Job Description

Location: Alfred Place, London (Hybrid: Typically 3 days onsite, 2 days remote).

Hours: Flexible core hours between 8:00am and 6:00pm.

The Role

Cath Kidston is all about the joy of detail, unique styling, and using print and colour to evoke nostalgia while remaining beautifully practical for everyday life. As a Senior Print Designer on a 6-month fixed-term contract, you will join the Cath Kidston team at NEXT to design across non-clothing, fashion pyjamas, kids, and accessories, with a specific focus on our exciting global licences and collaborations.

You are here to push boundaries, look to the future, and create innovative print designs that keep our collections commercially vibrant and ahead of the trend. Working as a pivotal part of the critical path, you will breathe new life into our rich heritage while collaborating closely with buying, merchandising, and external suppliers. To ensure you hit the ground running, NEXT provides a comprehensive onboarding and training programme tailored to our design systems, critical path tracking, and supplier networks.

What You’ll Take On

• Design high-quality print collections across multiple categories (non-clothing, loungewear, kids, and accessories) that elevate the brand and delight our global customer base.
• Develop diverse print repeats, placements, and colourways tailored to specific international markets, utilising both hand-painting/illustration and digital tools.
• Contemporise the brand’s heritage ethos, blending vintage influences with forward-thinking commercial trends to keep designs fresh and relevant.
• Brief and nurture relationships with suppliers, managing the design process efficiently from initial concept through to final execution.
• Collaborate dynamically with cross-functional teams to ensure all print designs align seamlessly with critical path deadlines and commercial goals.

What You’ll Bring

• Proven designer-level experience within a similar lifestyle or heritage brand, backed by a deep understanding of textile and print design.
• Exceptional creative talent, specifically including strong hand-painting, illustration skills, and expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite.
• A keen eye for trend and taste, with the ability to translate future industry trends into commercially viable, beautifully detailed products.
• Strong collaborative and communication skills, making it easy for you to share ideas with team members and build rapport with global external partners.
• Resilience and organisation, allowing you to stay focused, manage multiple projects, and deliver high-quality work within a fast-paced environment.

Portfolio Requirement

To help us get a feel for your style, please attach or link a digital portfolio to your application. We are looking for work that demonstrates a sharp eye for the future of lifestyle print design, showcases your hand-drawn and CAD work, and highlights how your designs can be commercially viable for NEXT. Applications without a digital portfolio will not be considered.

Sponsorship

Candidates who require sponsorship to work in the UK must meet the current Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further details, please visit theGov.uk Skilled Worker Visa page

We encourage you to apply early. Our recruitment process begins as soon as the role is live, and we reserve the right to close this advert early if the position is successfully filled.

#LI-Onsite

You know Next, but did you know we’re a FTSE-100 retail company employing over 44,000 people across the Next group. We’re the UK’s 2nd largest fashion retailer and for Kidswear we’re the market leader. At the last count we have over 450 stores, plus the Next Online and it’s now possible to buy on-line from over 80 countries around the world! So we’ve gone global!