[Hiring] Senior Director of Design & Advanced Development @SharkNinja

Role Description

At SharkNinja, we are redefining how products improve everyday life—and our Senior Director of Design & Advanced Development sits at the very heart of that ambition. We’re seeking a creative leader and future thinker to head up our global Front-End Innovation team: a passionate, hands-on group of design storytellers, engineers, and inventors who bring breakthrough product ideas to life.

This isn’t just a design leadership role—it’s about leading the spark behind SharkNinja’s next generation of iconic products. You'll be the creative catalyst shaping what’s next, helping teams turn blue-sky thinking into tangible, consumer-loved innovations that define categories. Your team will shape the early concept architecture that eventually fuels mass production through our NPD (New Product Development) pipeline.

The ideal candidate is a designer at heart, with deep engineering and design credentials, a natural flair for storytelling, and a relentless passion for solving consumer problems in inventive, inspiring ways.

What You’ll Do

• Lead SharkNinja’s Front-End Innovation team, responsible for driving concept creation, design storytelling, and early platform exploration across all product categories.
• Inspire a team of Industrial Designers and Product Design Engineers to generate physical and visual prototypes that sell ideas and excite cross-functional partners and senior executives.
• Be a design storyteller—capable of pitching future-focused concepts in a way that connects emotionally and drives alignment across the business.
• Champion a studio culture that blends hands-on making, iterative sketching, advanced prototyping, and bold thinking grounded in technical feasibility.
• Partner with Mechanical Engineering, R&D, Product Development, and Product Marketing to ensure early concepts are rooted in a strong, scalable product strategy.
• Integrate deep knowledge of materials, manufacturing methods (e.g., plastic injection molding, die casting, sheet metal), and DFM/DFA to ensure ideas are not just exciting—but achievable.
• Bring context and imagination to every phase of development, combining user insights, trend forecasting, and emerging technologies to shape future design visions.
• Cultivate a high-energy environment where curiosity, creativity, and invention are celebrated and continuously pushed forward.
• Maintain a consumer-obsessed mindset, with a focus on developing products that change behaviors, exceed expectations, and lead markets.

Qualifications

• A degree in Product Design Engineering, Industrial Design, or a related field that blends design and engineering. A PDE background is highly valued for its unique balance of technical rigor and creative thinking.
• 10+ years of experience in product design and innovation, ideally in high-volume consumer goods environments.
• A rich portfolio of category-defining consumer products that demonstrate design excellence, storytelling, and successful commercialization.
• Proven leadership in building and developing creative teams—mentoring talent, championing new voices, and fostering collaboration across disciplines.
• An ability to lead with vision and conviction while remaining hands-on, detail-oriented, and deeply engaged in the creative process.
• A natural presenter and communicator, with the charisma and clarity to sell ideas across all levels of the organization—from engineers to executives.
• Strong technical foundation in high-volume manufacturing and an appreciation for the intersection of creativity and feasibility.
• A love for "making"—whether sketching, building, modeling, or hacking together ideas to inspire others.
• Bold thinking, grounded in insight, empathy, and a deep understanding of consumer behavior.
• A proficiency in SolidWorks or Creo, KeyShot, and Adobe Suite.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Flexible spending accounts
• Health savings accounts (HSA) with company contribution
• 401(k) retirement plan with matching
• Employee stock purchase program
• Life insurance
• AD&D
• Short-term disability insurance
• Long-term disability insurance
• Generous paid time off
• Company holidays
• Parental leave
• Identity theft protection
• Pet insurance
• Pre-paid legal insurance
• Back-up child and eldercare days
• Product discounts
• Referral bonus program
• And more

Pay Range

$188,400 — $265,000 USD