Senior Technical Designer - PPE

Job Description:

SENIOR TECHNICAL DESIGNER – PPE

POSITION OVERVIEW

At Milwaukee Tool, we are committed to delivering innovative Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that helps keep users safe, productive, and confident on the jobsite. As we continue to expand our PPE portfolio, we are seeking a Senior Technical Designer with 5-10 years of apparel experience to join our Industrial Design team.

This role is ideal for someone who is highly collaborative, naturally curious, creative, and adaptable. The successful candidate will play a critical role in translating product concepts into production-ready solutions, helping shape new product categories while ensuring exceptional fit, function, and user experience. We are looking for a highly engaged team member who is excited to push boundaries and deliver best-in-class PPE products.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Technical Designer is responsible for developing and executing product construction specifications, fit standards, and technical solutions that bring design intent to life. This role ensures PPE products meet Milwaukee Tool's high standards for performance, comfort, durability, and quality across multiple product categories. 

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop detailed construction specifications, technical packages, and product documentation for cut-and-sewn PPE products.

• Drive product fit, ergonomics, comfort, and usability through prototyping, testing, and refinement.

• Create and maintain measurement specifications, grading standards, and fit requirements.

• Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturing partners to ensure design intent is accurately translated into production.

• Apply advanced pattern theory principles to ensure accurate garment fit, grading, and conformance to product safety standards.​

• Review and analyze 2D patterns for technical accuracy, making recommendations for adjustments to improve fit and production efficiency.​

• Review samples, identify construction or fit issues, and lead corrective actions.

• Assess fit, construction, and functionality of competitor and internal products to support benchmarking.

• Ensure products meet quality, regulatory, and performance requirements.

• Review incoming sample workmanship and work with outsource vendors to clarify pattern adjustments and resolve fit and construction challenges.

• Monitor and analyze fit-related feedback to continuously refine processes and improve customer satisfaction.

• Highly adaptable with the ability to analyze and understand the needs of multiple product categories and user groups.

• Assistance with BOM creation and management of material assembly.

• Achieve and manage the PLM database related to PPE products.

• Ensure adherence to PPE standards and codes. 

• Drive project speed and sizing consistency through the development of a pattern block system.

• Create a specification library for construction details, standards, and methods to support the speed and efficiency of development.

• Use of Adobe Illustrator, BeProduct, Optitex, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint

SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

• Partner closely with Industrial Design, Engineering, Product Management, and Manufacturing teams throughout the product development process.

• Contribute to the development of new PPE categories, including gloves, head protection accessories, high-visibility apparel, and emerging safety solutions.

• New product innovation efforts through material exploration, construction techniques, and user-centered problem solving.

• Participate in user research, field observations, and product evaluations to better understand customer needs and opportunities for innovation.

• Support 3D visualization and simulation by providing accurate 2D patterns.​

• Potential travel overseas to help coordinate sample builds through production intent.

Milwaukee Tool is an equal opportunity employer.