Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants

This fully remote full time position at Somewhere explicitly welcomes applicants based in South Africa. As a remote position, you can work from anywhere in South Africa — whether you're based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or a smaller town.

Job Description

Senior Industrial Designer

Do you want your designs to be in the hands of consumers around the world? As a Senior Industrial Designer with us, your creativity will shape wellness and electronic products that appear on retail shelves globally, delight users, and make a tangible impact on their daily lives.

We are seeking a highly talented and experienced Senior Industrial Designer to lead the creation of innovative, user-centered products from concept through production. This role combines strategic vision with hands-on execution, balancing creativity with technical feasibility. As a senior member of our design team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping our product portfolio, evolving our design language, and driving long-term innovation.

You will collaborate closely with cross-functional partners—engineering, marketing, UX/UI, manufacturing, and supply chain—to deliver products that inspire, engage, and enhance the lives of consumers while strengthening the brand.

Key Responsibilities
* Lead the end-to-end design process, from research and ideation through development and production hand-off.
* Translate insights into compelling concepts through sketches, 3D models, prototypes, and visual storytelling.
* Guide and evolve the brand’s design language, ensuring visual, ergonomic, and experiential consistency across the portfolio.
* Define, lead, and evolve the brand’s CMF (Color, Material, Finish) strategy, ensuring a consistent, premium, and forward-looking expression of the design language.
* Identify and interpret design and technology trends to anticipate future needs and translate them into relevant, forward-looking solutions.
* Collaborate cross-functionally to align design intent with technical feasibility, cost targets, and manufacturing constraints (DFM).
* Leverage user research, market insights, and competitive benchmarking to inform design strategy and decision-making.
* Advocate for design at a strategic level, presenting concepts and rationale clearly to stakeholders and executive leadership.
* Drive sustainability and innovation in design by actively exploring new materials, processes, and technologies.
* Mentor and inspire junior designers, fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, and design excellence.

Requirements
* Master’s degree in Industrial design or related field.
* 7+ years of professional experience in industrial design, with a portfolio demonstrating successful, commercialized products.
* High proficiency in 3D CAD (SolidWorks, Rhino) and rendering/visualization tools (KeyShot, Adobe Creative Suite).
* Strong knowledge of DFM, CMF and ergonomics.
* Proven ability to identify, analyze, and apply emerging design and CMF trends to product strategy and execution.
* Ability to integrate UX/UI considerations into product design (experience with Adobe XD or Figma is a plus).
* Exceptional skills in sketching, ideation, and storytelling.
* Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
* Experience collaborating with global, cross-functional teams and overseas manufacturers.
* Passion for creating beautiful, functional, and sustainable products that make an impact.
* Professional proficiency in English (written and spoken).

Tips for South African Applicants

Timezone Advantage

South Africa (SAST, UTC+2) overlaps well with European business hours and has a few hours of overlap with US East Coast. Mention your timezone flexibility in your application.

Salary in Context

Even without a listed salary, international remote roles typically pay 2-3x more than equivalent local positions in South Africa due to the exchange rate advantage.

Application Tips

Tailor your CV to international standards — use a clean format, highlight remote work experience, and include your English proficiency. Many SA applicants succeed by emphasising their strong work ethic and cultural adaptability.

Load Shedding Preparedness

If you're applying for a remote role, having a backup power solution (UPS, inverter, or generator) and mobile data as a backup internet connection shows employers you're prepared for South Africa's infrastructure challenges.

About Somewhere

Somewhere is a company in the Recruitment & Staffing industry that hires remote workers from South Africa. They currently have 1632 open positions on Hirezar. View all Somewhere jobs →

Sr. Industrial Designer (Remote SA)