Chi tiết công việc Design Lead tại ODM Group
Working time: Mon-Fri (8AM - 5PM, lunch break: 12PM - 1PM).
Working location: FL5, ASG Tower, 683-685 Dien Bien Phu Street, Thanh My Tay Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
ROLE OVERVIEW
- As Design Lead, you will manage our Vietnam design team and play a key role in turning client briefs and early-stage ideas into strong, commercially relevant and manufacturable product concepts.
- This role requires more than excellent visual design.
- We are looking for someone who understands how an idea becomes a physical product, considering materials, construction, manufacturing methods, cost, usability and presentation from the beginning of the design process.
- You will work closely with Sales, Product Development, Merchandising and Production, helping projects move effectively through:
Client Brief → Idea → Visualisation → Product Concept → Development → Sample → Production
- A major part of the role is partnering with Sales. You should be comfortable understanding a client's commercial objective, improving or challenging a brief, developing alternative concepts and helping Sales present ideas that are both compelling and realistic.
- You will also be responsible for developing the capability of the Design team, improving design quality and ensuring designers think beyond the visual towards product feasibility, commercial opportunity and production reality.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Product Development & Visualisation
- Translate client briefs, sketches and early-stage ideas into clear, compelling and commercially viable product concepts.
- Develop concepts with a strong understanding of how the final physical product will look, function and be manufactured.
- Create and guide high-quality product visualisations, mock-ups, 3D renders, specification drawings and client presentation materials.
- Explore materials, construction methods, finishes, printing techniques and manufacturing solutions during concept development.
- Consider manufacturing feasibility, target cost, MOQ, lead time and production complexity during the design stage.
- Work closely with Product Development, Merchandising and Production to refine designs following factory feedback and sampling.
- Review prototypes and samples against the original design intent and help resolve design or manufacturing issues.
- Develop alternative solutions when an original concept is too expensive, difficult to manufacture or commercially unsuitable.
2. Commercial Design & Sales Partnership
- Work closely with Sales to understand the client's brand, objectives, target audience, budget and commercial opportunity before beginning design.
- Help Sales turn incomplete or broad client briefs into stronger product propositions.
- Proactively contribute ideas rather than simply execute what has been requested.
- Develop alternative product directions where appropriate, helping Sales provide clients with meaningful choices.
- Balance creativity with commercial viability, cost and production reality.
- Participate in key client briefings, brainstorming sessions and presentations.
- Clearly communicate and defend the thinking behind concepts to Sales teams and international clients.
- Identify opportunities to improve or expand a product concept through better design and product development.
- Develop a strong understanding of ODM's customers, product categories and commercial priorities.
3. Design Leadership & Quality
- Set high standards for product design, industrial design, graphic execution, visualisation and presentation across the team.
- Review and challenge design work before it reaches Sales or clients.
- Ensure concepts are not only visually strong but accurate, executable and commercially relevant.
- Provide clear creative and technical direction to designers.
- Encourage designers to move beyond execution towards stronger problem solving and product thinking.
- Stay current with product, packaging, materials, manufacturing and design trends and translate relevant developments into new ideas for ODM clients.
- Establish strong quality-control practices to reduce design errors and unnecessary revisions.
4. Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, coach and develop the Vietnam Design team across industrial/product and graphic design.
- Allocate workload according to project priority, complexity, deadlines and individual capability.
- Provide regular feedback, coaching and structured design reviews.
- Identify skills gaps and build stronger team capabilities in product development, visualisation and commercial design.
- Set clear expectations around design quality, accuracy, ownership and deadlines.
- Encourage designers to collaborate directly with Sales and Product Development rather than working in isolation.
- Conduct performance reviews and support individual development plans.
- Build a collaborative environment where team members take ownership and continuously improve their skills.
5. Design-to-Production Management
- Own the quality of the design process from initial brief through handover for product development.
- Ensure drawings, dimensions, specifications and visual references are sufficiently detailed for Product Development and factories to understand the design intent.
- Work with Product Development and Merchandising to identify potential manufacturing risks early.
- Review factory feedback and samples and help determine the best design solution.
- Ensure important design changes are clearly documented and communicated.
- Continuously improve the handover and collaboration between:
Sales → Design → Product Development → Production
YOUR STAKEHOLDERS
Reporting to:
CEO & Managing Director
Key Internal Partners:
1. Sales
2. Product Development & Realisation
3. Merchandising / Sourcing
4. Production
5. Marketing
Team Responsibility:
1. Industrial / Product Designer(s)
2. Graphic Designer(s)
3. Design Intern(s), where applicable
Job requirements
Essential
● Bachelor's degree in Product Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design or a related design discipline.
● Minimum 5–7 years of professional design experience, ideally across product, industrial or multidisciplinary design.
● At least 2 years' experience in a senior, lead or people-management capacity.
● Strong portfolio demonstrating the development of physical products, not only graphic design, branding or digital work.
● Proven ability to take an idea from brief or sketch through visualisation and product development.
● Strong product visualisation and presentation capability, including experience with relevant 2D and/or 3D design software.
● Good understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, product construction, finishes and printing techniques.
● Ability to consider manufacturing feasibility and commercial constraints during the design process.
● Demonstrated experience reviewing, challenging and improving the work of other designers.
● Experience working cross-functionally with Sales, Product Development, Sourcing, Engineering or Production teams.
● Ability to manage multiple projects, priorities and deadlines while maintaining high design standards.
● Business-level English, written and spoken, with the confidence to communicate directly with international colleagues and clients.
Candidates from Product Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design or multidisciplinary design backgrounds are welcome, but strong experience developing physical products is essential.
Strong Advantage
● Experience designing consumer products, promotional merchandise, packaging, POS/display, gifts, premiums or other manufactured branded products.
● Experience working directly with factories or suppliers.
● Experience reviewing prototypes, samples and pre-production products.
● Experience with manufacturing and sourcing in Vietnam, China or wider Asia.
● Experience partnering directly with Sales or Account Management teams.
● Strong 3D rendering and product visualisation capability.
● Hand sketching and rapid concept-development skills.
● Experience presenting concepts directly to international clients.
THE PERSON WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We are looking for a designer, product thinker and team leader
You are someone who naturally thinks beyond the visual.
When you see a concept, you start asking:
- How will this be made?
- What material should we use?
- Can we simplify or improve it?
- What will it cost to manufacture?
- Will it look as good in reality as it does in the visualisation?
- Does it genuinely answer the client's brief?
- Can Sales confidently sell this idea?
- You should be comfortable challenging ideas constructively, proposing alternatives and collaborating with different departments to find better solutions.
- You should also enjoy developing people — raising design standards, providing constructive feedback and helping designers become stronger product thinkers.
- At ODM Group, we value creativity, curiosity, commercial awareness, ownership and practical problem solving.
- The successful candidate will help us strengthen the connection between great design, manufacturable products and commercial results.
