COS Senior Designer - Womenswear (softs)

We are looking for a senior designer with strong expertise in soft woven & jersey women's wear to join our London‑based team on an in‑season, reactive design basis. This is an exciting opportunity to shape our upcoming collection through a focused, creative process. Working closely with our design leads, you’ll identify tendencies and opportunities the season may have missed, translating them into elevated, modern soft woven garments that embody the COS design philosophy – functional elegance, sculptural simplicity, and purposeful detail.

You will also work on long‑lead‑time fancy jersey with a particular focus on products that drive femininity in a contemporary and effortless way. You’ll be responsible for delivering the company vision and targets within your department and leading your team toward achieving them. You are responsible for developing a strong, cohesive assortment that reflects the COS aesthetic and meets customer needs. This role centres around soft woven products focusing primarily on dresses, skirts and jersey. You will also work with reactive, in‑season design of highly targeted pieces with a quicker, end‑to‑end development flow. Projects will be cross‑category but will have a particularly strong focus on flou.

What you will do:

• Design predominantly into the soft woven and jersey category, responding to real‑time needs identified for the upcoming season, working to a brief provided by the Head of Design.
• Capture and articulate missed tendencies or emerging opportunities to enrich the collection.
• Collaborate closely with dedicated factory partners.
• Create designs with a faster‑than‑usual turnaround – from initial sketch through to toile, prototype and final development – and work on long‑lead‑time jersey fancy and soft wovens products allowing for in‑depth stand‑work, draping, and pre‑development fittings.
• Partner closely with the factory team, who will be based in London during the launch and development phases.
• Lead fittings planned in a concise window from our central London atelier.
• Lead research and trend analysis to maintain strong customer insight, monitor market changes, and ensure designs meet evolving expectations.
• Ensure high standards of quality, design integrity, and technical expertise in textiles and colours, while developing trends and supporting seasonal campaigns.
• Work closely with cross‑functional teams to maintain critical paths, improve processes, and deliver efficient workflows that support assortment and brand growth.

Qualifications:

• Strong, proven experience as a senior womenswear designer in contemporary, premium, or luxury brands. A soft‑wear background is essential.
• Strong aesthetic aligned with COS Modern, brand‑relevant, effortless womenswear.
• Silhouette‑driven designs and innovative construction.
• In‑depth understanding of fabric behaviour, drape and technical nuance within soft wovens.
• A refined eye for thoughtful detail and elevated simplicity.

Technical & creative capabilities:

• Confident hand sketching.
• Strong understanding of pattern cutting and garment construction.
• Experience using 3D design tools is a plus.

Collaborative ways of working:

• Ability to work to precise briefs and fast‑paced timelines.
• Comfortable responding to feedback and revising quickly.
• Experience partnering with product development teams or factories.
• Strong experience in leading and driving fittings.
• Strong organisation and self‑management skills.

Please include a portfolio or examples of your work most suited to the COS design aesthetic.

Additional Information:

This is a full‑time permanent role based at our Head Office in London.

Benefits:

• All employees receive a 25% staff discount usable on all H&M Group brands in stores and online.
• All employees are included in our H&M Incentive Program – HIP.
• Up to 25 days holiday.
• Annual health checks.
• Pension scheme.
• Discounts on various activities and financial/lifestyle products via our benefits hub.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Discounted gym membership.
• Employee assistance via retail trust.
• Private health & dental care.

Inclusion & Diversity:

At COS we’re determined to create and maintain inclusive, diverse and equitable workplaces throughout our organisation. Our teams should consist of a variety of people that share and combine their knowledge, experience and ideas. Having a diverse workforce leads to a positive impact on how we address challenges, on what we perceive possible and how we choose to relate to our colleagues and customers all over the world. Hence all diversity dimensions are taken into consideration in our recruitment process.