Sustainable Packaging Designer

Burt's Bees wants to mind its own beeswax, but sting the competition. The company makes and markets lip balm, bath oils, soaps, and about 150 other personal care products made from beeswax, nut oils, and other natural ingredients. Its products are sold through the Burt's Bees website, as well as through some 30,000 health food and grocery stores located in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The company was founded in Maine in 1984 when Roxanne Quimby met reclusive beekeeper Burt Shavitz and they began making candles and lip balm from his beeswax. Burt's Bees is now owned by cleaning-products-giant Clorox. 

Position Overview:

The Packaging or Industrial Designer , champions sustainable packaging innovation for Burt's Bees challenging the status quo and influencing the Burt's Bees Packaging Team as well as Clorox Design Team to think differently and sustainably. Primary responsibilities of this role are to influence the beginning stages of the innovation process, establish, own and ensure adherence to a brand visual design language and identity and evolve the Packaging Standard.

The Designer is an integral part of project teams in front-end innovation and in creating improved consumer experiences with current products. The Designer will lead the development of solutions to meet consumer needs, using Design Thinking, a nonlinear, creative, end-to-end problem solving process infused with deep user understanding. Without direct reports, this position needs to have a pragmatic side with an ability to think big while also implementing and influencing.

Responsibilities: 

Essential Duties 

• Observe consumer behavior, identify key insights, and create new solutions to delight her. 
• Translate ideas, real time, into concept sketches in front of large groups during ideation sessions or consumer focus groups. 
• Create stimuli for building ideas with project teams and consumers (ie sketches, models, working prototypes). 
• Work with a cross functional team to understand business environment, consumer behavior, manufacturing requirements, etc. 
• Working with Clorox structural design group, Creative Services and Brand establish a brand visual design language that directs and inspires future package design and development that is undeniably Burt's, reflecting the brand values, brand personality and DNA. 
• Understand and refresh Packaging Standard used by Package Development and Brand teams to make decisions. 
• Establish processes and a culture that is guided by the Packaging Standard. 
• Establish targets/metrics for sustainable packaging to help drive sustainability strategy and plan and content for CSR reporting. 
• Sit on Sustainability Steering Committee to advise organization of risks and recommend creative solutions to sustainable packaging dilemmas. 
• Maintain strong network of external resources that can help provide sustainable solutions for packaging challenges with ultimate goal of packaging material reduction. 
• Educate internal teams and help Brand and Marketing Communications develop optimal consumer messaging to help them dispose of packaging in environmentally sustainable ways. 
• Input to Packaging Development briefs in Strategic Product Plan. 
• Use Design Thinking to create new, end-to-end consumer experiences that deliver against Design objectives. 
• Participate in Life Cycle evaluation of products to help prioritize initiatives and projects. 

Qualifications:  

Required Qualifications 

• Mindset that sustainable packaging innovation is not a zero sum game but can be a win-win.
• Demonstrated intellectual and practical understanding of the interconnectedness of Burt's Bees three-part "Greater Good Model", and the Company's commitment to acting as a positive force for social and environmental change within our four walls, as well as, on the Planet through the power of business. 
• A passion for driving innovative positive change through the power of socially responsible business practices and performance. 
• 5-10 years of relevant packaging/industrial design experience in supporting and/or managing programs (internally and externally).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, proven ability to work in a team. 
• Strong project management skills. 
• Demonstrated Package/Industrial design experience in Consumer Package Goods (CPG) or Personal Care. 
• Demonstrated experience balancing consumer needs and wants, manufacturing constraints and business needs. 
• Must be comfortable with ambiguity. 
• Excellent sketching skills. 
• Portfolio that includes a broad range of design experience across product categories. 
• Proficient in Digital Rendering Software - Photoshop, Painter, Illustrator. 
• Prototyping and model building experience and knowledge. 

Desired Qualifications 

• BS in Packaging Development/Design or related field. 
• Design experience on personal care products. 
• Design consulting firm experience. 
• Proficient in CAD - Pro Engineer or Solid Works or Rhino, etc. 
• Injection Molding and blow molding Knowledge - Design & Manufacturing. 

To Apply:

Please click below: "Apply Now Online!" to submit your cover letter and a resume. Please type "Sustainable Packaging Designer / Application" into the subject line.