Contractual Remote Surface Pattern Design Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Location: Fully Remote (US or international)
Type: Full-Time

Reports to: Design Director

Position Summary

Awe Inspired makes jewelry that means something. Our charms, talismans, and sculptural pieces are built around stories — of strength, intention, and the people who wear them. Behind that emotion is serious craft: highly detailed figurative and organic forms, demi-fine and fine production, and a flagship Charm Builder that lets every customer compose a piece that is theirs alone. We are now bringing our CAD program in-house, and we are hiring its owner.

You will be the master of jewelry CAD at Awe. First and foremost, you sculpt: faces, figures, botanical and symbolic motifs, modeled at a level of artistry that survives casting and delights in the hand. Second, you standardize: you will build our parametric component library, file standards, and QC system in Rhino and Grasshopper, so every future model starts from a strong foundation instead of a blank file. And you partner on cost: working with our Production Manager — who owns costing and our factory relationships — you will build the CAD-side engine that estimates what a piece should cost in metal, stones, plating, and labor at the CAD stage, so we design to our price points and our team negotiates from facts.

You will sit on the design team, reporting to our Design Director, with a build-it-from-scratch mandate and an explicit Head of CAD growth path as the function and team grow. This is a fully remote role open to candidates worldwide, with strong representation expected from the manufacturer model rooms and product development departments where sculptural craft and production discipline already live side by side.

Key Responsibilities

Sculptural CAD (Digital Master Model Making)

• Build high-resolution digital master models of complex, organic, and figurative designs — faces, figures, botanical and symbolic motifs — modeled to a level of artistry that survives casting and delights in the hand.
• Ensure every model is production-ready: correct casting shrinkage compensation, minimum wall thickness, setting allowances, and polishing tolerances.
• Own STL hygiene and print-readiness for resin casting patterns, even when printing happens at the vendor.

CAD Standards & Preset Library

• Build Awe's parametric component library — shanks, bails, jump rings, setting seats, charm blanks — in Rhino and Grasshopper, so reusable parts regenerate to any size from one definition.
• Establish file, naming, and tolerance standards, QC checklists, and tech-pack templates for clean vendor handoff.
• Set the design-for-manufacturability (DFM) foundation that every future model starts from.

Cost Engineering Partnership

• Build and maintain the CAD-side engine of our should-cost model: metal weight (with casting waste factors), auto-extracted stone schedules, plating surface-area calculations, and labor complexity scoring per SKU.
• Work in close partnership with our Production Manager, who owns costing and vendor negotiation — you supply the CAD-stage numbers that make those negotiations fact-based.
• Use the model two ways: design-to-cost (adjusting a piece before sampling to hit target landed cost) and negotiation support (line-by-line comparison against vendor quotes).

Automation & New Technology

• Automate repetitive modeling and cost-extraction tasks with Grasshopper definitions.
• Pragmatically adopt AI concept-generation and rendering tools — AI for concept iteration, parametric CAD for the production model — and continuously evaluate what is next.

Production Partnership

• Deliver clean file handoff to manufacturers, run sample-review feedback loops, and provide CAD-side support during quoting and negotiation.

Qualifications

• Master-level digital sculpting — ZBrush strongly preferred — with a portfolio of sculpted pieces that physically shipped: faces, figures, organic and symbolic forms. This is the gating skill.
• Mastery of Rhino; working Grasshopper (or equivalent demonstrable parametric library work), plus at least one systems artifact you built: a component library, Grasshopper definition, or standards documentation.
• 7–10+ years in jewelry CAD, including significant production-side experience — in or directly facing a manufacturer.
• Deep casting fluency: shrinkage, minimum walls, setting allowances, and plating specifications.
• Working experience with CAD-stage cost estimation — you can talk waste factors, stone schedules, and standard minutes without notes, and you will enjoy partnering with our Production Manager to make the numbers sharp.
• Self-direction, excellent written English, and comfort owning a craft function solo on a remote design team.

Nice to Have

• Vendor quoting or negotiation exposure; experience with manufacturers across multiple regions.
• KeyShot or V-Ray rendering; jewelry ERP exposure (Gemini, PIRO, JewelSteps); AI concept-tool fluency.
• Fine-art or traditional goldsmithing background; experience training or QC-ing other modelers.

How We Hire

Portfolio screen → 30-minute technical conversation → a paid one-week test piece (modeled from our sketch, delivered with a tech pack and a cost estimate) → a live working session → a final conversation with our Design Director and Production Manager. We pay for your test time, and we move in weeks, not months.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation is location-calibrated and set at the top of the local market for this craft — we are looking for the best person in the world for this seat, and we pay like we mean it. Final bands are set once a finalist's location is known.
• Fully remote, anywhere with 3+ hours of US-timezone overlap.
• Quarterly product stipend and 50% off employee discount.
• Annual learning and development stipend.
• A true build-it-from-scratch mandate: your library, your standards, your costing system — named, visible authorship at a brand whose work is publicly celebrated, with an explicit Head of CAD growth path.
• Collaborative, creative, and performance-driven culture that treats CAD as artistry.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Awe Inspired is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants are considered for all roles without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or parental status, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.