Industrial Design Manager at Hayward in Clemmons, NC

Overview

Hayward Holdings Inc. (NYSE "HAYW") is the largest manufacturer of residential swimming pool equipment in the world, with a significant presence in the commercial pool market that is continuously growing. Hayward designs, manufactures, and markets a full line of residential and commercial pool and spa equipment including pumps, filters, heating, cleaners, salt chlorinators, automation, lighting, safety, flow control, and energy solutions at our company-owned facilities. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Hayward also has facilities in Tennessee, Arizona, and Rhode Island as well as Canada, Spain, France, Australia, and China.

As an Industrial Design Manager within Hayward’s Global Innovation organization, you will lead and execute Industrial Design for key product platforms and active NPD programs across connected physical products and digital touchpoints.

This is a high-impact role responsible for delivering product experience quality, stewarding Hayward’s Visual Design Language (VDL), and translating customer insights into differentiated, manufacturable solutions within defined program scope.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Global Innovation, you will work closely with Product Management and Engineering within a collaborative NPD trifecta to deliver near‑ and mid‑term platform programs.

Responsibilities

Design Leadership and Execution

Lead industrial design execution for assigned product platforms and NPD programs, ensuring alignment to design intent, user needs, and business objectives.

Apply and help evolve Hayward’s Visual Design Language (VDL) across assigned product platforms and NPD programs, ensuring consistency and brand alignment across both physical and digital touchpoints.

Ensure high standards of design quality, usability, and manufacturability from early concepts through production release.

Systems Thinking and Product Experience

Translate complex customer needs and use cases into holistic product experiences balancing aesthetics, ergonomics, usability, theory of operation, technical feasibility, and manufacturability.

Design for the full product lifecycle including installation, setup, operation, troubleshooting, service, and long-term ownership across multiple user personas.

Partner closely with Product, Mechanical, Electrical, Firmware, Software, UX, and Cloud teams to maintain design intent while resolving technical constraints throughout development and through launch.

Concept Development and Prototyping

Support early-stage concept exploration for next‑generation connected products, including proof‑of‑concept and proof‑of‑technology efforts within defined program scope.

Create and evaluate low‑, mid‑, and high‑fidelity prototypes to inform product definition, validate assumptions, communicate design intent and proctor user experience testing.

Prepare prototypes and design artifacts to support cross-functional design reviews and program decisions.

Research, Insight, and Validation

Collaborate with internal VOC, Human Factors, and Insights teams and Product Management to incorporate user insights across multiple personas into product concepts and value propositions.

Support early validation activities and contribute to strong Phase 0 concepts and requirements definition.

Synthesize qualitative and quantitative insights into clear, actionable design direction.

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Execution

Work as an equal partner with Product Management and Engineering within Hayward’s NPD trifecta to frame problems, align tradeoffs, and land decisions.

Support design control activities including requirements alignment, risk documentation, and design-for‑manufacturing considerations.

Collaborate with external partners as needed to support program execution under defined direction.

Team Leadership and Design Culture

Provide day-to‑day guidance, feedback, and mentorship to designers and cross‑functional partners, supporting skill development and design quality.

Promote design best practices and a collaborative, user-focused design culture within the organization.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design or related field.

Seven or more years of professional Industrial Design experience leading complex manufactured products or programs.

Proven experience designing connected devices and systems integrating physical hardware with digital experiences.

Strong understanding of the full product development lifecycle from research through production release.

Strong portfolio demonstrating end-to-end product and system design work, including consistent VDL execution across a portfolio of disparate product archetypes.

Ability to travel domestically approximately 10–20%, with occasional international travel.

What We Look For (Preferred)

Mix of corporate and consultancy experience.

Advanced CAD and surfacing capability.

Demonstrated interest in mentorship, influence, and design leadership.

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