| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Retail and Showroom |
| Level | Mid level |
| Reports to | Design Head |
| Direct reports | None |
| Experience | 3 to 6 years designing gold and diamond jewellery for retail or manufacturing |
Jewellery Designer job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Jewellery Designer
Department: Retail and Showroom
Reports to: Design Head
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Jewellery Designer turns market trends and customer briefs into pieces the showroom can sell and the workshop can make. The person sketches concepts, builds them in CAD, fixes stone layouts and metal weights, and works with karigars to bring a design to life. In an Indian house this covers bridal sets, daily-wear gold and lightweight diamond lines. A good designer balances beauty, wearability and cost so a design sells fast and holds its margin.
Key responsibilities
- Research bridal, festive and daily-wear trends across regions and translate them into a seasonal design plan.
- Sketch concepts by hand and build detailed 3D models in CAD software with correct stone and metal specifications.
- Fix stone layouts, metal weight and making feasibility so each design can be produced within a target cost.
- Prepare the bill of materials with gold weight, stone count and estimated making charges for every design.
- Brief karigars and CAD-CAM teams, review the first sample and mark corrections until the piece is right.
- Create lightweight and value versions of popular designs to widen the price range on the shelf.
- Design custom and bridal orders from customer inputs and confirm the drawing before production begins.
- Track which designs sell and which do not, and retire slow movers from the active catalogue.
- Maintain the design library with images, codes and specifications so any piece can be reordered exactly.
- Coordinate with photography and visual teams so new collections are ready for the counter and catalogue.
Requirements
- Diploma or degree in jewellery design from a recognised institute
- Portfolio of produced designs
- CAD certification an advantage
- 3 to 6 years designing gold and diamond jewellery for retail or manufacturing
KRAs and KPIs for a Jewellery Designer
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Design output | Agreed number of production-ready designs released each month against the seasonal plan |
| Sell-through | At least half of new designs move from shelf to sale within the target season |
| Cost control | Each design produced within the target gold weight and making cost band |
| Sample accuracy | First sample approved without a second correction on 80 percent of designs |
| Custom orders | Bridal and custom drawings confirmed and released within the promised timeline |
| Catalogue upkeep | Design library complete with codes and specifications for every live piece |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Rhino and Matrix CAD, CorelDRAW, Sketching tools, Digital weighing scale, CAM and casting workflow.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Senior Jewellery Designer, Design Head, Product Development Manager
Interview questions for a Jewellery Designer
- How do you design a lightweight version of a heavy bridal set without losing its look?
- Walk me through your process from a customer brief to a production-ready CAD file.
- How do you keep a design within a target gold weight when the customer wants more stones?
- Tell me about a design that failed on the shelf. What did you learn from it?
- How do you decide which trends are worth putting into a new collection?
- A karigar says your design cannot be made as drawn. How do you respond?
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Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
What does a jewellery designer do?
A jewellery designer creates new pieces from trends and customer briefs. They sketch ideas, build them in CAD, fix stone layouts and metal weights, prepare the bill of materials and guide karigars through sampling. The goal is designs that look good, wear well, stay within cost and sell quickly on the showroom floor.
What software do jewellery designers use?
Most Indian jewellery designers work in Rhino and Matrix for 3D CAD, with CorelDRAW for flat drawings and layouts. These feed CAM and casting so a design becomes a wax and then a metal sample. Hand sketching still matters for quick concepts and for capturing a customer's bridal brief.
What is the difference between a jewellery designer and a karigar?
A jewellery designer creates the design, the CAD file and the specifications. A karigar is the skilled artisan who physically makes the piece: casting, filing, stone setting and finishing. The designer decides how a piece should look and cost, and the karigar makes it real at the bench.