Design & Development Director (15-month FTC)

About the role

The Design & Development Director leads Monica Vinader's Design & Development function and drives our creative pipeline from brief through to development sign off. This is a 15 month fixed term contract with a defined mandate: land creative direction and product pipeline for FY27 and FY28 against agreed go-to-market and critical path milestones, leading a team of three direct reports covering design and product development.

Responsibilities

• Co-create the brief: With our Head of Category Management, write and own the design brief for every project and season, so there is a single, unambiguous statement of what the work must achieve: customer, occasion, price architecture, category need, margin, volume, option count and what "new" means in this context.
• Judge against the brief & hold the line: Assess every concept presented against the brief and say so clearly, in the room, with reasons. Your judgement is on brief compliance, newness, customer relevance and commerciality.
• Delivery to the brief: As concepts evolve, ensure alignment to the brief, or validate deviation from the brief is for a strategic region. Own this clarity and decision making. Ensure there is strong tension between the brand, regional and commercial needs vs creative innovation and distinctiveness, and this is aligned and resolved appropriately.
• Creative strategy & planning: Creative plan & direction: own the seasonal creative plan sequenced against go-to-market milestones; facilitate agreement on seasonal direction between the CPO and Co-Founder & Artistic Director, converting it into actionable briefs. Design language: Hold the team to the Monica Vinader design language across proportion, finish, construction, layering and wearability, using the Co-Founder & Artistic Director and Senior Designer as the reference point, so every piece is recognisably MV.
• Branding, Merchandising, Supply: Partner with Brand on consistent product storytelling; with Merchandising/Category on assortment architecture and range rationalisation; with Supply & Quality on cost, capacity and sourcing decisions, engaging early so supplier capability shapes the range as it's built. Sustainability, trade & trading forums: Design within MV's responsible sourcing commitments; support trade, wholesale and regional requirements; represent Design & Development in range review and go-to-market forums, defending decisions with commercial reasoning.
• Presentation & ambassadorship: Own the Seasonal Product Presentation and timely issue of design assets; represent Design & Development to the ELT, the wider business, and independently on supplier visits and sourcing trips; keep the design studio a functional, inspirational creative space.

Requirements

• Category background: A jewellery background is not required — we're open to leaders from adjacent design-led categories (fashion, accessories, footwear, watches, eyewear, leather goods, homeware, beauty, premium consumer product), provided you've driven a design and development pipeline at pace and with rigour, and can build technical fluency quickly.
• Point of view: A clear, expressible point of view on customer, commerciality, newness and process one you'll voice in the room, defend under challenge from senior stakeholders including the founder and CPO, and commit to fully once a decision is made.
• Calendar ownership: Proven end-to-end ownership of a product calendar (brief → concept → development → sign off → launch), holding a Head of Product Development to account without being the deepest technical expert in the room.
• Organisation: Exceptional organisation across complex, multi-workstream calendars with many dependencies — evidence of building or fixing a critical path, not just working to one.
• Range of altitude: Comfortable operating strategically and in the detail of a range plan, critical path or technical pack — this is a small, fast team.
• Leadership of creative people: A track record of leading designers or other creative specialists and demonstrably improving their output.

Qualifications

• Ability to document your authorisation to work in the United Kingdom.
• Travel requirements: This role requires 2-3 days in our Norfolk office. Outside of this, hybrid working is an option or being based in the London office. Regular travel oversees (Italy, India, Thailand) 1-2 times per year.