Industrial/product designer : Employers and vacancy sources

Some industrial/product designers work in-house for manufacturing or service companies, some work on their own as self-employed freelancers and some are based in design consultancies, working on a range of client projects.

Those who work in-house are typically employed by large industrial and domestic product manufacturers who are likely to have multidisciplinary teams working on new product development. Among these are multinational companies producing household name products.

Some manufacturers, including some of the larger ones, seek designs from outside their organisation, giving rise to opportunities for designers working freelance or in design consultancies. Design consultancies may be large or small, specialised or more general in nature, and may work on designs for products including industrial, scientific or medical equipment, consumer products and packaging, and children’s toys. They work on designs for:

• industrial and domestic product manufacturers;
• car manufacturers;
• point-of-sale designers;
• retailers.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) provide opportunities within small and medium-sized companies in collaboration with a university. More information can be found at Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) .

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• Design Week  
• Directory of Design Consultants  
• Concept Car  
• New Design Partners  - directory of UK design consultancies.
• Coroflot  - US site for design professionals.
• JustEngineers  
• Your university careers service and your academic department.

Recruitment agencies handle vacancies. See Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)  for a list of recruitment agencies, dealing with product designers or design engineers. 

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