Senior Color Designer

Your Role (Function, Purpose)
As a Senior Color Designer at Stio, you purposefully lead and apply design thinking through the lens of color to elevate the brand across Product, Merchandising, and Creative storytelling.
You are the visionary behind seasonal color direction, drawing from industry trends, consumer insights, competitive research, and product end use. Collaborating closely with internal stakeholders, you inform line planning and merchandising strategies to ensure cohesive and elevated color application across all product categories.

Guided by Stio’s mission to craft high-quality products that celebrate the authentic mountain lifestyle, you bring thoughtful intention to every hue, palette, and material. Your work enhances not just the aesthetic, but also the performance and emotional connection of each product.
With clear and professional communication, you articulate seasonal color concepts, themes, and palette strategy to Product Development, Technical Design, Merchandising, and Go-To-Market teams. You ensure color integrity and consistency throughout the entire product lifecycle—from initial concept through final execution—helping to shape retail storytelling and brand identity across all channels.

Your Skills (Ability & Knowledge)
The Senior Color Designer is a creative visionary with a sharp eye for color, texture, and material applications. They possess a deep understanding of color theory, trend forecasting, and how color interacts with form, function, and brand identity. With strong attention to detail and exceptional communication skills, the Senior Color Designer translates brand DNA into seasonal color palettes that resonate with both market trends and end-user needs.

This role requires a keen awareness of product timelines and cross-category coordination to deliver compelling, cohesive color stories across a full range of product offerings. The Senior Color Designer is adept at applying their knowledge of fabric construction, dyeing techniques, and material performance to ensure accurate and impactful color execution from concept through production.
Working in a collaborative, open studio environment, the ideal candidate confidently interprets diverse inputs—trend reports, consumer insights, design direction, and merchandising strategy—and synthesizes them into innovative, brand-right color solutions. Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign), MS Office, and PLM systems is essential.

At Stio, the Senior Color Designer plays a key role in building a modern, classic, and authentic mountain aesthetic, taking initiative and ownership in developing seasonal palettes that meet functional demands and elevate the visual impact of the brand.

Expectations (Responsibilities and Scope)

• Utilize color and trend forecasting services and actively engage in outdoor and adjacent industry tradeshows to stay ahead of market shifts and ensure brand relevance through innovative color application
• Collect physical and visual research—including photos, swatches, reports, and material samples—to support seasonal color palettes and inform brand-right color direction
• Collaborate with Product Line Management (PLM) and Merchandizing to ensure seasonal color strategies support the intended end use, audience, and overall aesthetic of the product line
• Curate mood boards, palette inspiration, and reference materials to brief external color design partners and internal development teams, clearly defining seasonal color direction and application
• Gather and analyze trend and market data across outdoor, fashion, and adjacent industries to build seasonal color palettes that reflect the Stio aesthetic—striking a balance between forward-thinking color direction and commercially viable core offerings
• Oversee and manage the seasonal contract labor budget specific to color design services and external support needs
• Partner with Materials team to troubleshoot material or color application issues, ensuring accurate execution through lab dips, strike-offs, and thorough product review
• Lead the seasonal strategy for yarn-dyed textiles and printed materials, aligning layout and palette choices with merchandising and storytelling goals
• Partner with Apparel Design to select and execute seasonal prints and yarn dyes that align with overarching color and merchandising strategy
• Work with internal and external graphic designers to develop color-consistent graphic applications for inline and private label products
• Contribute to brand storytelling by influencing seasonal creative direction through color mood, conceptual palettes, and visual inspiration to support broader brand expression across product and marketing
• Create cohesive seasonal collections with clear color stories and families that merchandise effectively across product lines; build compelling presentation tools to communicate these narratives to cross-functional partners and leadership.
• Lead and manage the color design team by strategically allocating seasonal responsibilities, fostering collaboration across product categories, and ensuring cohesive execution of color direction through clear communication and cross-functional partnership
• Manage seasonal color development calendars, ensuring all milestones, reviews, and handoffs are met on time to support on-track product development and go-to-market timelines

Experience (education, experience): 

• BFA or higher in apparel, graphic or print design
• 4+ years professional color design experience
• Specific training or education in color theory
• Execution of color merchandising strategy
• Capable of managing next level contributors and subordinates
• Understanding and proficiency in the full product lifecycle
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to present their work and thought process to various levels of leadership
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite