Senior Industrial Designer (Contract)

Location: San Jose, CA — On-Site Only (No Remote or Hybrid)

Type: Contract (Ongoing / Open-Ended) — hours flexible and project-dependent

Compensation: $50–$65/hour, depending on experience

Start: July 1, 2026

About Hatch Duo

Hatch Duo is an award-winning industrial design and engineering consultancy in San Jose. We design and engineer hardware for the companies shaping their categories across consumer electronics, robotics, medtech, wearables, beauty tech, sports tech, and gaming.

We are tight-knit, fast, and senior by design: a nimble studio that ships real products and makes outsized impact for the brands we work with. Founded and led by Jonathan Thai, we partner with ambitious founders and Fortune 500 teams alike to catalyze new product categories and bring them to market.

Who We Are Looking For

This is a contract role, and we will be direct about why it exists: our project pipeline has grown, and we need senior design horsepower on a flexible, on-site basis to meet it — without ever compromising the craft our work is known for.

We are looking for a Senior Industrial Designer who can step in and lead design execution from day one. This is a role for someone with real consultancy-grade range — you have shipped hardware, you think holistically about a product, and you do your strongest work when the brief is ambitious and the timeline is real.

Be clear-eyed about the pace before you apply. Hatch Duo moves fast. Deadlines are real, projects run in parallel, and clients expect momentum. A designer who works slowly — however polished the final output — will not succeed in this role. We need someone who produces high-quality work quickly, and keeps producing it when the studio is at full tilt. If a fast clock drains you, this is not the right fit. If it sharpens you, read on.

You already know how hardware gets made. You move fluidly from sketch to CAD surface to prototype, and you carry design intent all the way into production without losing the idea along the way.

You are someone who:

- has a strong point of view and exceptional aesthetic craft

- works fast without dropping quality — you turn around strong concepts on a tight clock

- communicates design decisions with clarity and confidence

- thrives on ownership and high-impact, fast-moving work

- enjoys technically demanding product categories and cross-disciplinary problems

- protects the integrity of a design through every engineering and manufacturing tradeoff

- raises the quality of every project — and every designer — around them

You will work directly with Hatch Duo's Partners on design direction and client work. Local candidates only — you must be able to work on-site in San Jose. No exceptions.

What You'll Do

- Lead industrial design execution from concept through refined, production-ready deliverables — at the pace the studio runs

- Develop strong form language, CMF direction, and compelling visual storytelling

- Produce sketch explorations, storyboards, CAD models, renderings, and prototypes

- Move multiple projects forward at once without losing quality or momentum

- Collaborate closely with mechanical engineering, electrical engineering/firmware, UX/human factors, and the founding team

- Carry design intent through DFMA, EVT, DVT, and PVT into production

- Present design work to clients with clarity and confidence

- Elevate the quality of the work around you, and support junior designers where it counts

- Work on-site with the team in our San Jose studio

Required Qualifications

- 5–8 years of industrial design experience

- A B.S. or BFA in Industrial Design, or equivalent professional experience

- A proven record of designing and shipping real hardware products

- Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality design work at speed, with multiple projects running in parallel

- Strong CAD surfacing and modeling skills (Rhino, SolidWorks, Alias, or similar)

- Excellent sketching, visualization, and presentation skills

- Deep understanding of materials, manufacturing, prototyping, and production

- Direct experience with DFMA and hardware development cycles (EVT, DVT, PVT)

- Proficiency with AI design tools such as Vizcom and Midjourney

- Strong communication and client-facing presentation skills

- Comfortable working closely with engineering and cross-disciplinary teams

- Must live within commuting distance of our San Jose studio and work on-site (no remote or hybrid)

Preferred Qualifications

- Design consultancy or agency experience, where fast turnarounds are the norm

- Startup or early-stage hardware experience

- Range across multiple product categories — consumer electronics, robotics, medtech, wearables, and more

- Active in the Bay Area design community

Why Join Hatch Duo

A contract role at Hatch Duo is a seat at the center of the work.

- Work directly with the partners on design direction and client-facing work.

- Real creative ownership. You lead design execution on real projects, not fragments of someone else's vision.

- Category variety, not a silo. In a single stretch you might move from robotics to a wearable to a medtech device. Bigger firms cannot offer that range.

- Ship real products. Hatch Duo's work goes to market. Your designs become things people actually use — not concepts that die in review.

- Your work is visible. On a small, senior team, what you make is seen, attributed, and shapes the studio's reputation.

- Flexibility that fits life. A project-dependent contract means focused, high-impact design work without a rigid full-time commitment.

- Room to go further. For the right designer, this contract can open into an expanded or full-time role as the studio grows.

If you want impact, ownership, and genuinely interesting hardware to design — and you do your best work when the pace is real — you will thrive here.

How to Apply

Email the following to info@hatchduo.com:

1. Portfolio (including shipped products and your specific role on each)

2. Resume

3. Cover letter explaining why you specifically want to join Hatch Duo

Subject line: HATCH_SENIORDESIGNER – [Your Name]

Applications missing any of these materials will not be reviewed.