Job Description

Product Designer - Sanitary-ware

Roper Rhodes is one of Britain's leading companies in Bathroom products. Due to an internal promotion, we are looking for a talented & enthusiastic Product Designer to work on new product development projects within our Sanitary ware category. The role is based at our Headquarters in the city of Bath with occasional travel to our premises in Bristol. There is the opportunity of some hybrid working too. The key elements of the position are as follows:

Concept generation & development.

CAD (Solid Works) modelling, rendering (KeyShot) and preparation of detailed engineering drawings.

Prototyping, sample management and test/evaluation.

Managing FMEA, technical testing and sign-off processes from a product perspective, working with our QC and Technical managers.

Adopting the principles of the circular economy, designing in a sustainable manner to reduce the carbon footprint of products which we bring to market.

Preparation of new product specifications and supporting documentation.

Project management tasks, working alongside the sanitary ware category manager to bring new products to market.

Continuous product improvement.

Working closely with other departments to deliver best in class support to marketing and internal / external customers.

POS / packaging design & development.

The Applicant:

The successful applicant will have a good standard degree in product / industrial design with a minimum of 3-5 years' relevant work experience within a product design environment. This may include a period of work experience during their degree studies.

Key Skills:

First or upper second-class degree in Product / Industrial Design / Design Engineering or similar. Highly organised, detail oriented and practiced in working on multiple projects at once with a proactive approach.
Experience of working in busy teams to a high degree of accuracy, with the ability to work to tight deadlines and keep calm under pressure.

A thorough knowledge of Solid Works and Adobe Creative Suite. Knowledge of Key Shot would be advantageous.

An interest and passion in Sustainable design and working within the Circular Economy.

An analytical mind/approach with a good working knowledge of Microsoft packages including Excel in particular.

Capable of a real hands-on approach to product development, with a demonstrable understanding & interest in the technical aspects of product design and development.

An understanding of a wide variety of manufacturing processes and materials.

Very bright and practical, with outstanding communication skills.

Capability to work and liaise internally and externally with people at all levels.

Highly self-motivated and able to use initiative to achieve the required results.

Practical workshop skills for modelling, prototyping and testing.

Preferred Skills:

Knowledge of ceramics and associated production processes. Experience collaborating with global supply chains.

Who we are:

Roper Rhodes are a leading supplier of bathroom products within the UK and Ireland, with an excellent reputation and a turnover in excess of 90m. We have over 240 employees based across our Bath office & Bristol warehouse sites.

We are also part of the Svedbergs Group of bathroom companies, headquartered in Sweden:
https://www.svedbergsgroup.com/

Our customers include major national retailers, national / regional builder's merchants, and a nationwide network of independent bathroom retailers. In addition to this we also produce bathroom products for several retailers under their own label programmes.

We are highly focused on product development & product vitality as a key part of our business. Our products are manufactured to our own designs and manufactured with partners all over the world.

We have a portfolio of three in-house brands as follows:

Roper Rhodes

https://www.roperrhodes.co.uk/

Tavistock

https://www.tavistock-bathrooms.co.uk/

R2

https://www.r2bathrooms.co.uk/

The Team:

We have a large Product Development team who work closely alongside the wider marketing and supply chain teams. The Product Development department structure is as follows:

Product Development Team Structure:

Product Director 2 x Heads of Category 5 x Category Managers (Product Development Managers) 1 x Senior Product Designer 3 x Product Designers 3 x Product Design Assistants 1 x Product Assistant 1 x Product Design Intern 1 x Technical Manager 1x Assistant Compliance Manager 3 x QC Engineers (based overseas)

Salary & Other Benefits:

Whilst this is going to be dependent upon the candidate's experience and skills, the salary guide is circa 35k to 40k p.a. and provides a great opportunity to further your design career in a forward-thinking company.

In addition to this, we have a company profit related bonus scheme, as well as a Life Assurance scheme and attractive Pension arrangements. Roper Rhodes contributes 7% of your salary into the pension scheme with a compulsory 1% contribution from you, giving a total contribution of 8%. You are encouraged to increase your own contribution to this pension scheme from your earnings and by way of an incentive the company will match any additional percentage up to and including 2%. This would give you a potential contribution of 12% of salary at a cost of only 3% to you.

Holiday allowance starts at 25 days in the first year (pro rata) plus bank holidays. After 3 years' service entitlement will raise to 26 days and a further additional day is awarded after 5 years' service taking entitlement to 27 days (plus bank holidays). There is also the option to purchase 5 extra days per year.

Other benefits include:

Employee Assistance Program (We Care) for use by all employees and their immediate families.

Toothfairy Online Dental Assistance Program.

Gym Membership discount Scheme.

Holiday purchase Scheme.

Cycle Purchase Scheme.

Tech Purchase Scheme.

Discounted electric car charging.

Discounted Staff Product Purchases.

Free on site parking.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: 35,000.00-40,000.00 per year

Additional pay:

Bonus scheme
Benefits:

Additional leave Company events Company pension Cycle to work scheme Employee discount Health & wellbeing programme Life insurance On-site parking Sick pay
Schedule:

Monday to Friday
Ability to commute/relocate:

Bath BA1 3JF: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Language:

English (required)
Work authorisation:

United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person