Job Description
Working Pattern: Typically 5 days a week onsite with core flexible hours between 8am and 6pm.
Next Sourcing is looking for a trend-driven experienced Footwear Designer to develop and deliver Mens and Girls footwear designs.
What You’ll Take On
- Design the Full Menswear & Girlswear Footwear Range: Create everything from trend-led casual trainers and streetwear to sandals and slippers, ensuring a cohesive, modern, and versatile aesthetic across the department.
- Translate Global Trends: Research and filter global street style, runway trends, and material innovations into "must-have" products tailored to the NEXT customer.
- Inspirational & Development Travel: Embark on seasonal trips to key global fashion hubs for trend inspiration, and visit international factories and tanneries to oversee prototyping and strengthen manufacturing relationships.
- Drive Rapid Design Cycles: Respond swiftly to design briefs with high energy and precision, producing fast-turnaround CAD concepts, material specs, and technical details without compromising on style.
- Balance Cost, Comfort, and Quality: Design intelligently within strict target price points, selecting the right leathers, textiles, and soling components to maintain a premium feel and maximum comfort at a competitive price.
- Partner with Global Teams: Work daily with Buyers and Merchandisers to align on range plans, and collaborate directly with overseas technical factories to ensure designs are executed to exact construction specifications.
- Ensure Timely Delivery: Manage your critical path effectively to meet tight production calendars, driving products seamlessly from initial sketch to final production-ready sample.
What You’ll Bring
- A Passion for Product: A strong understanding of footwear construction, lasts, materials, and components across both formal and casual categories.
- Commercial Awareness: The ability to look at high-end trends and understand how to translate them into volume-selling, wearable products for the high street.
- Technical Proficiency: Excellent CAD skills (using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop) to produce clear, detailed tech packs for factory manufacturing.
- Strong Organisation & Pace: Comfort working in a fast-paced environment, with the organisational skills to manage multiple seasonal deadlines at once.
- Collaboration & Communication: A positive, team-focused attitude with the confidence to pitch your design ideas clearly to buyers and build strong relationships with international suppliers.
Portfolios
To help us get a feel for your style, please attach a digital portfolio. We’re looking for work that demonstrates a sharp eye for the future of menswear and girlswear footwear, how these concepts can be commercially viable for NEXT, and showcases your design process, material specs, and CAD work within this.
Applications without a portfolio will not be considered.
Sponsorship
Candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship for this role will be required to meet the Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further information please see: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.
About The Team
- 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
- Profit-related bonus - based on company performance
- Management share options
- Company car or car allowance
- Private medical insurance
- Sharesave scheme - make savings from your net pay to buy NEXT shares at a discount
- Pension - fixed contribution rates from both an employer and employee perspective, but you’re also able to make additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) if you wish to save more
- Life assurance
- Group income protection
- Wagestream - helping you make the most out of your money
- Salary finance - offers access to affordable loans repaid through salary, simple savings and free financial education
- 25 % staff discount on most NEXT products - plus discount on other products
- Direct to work - NEXT orders delivered free to the office for collection
- VIP sale - early access to the NEXT sale
- Access to NEXT staff shops
- Octopus energy - like cycle-to-work, but for electric vehicles
- Free parking (excluding London locations)
- Travel2NEXT - bus services dependent on location
- On-site dining facilities (excluding London locations)
- National and local discounts on goods and services - this includes things like discounted cinema tickets
- Wellhub - includes access to discounted gym membership
- Simply health - a healthcare subscription service
- Aviva Digicare Workplace+ healthcare service - 7 free services including Digital GP appointments and an annual health check
- On-site GP - Leicester Head Office
- On-site Physio - Leicester Head Office
- A range of dedicated 3rd-party wellbeing partners
- Free eye testing - voucher to use at specific locations
Conditions apply to all benefits. These benefits are discretionary and subject to change.
We aim to support all candidates during the application process and are happy to provide workplace adjustments when necessary. Should you need support with your application due to a disability or long-term condition, feel free to get in touch with us by email headoffice_careers@next.co.uk (please include "Workplace Adjustments" in the subject line), or call us on 0116 284 2486 and leave a voicemail.
