Furniture Designer Home 12 Months Fixed Term Contract
Job Summary
Working Pattern: Typically 3 days in the office with core hours flexible between 8am-6pm.
Ideal Start Date:February 2027
The Role
As a Furniture Designer for Beds and Upstairs Furniture you will play a key role in shaping the style functionality and future aesthetic of the Next Home bedroom range. You will be responsible for creating market-leading commercially successful designs spanning cabinetry free standing storage and soft upholstery from statement upholstered beds and headboards to chests of drawers wardrobes bedsides and dressing tables.
Working as an integral part of our dynamic Home Design team youll translate emerging interior and lifestyle trends into beautiful functional bedroom solutions that resonate with the Next customer. You will work closely with our Buying Merchandising and Technology teams receiving dedicated support and development from our Lead Designers to help you settle in and thrive in your role.
What Youll Take On- End-to-End Product Design:Create original commercially viable bedroom furniture concepts taking products from initial trend research and sketch concepts right through to final sample approval.
- Cabinetry & Textile Innovation:Research and interpret global interior trends driving innovation across wooden finishes hardware frame silhouettes storage solutions and upholstered fabric details.
- Technical Spec Development:Produce precise technical spec packs detailed CADs and clear design instructions (including frame dimensions joinery details drawer mechanisms and fabric applications) to ensure designs are production ready.
- Cross Functional Collaboration: Work hand in hand with Buying Merchandising and Technology teams as well as external manufacturers to ensure designs meet target price points pass stability/safety testing and hit critical path milestones.
- Range Building: Help build cohesive balanced bedroom collections that seamlessly integrate storage cabinetry and upholstered elements to complement the broader Next Home range.
- Bedroom Furniture Expertise:Demonstrable experience in furniture design covering both hard cabinet furniture (wardrobes chests dressing tables bedside tables) and soft upholstery (upholstered bed frames wooden beds headboards) with a strong understanding of joinery flat-pack assembly ergonomics and fabric behaviour.
- Technical Proficiency:Advanced skills in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator and Photoshop) and relevant 2D/3D design software for creating detailed scale CADs exploded assembly views and clear tech packs.
- Commercial Vision: A sharp eye for aesthetics proportion and finish paired with a grounded understanding of the Next Home customer and what makes high volume bedroom pieces commercially successful.
- Agility & Organisation: Excellent time management and communication skills with the ability to manage multiple projects at different stages of the critical path in a fast paced retail environment.
- Collaborative Mindset:A strong team player who builds great working relationships with internal teams and offshore supplier partners alike.
Portfolios
To help us get a feel for your style please attach a digital portfolio to your application. We are looking for work that demonstrates a sharp eye for the future of furniture how your ideas can be commercially viable for NEXT and showcases your direct design and CAD work. To help you put your best foot forward weve put together a fewtop tips on what makes a portfolio stand out to our team.
Applications without a portfoliowill not be considered.
Sponsorship
Candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship for this role will be required to meet the Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further information please see: NEXT we believe the best work happens when there are no barriers to collaboration. Thats why we are a Google-powered workspace. From your very first day youll be using the full Google Workspace suite; Docs Drive and Meet to stay connected and move fast. If your previous experience is rooted in other software suites dont worry! Well point you to a digital Google toolkit the moment you join packed with handy guides and insider tips to help you transition smoothly and hit the ground running.
We encourage early applications for our roles as our recruitment process begins as soon as the role is advertised. If we successfully fill the position this advert may close earlier than planned.
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Required Experience:
IC
About Company
You know Next, but did you know we’re a FTSE-100 retail company employing over 44,000 people across the Next group. We’re the UK’s 2nd largest fashion retailer and for Kidswear we’re the market leader. At the last count we have over 450 stores, plus the Next Online and it’s now possib ... View more