Head of Product Design (Handbags, Accessories & Gifting)

Introducing a brand-new position to lead our Product Design department. As Head of Product Design, you will be the creative and strategic force driving the future of Katie Loxton's global product vision. From bold concept creation to commercially dynamic ideation, you will lead the design direction that propels the brands forward across every touchpoint with a key focus on our online and in‑store channels, and a focus on our growing USA market. This is a highly strategic role where you will collaborate closely with other department leads to define channel strategy and elevate product performance and brand impact across all channels.

This is an opportunity for you to combine creativity, leadership, strategy and commercial thinking to make your own impact on the next chapter of product design at Katie Loxton. You will take full ownership of developing and inspiring a high‑performing Product Design team, guiding them to create collections that truly connect with our customers across all channels and locations. You will thrive on delivering innovative, customer‑led design on time and to budget, ensuring every collection not only excites creatively but performs commercially. Innovation and experience will sit at the heart of everything you do. You will champion creativity across the entire customer journey, ensuring every product aligns seamlessly with the company's mission and brand positioning.

This is a hybrid role meaning you'll be based at our Head Office in Banbury, Oxfordshire three days a week on average, this may flex up to five days per week during sign off/peak seasons.

HOW YOU'LL CONTRIBUTE

• Lead and own the Product Design function, setting a clear creative vision that relentlessly uplifts, evolves, and redefines the brand within the affordable luxury space.
• Partner with the Creative Director and Managing Director to shape long‑term brand and product strategy, championing design as a core growth driver.
• Act as the custodian of product design vision, translating brand ambition into compelling, market‑relevant ranges.
• Define and deliver the product design strategy across all channels, with key focus of UK online, retail stores, and US market growth, ensuring product drives both brand desirability and commercial performance.
• Collaborate with the Creative Director / Co‑Founder to shape bold, forward‑looking collection ideation and frameworks that elevate brand perception, hero aspirational luxury.
• Challenge category norms, while proactively identifying unmet customer and market opportunities.
• Translate brand ambition into a cohesive, future‑facing product roadmap, ensuring design strategy directly supports growth, differentiation, and long‑term brand value.
• Partner closely with senior and cross‑functional stakeholders, including the Head of E‑commerce, Brand, and Creative, to ensure creative direction and product development are fully represented in strategic discussions.
• Take end‑to‑end ownership of the product journey from concept through individual channel execution to deliver seamless execution and maximum business impact.
• Lead cross‑functional alignment with Heads of Buying, Merchandising, and Sales to define commercial levers, pricing tiers, and volume drivers.
• Own delivery of product to budget, margin, and KPI targets.
• Take full ownership of range architecture, option plans, and product mix by channel and territory.
• Analyse consumer and product performance data to evaluate the success of initiatives, partnering with Buying, Merchandising, and Sales to identify opportunities, optimise ranges, and drive continuous improvement in line with growth strategy.
• Proactively research and analyse market trends and competitor activity to anticipate opportunities, ensuring the brand consistently delivers inspiring, differentiated, and aspirational product ranges for all key markets.
• Lead and inspire a high‑performing design team, coaching and mentoring across all levels to foster creative excellence, innovation, and accountability, ensuring the team consistently meets goals and drives forward the brand's product vision.
• Take full responsibility for all design direction and product development, both creatively and technically, mentoring and upleveling designers to push technical boundaries and designers skillsets.
• Champion the sourcing of new materials/techniques and technologies, embedding sustainability, innovation, and quality into product development across all ranges.
• Ensure personalisation is embedded as a strategic differentiator within the product roadmap.
• Challenge and align creative briefs from all departments, ensuring alignment with overall ROI and commercial strategies.

THE TALENT YOU'LL BRING

• Proven experience working within a similar role within Handbags and Accessories categories.
• A proven track record of delivering highly successful creative product strategies.
• A positive and inspiring leader with excellent stakeholder influencing skills.
• Strong storytelling ability with strong understanding of how this will impact Marketing, Ecommerce and Sales objectives.
• The ability to analyse data to use key insights to develop successful and commercial collections.
• An outstanding sense of design with a strong eye for detail, and an ability to execute luxury design details, and a high attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with strong experience leading and developing a best in class Product design department with various specialisms.
• A wide creative background working across all channels including digital.
• A deep understanding of brand strategy and customer behaviour.
• Excellent knowledge of Adobe Suite.
• An outstanding portfolio, demonstrating concepts from ideation to creation.
• An extremely organised multi‑tasker that can respond to changes quickly with an ability to work under tight timelines.
• Strong project management and great problem‑solving skills and an ability to prioritise your own workload effectively to ensure all deadlines are met.
• Strong people management skills.
• A strong track record in project planning, including accurate budget and critical path management.

PERFECTLY PACKAGED

• A competitive salary.
• 33 days holiday including bank holidays rising to 35 with length of service.
• A broad benefits package including our staff favourite – a very generous staff discount across both our brands.
• Opportunities to make an impact as well as learn and develop further.
• An innovative and friendly workplace with a team we're proud to be part of.