Senior Designer - Womenswear (softs) in London

We are looking for a senior designer with strong expertise in soft woven & jersey womenswear to join our London-based team on an in-season, reactive design basis. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape our upcoming collection through a focused, creative process. Working closely with our design leads, you’ll identify tendencies and opportunities we may have missed for the season ahead, 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 will 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 with 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, proto and final development.
• 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. Softs background essential.
• Strong aesthetic aligned with COS.
• Modern, brand relevant, effortless womenswear.
• Silhouette driven designs and innovative construction.
• In depth understanding for 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 of leading and driving fittings.
• Strong organisation and self-management skills.

Please kindly note that in order for us to consider your application, you will need to 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

We offer all our employees attractive benefits with extensive development opportunities around the globe. All our employees receive a 25% staff discount usable on all our H&M Group brands in stores and online. In addition to our staff discount, all our employees are included in our H&M Incentive Program – HIP.

In addition to this UK based colleagues also receive:

• 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 on 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.

Company Description

COS offers a wardrobe of ready-to-wear and accessories rooted in exceptional quality and lasting design. The creative soul of the brand is fuelled by a deep connection to modern culture, dynamic global cities and compelling fashion movements. With an emphasis on expert craftsmanship, innovation and materiality, collections are created with a mindful approach, seamlessly blending contemporary and timeless.

Ready to register interest? Click on the I’M INTERESTED link where you can upload your CV and portfolio securely. Once we have received your application, we will keep you updated regularly about the status of your application so please look out for our email. We are looking forward to hearing from you!