Senior Designer - Rugs, Pillows & Window

About the role Earthbound Brands is looking for a Senior Designer to lead rug design and shape trend direction across our home businesses at Walmart. You'll lead our rug program from a design perspective, which is designed almost entirely in house and includes area rugs, runners, and door mats. You'll also guide curtain development with our supplier partners and manage a Junior Designer who handles pillows. About 70% of the role is hands-on product design and 30% is trend research and direction. You'll design across 2-3 brands in each category, so you'll need to adapt your aesthetic and turn one trend story into distinct brand expressions. You'll work in close partnership with a dedicated Product Development counterpart in Bentonville, AR, balancing creative vision with sales performance and retail realities. This role suits a designer with deep rug expertise who can move easily between original artwork, technical specs, and working with suppliers. You should be ready to grow and develop a direct report.

Responsibilities

• What you'll do Rug design (core expertise) Create original rug collections (area rugs, runners, door mats) from concept to production-ready artwork for Walmart.
• Develop distinct design approaches for each brand in the assortment, keeping each brand's identity clear while sharing efficient development across the program.
• Build line plans and assortments that balance trend, price point, and construction feasibility.
• With support from Print and pattern team, develop CADs, colorways, repeats, and scaled artwork for each construction.
• Prepare design sheets and supplier RFQ’s with construction, pile height, fiber, sizing, and finish details.
• Curate and edit supplier-developed traditional and Persian-style designs so they fit the overall assortment.
• Partner with Product Development and suppliers on costing, feasibility, sampling, and production timelines.
• Window (curtains) Co-create fabric curtain collections with supplier partners.
• Give design direction, review supplier concepts, and refine pattern, color, and fabrication so the line stays consistent with the broader soft home story.
• Pillows (through your junior Designer) Manage and mentor a junior Designer responsible for decorative pillows.
• Review work, set priorities, give regular feedback, and support their growth.
• Make sure pillows connect to rugs and window through shared color, pattern, and trend direction.
• Trend (~30%) Research and interpret trends in color, pattern, material, and lifestyle through market shopping, trade shows, and trend services.
• Support Director in creation of seasonal trend and color direction for soft home.
• Translate trend insight into commercial product direction tailored to each brand's language and customer.
• Cross-functional partnership Build a strong, candid working relationship with your Product Development counterpart in Bentonville.
• Collaborate daily across locations on design, development, costing, and timelines.
• Bring design point of view to commercial discussions, and use sales data, retail feedback, and cost targets to sharpen your work instead of treating them as limits.
• Resolve most disagreements directly with your PD partner through open, data-informed discussion, and use the escalation process constructively when a decision needs a broader business view.

Requirements

• Strong technical knowledge of rug construction, such as power-loomed/machine-made, hand-tufted, hand-hooked, flatweave, natural fiber, printed/washable, and indoor-outdoor.
• Familiarity with doormat constructions (coir, rubber-backed, printed) is a plus.
• 5-7+ years of home textile design experience, including at least 3 years designing rugs at a rug manufacturer, importer, retailer, or design studio.
• A portfolio showing original rug design that went into production, designed for at least two distinct brands or retail customers.
• A track record of researching and interpreting trends in color, pattern, material, and lifestyle (through market shopping, trade shows, and trend services such as WGSN) and turning them into commercial products.
• Evidence of contributing to seasonal concept or color direction, such as trend boards or storyboards, is a plus.
• Proven ability to adapt your aesthetic across multiple brands while keeping each brand's identity clear.
• Expert skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Experience with rug CAD software (e.g., Galaincha or NedGraphics) is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of decorative pillows and home textiles.
• Experience working with overseas suppliers on development, sampling, and color approval.
• Experience partnering with product development, merchandising, or sourcing teams, ideally across locations.
• an understanding of price points, sell-through, and how retail feedback should shape design decisions.
• Experience supervising or mentoring junior designers.
• Formal management experience is a plus.
• Strong color sense, attention to detail, and the ability to explain design choices clearly to commercial partners.
• Nice to have Comfort using AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to speed up visualization, such as quick renders and colorway or material exploration, alongside traditional design tools.
• Deep rug design and construction expertise is essential for this role.
• We'll support growth in trend and presentation skills.