The Senior Colorist is a subject-matter expert and strategic partner responsible for leading color integrity, execution, and continuous improvement for Nordstrom Made brands. This role owns color development, approval strategy, and cross-category consistency of color while serving as a trusted advisor to Design, Product Development, Raw Materials, and external suppliers.
The Senior Colorist brings deep technical color knowledge, strong vendor partnership skills, and the ability to proactively identify and resolve color risk across multiple brands, categories, and seasons. This role operates with a high degree of autonomy, manages Colorists, and plays a key role in evolving NPG color processes, standards, and capabilities.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Manage a team of colorists that support color approvals for all Nordstrom Made brands
- Own end-to-end color approval for lab dips through bulk for a selection of brands, ensuring color consistency across different raw materials
- Train and coach international manufacturers regarding color approval guidelines, supporting them through certification and submission processes.
- Provide guidance and support to colorists on complex color decisions and workload prioritization
- Own and evolve Nordstrom Made color processes, standards and best practices
- Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively
LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES:
- Decision Quality: Incorporates inputs from various sources to make effective decisions, knowing when to act independently and when to escalate issues.
- Develops People: Support team members in the creation of development plans that align with the priorities of the organization and meet their career goals.
- Customer Focus: Builds strong customer relationships, solicits feedback, remedies issues, and has a clear understanding of the level of service the team is providing.
- Builds Trust: Gains the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity and authenticity and with consistency between what is said and what is done.
- Communicates Effectively: Conveys information in writing and verbally in a clear, concise, and professional manner. Listens attentively and works to keep others well informed.
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
- Expert color acuity and technical understanding of dyeing and production processes
- Experience partnering directly with global suppliers and cross-functional teams
- Strong problem solving, organization and time management skills; ability to multi-task
- Clear written and verbal communication skills, strong interpersonal skills
- Demonstrated success in managing complex color programs across multiple categories and suppliers
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in Textile or Fashion Design or related field preferred
- 5+ years of color development experience in apparel
- Strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel (MS Office Suite), and PLM systems
We’ve got you covered…
Our employees are our most important asset and that’s reflected in our benefits. Nordstrom is proud to offer a variety of benefits to support employees and their families, including:
Medical/Vision, Dental, Retirement and Paid Time Away
Life Insurance and Disability
Merchandise Discount and EAP Resources
A few more important points...
The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive. There may be additional duties, responsibilities and qualifications for this job.
For Los Angeles or San Francisco applicants: Nordstrom is required to inform you that we conduct background checks after conditional offer and consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with legal requirements per Los Angeles, Cal. Muni. Code 189.04 and the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. For additional state and location specific notices, please refer to the Legal Notices document within the FAQ section of the Nordstrom Careers site.
Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation should contact the nearest Nordstrom location, which can be identified at www.nordstrom.com.
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Current Nordstrom employees: To apply, log into Workday, click the Careers button and then click Find Jobs.
Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.
Pay Range Details
The pay range(s) below has been provided in compliance with state specific laws. Pay ranges may be different for other locations.
Pay offers are dependent on the location, as well as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Textile or Fashion Design or related field preferred
- 5+ years of color development experience in apparel
- Strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel (MS Office Suite)
- Experience with PLM systems
Nordstrom Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Nordstrom and has not been reviewed or approved by Nordstrom.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare options are described as broad, including medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside virtual care and mental health support. Additional protections like disability coverage, life/AD&D, and accounts such as HSA/FSA further strengthen the overall health-and-protection offering.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits include a 401(k) plan with a defined employer match structure and access to additional financial programs like an employee stock purchase plan. Commuter accounts, transit subsidies, and adoption assistance add to the overall financial support beyond base pay.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-away benefits include PTO accrual, paid holidays, bereavement leave, parental and bonding leave, and a sabbatical program after tenure. PTO sharing and donation options expand flexibility in how time off can be used and supported across colleagues.
Nordstrom Insights
What We Do
When you join Nordstrom, you join a fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment is paired with the strong history and experience of the Nordstrom retail legacy. We have access to some of the greatest minds in retail and technology and are constantly creating innovative strategies to develop the ultimate apparel solutions.
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