets and databases current.
Set standards from prototype approval through first-run quality assurance and ongoing durability; identify issues early and drive continuous improvement across vendors and the FF&E catalog.
Own vendor relationships and performance, oversee onboarding of casework and fixture manufacturers, direct fabricators, and uphold standards for aesthetics, quality, schedule, and cost.
Partner with Procurement, Construction, Visual Merchandising, Facilities, and Strategic Sourcing to improve transparency, consistency, and accuracy.
Drive the RFP process with Strategic Sourcing, including ownership of technical criteria and vendor recommendations.
Evaluate finishes, materials, and manufacturing methods against supply chains, sustainability, and commercial viability.
Support pricing and shipping strategies, reduce costs across brands, provide cost data for capital expenditure requests, and ensure compliance with brand standards.
Mentor others, remove obstacles across teams, build trust, shape expectations, and influence cross-functional partners.