Senior Industrial Designer

About Learning Resources:

We are Learning Resources®, and learning is where we play. Voted one of the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces, we’re a growing, family-owned company known for our award-winning educational toys, including top sellers Pretend & Play® Calculator Cash Register, Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set and multiple Toy of the Year winners! We even help pets learn and grow through our pet brand Brightkins®. If you’re curious, collaborative, and a kid at heart, you’ll feel right at home here. Join us in shaping the future of learning with our award-winning team!

Team & Position Description:

We are looking for a Senior Industrial Designer to join our Creative team in Vernon Hills, IL. This role offers the opportunity to design across a diverse range of toy and pet brands, including high-impact products for both Learning Resources and Brightkins®. You’ll work on a collaborative, fast-paced team that values creativity, ownership, and bringing products to life quickly—from early concept exploration through production. This is a hands-on role for a senior designer who enjoys building, iterating, and solving real product challenges. If you're passionate about toy design and want to make a direct impact in a growing, family-owned company, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll do day to day:

• Lead the design and development of 15–20 Learning Resources children toy products and 10–14 Brightkins pet toy products annually, from concept through production
• Own projects end-to-end, proactively driving progress, identifying risks, and moving work forward with minimal supervision
• Generate multiple concept directions and quickly iterate from sketch through 3D models and functional prototypes
• Develop CAD models, renderings, and specification documents to communicate concepts to internal teams and external vendors
• Translate concepts into manufacturable, durable, and functional products by resolving engineering, material, and assembly challenges
• Partner with cross-functional teams (Product Management, Manufacturers/engineering, Packaging, Creative, Marketing, Sales) to maintain momentum and meet timelines
• Support user testing and incorporate feedback to refine and validate product concepts
• Mentor junior designers and contribute to a collaborative, high-performing team environment

What we’re looking for (Key Performance Objectives):

• Independently drive product development to deliver assigned projects on schedule with minimal oversight throughout the development lifecycle (concept through production)
• Deliver high-quality design solutions that meet project timelines and achieve ~95% approval rate from cross-functional partners within each project phase
• Generate and iterate multiple design concepts to arrive at strong final solutions early in each development phase (concept + refinement stages)
• Develop manufacturable, durable products by resolving design, engineering, and material challenges prior to final production handoff
• Collaborate cross-functionally and with vendors to maintain project momentum and ensure 100% milestone alignment across development timelines

Requirements / Ideal Attributes:

• Portfolio showcasing strong toy design and product development experience
• BS/BA in Industrial Design, Toy Design, or equivalent
• 10+ years of consumer product development experience, expert-level experience in children’s toys (pet product experience also a plus)
• Proficiency in Rhino, KeyShot, Adobe Creative Suite, and 3D prototyping tools
• Strong hands-on prototyping skills across materials and methods
• Deep knowledge of plastics, manufacturing processes, and design for manufacturing
• Strong communicator and collaborator across teams and external partners
• Highly proactive, independent, and detail-oriented with strong ownership mindset

We are a drug-free workplace and an EEO employer.

Please note: This role will be filled by our internal recruitment team, so no assistance is needed from any outside staffing agency at this time.

Compensation Range: $100,000 – $110,000 annual salary – Actual compensation may vary due to other factors such as: years of experience, skill set and location. Total compensation includes profit sharing bonus potential, 401k matching, and a variety of other benefits (details can be found here). 

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