Designer - Older Girls Lightweight Jersey - 12 Months Fixed Term Contract

Working Pattern: Typically 5 days in the office, with core hours flexible between 8am-6pm.

The Role
As a Designer for Older Girls Lightweight Jersey within our Girlswear team, you will play a vital role in blending "of-the-moment" street-style trends with commercial excellence. Your mission is to evolve our jersey category, ensuring every piece from soft basics to trend-led statement items maintains the high quality our customers love.

Working closely with Senior Design leadership and our overseas manufacturing partners, you’ll bridge the gap between creative vision and global production. To ensure you hit the ground running, Next provides a supportive environment with tailored onboarding and access to industry-leading design resources, helping you master our unique supply chain and grow your career alongside our most experienced mentors.

Our Designers here at Next are always looking forward. Looking for that Next thing, focusing on trend and pushing the boundaries of what we can offer our fantastic customer base. Working as a key part of the critical path; creating new and innovative designs across.

What You’ll Take On
As our Designer for Older Girls Lightweight Jersey, you are the creative engine that transforms global inspiration into the soft, stylish essentials our customers live in. You’ll navigate the fast-paced world of jersey wear, ensuring our collections stay ahead of the curve while maintaining the effortless comfort and quality that defines the Next brand.

In this role, your day-to-day will involve:

• Owning the Jersey Range: Lead the design process for the entire lightweight jersey category, creating a balanced mix of "cool" trend-led basics and high-impact statement pieces.
• Translating Trends into Must-Haves: Scour global street-style and social media trends to design elevated, wearable jersey items that resonate with the older girls' market.
• Designing with Agility: Respond quickly to creative briefs in a fast-turnaround environment, producing fresh designs that keep our jersey collections "of-the-moment."
• Balancing Style with Value: Work strategically within specific price-point guidelines to deliver premium-feel garments without compromising on craftsmanship or commerciality.
• Collaborating Globally: Partner daily with Buyers, Merchandisers & Technologists, as well as our international manufacturing teams to ensure every silhouette is technically sound and delivered to exact specifications.
• Curating a Cohesive Collection: Drive the creative direction for both high-energy "capsule" drops and the essential core lines that form the foundation of our girls' wardrobes.

What You’ll Bring

• Jersey & Childrenswear/Womenswear Expertise: You have a solid background in designing for the older girls or womenswear market, with a specific flair for lightweight jersey. You understand how different weights and blends drape, wash, and wear.
• Technical Artistry: You are a pro at using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, with the ability to create precise technical packs and translate your creative visions into digital reality.
• A Trend-First Mindset: You are genuinely obsessed with fashion and social media trends. You know what’s buzzing on global streets and can translate those "must-have" looks into commercially successful jersey pieces.
• Clear & Proactive Communication: You’re a natural collaborator who enjoys working with others. Whether you’re refining a sample with an overseas factory or presenting a concept to Senior Design leadership, you communicate your ideas with clarity and warmth.
• Commercial Sharpness: You understand that great design happens at the intersection of creativity and business. You can design into specific price points and navigate fabric yields without losing your aesthetic edge.
• Agility & Organisation: You stay grounded and organised even when the studio gets busy. You’re comfortable handling fast-turnaround "express" briefs and can pivot quickly when trends shift, all while maintaining a positive, "can-do" attitude.

A Quick Note: We can’t wait to see your style! Please ensure you attach your digital PDF portfolio to your application, as we won’t be able to consider your journey with us without it. We are looking for work that is trend-focused, demonstrating your ability to translate high-fashion concepts into commercially successful, elevated designs for the Older Girls Jersey market!

Sponsorship
Candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship for this role will be required to meet the Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further information please see: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

We encourage early applications for our roles, as our recruitment process begins as soon as the role is advertised. If we successfully fill the position, this advert may close earlier than planned.

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Benefits