Interior Designer (Commercial) — Retail Industry

ABOUT THE ROLE

A B2B store buildout partner serving retail operators across Canada and the USA. We deliver complete store projects — fixtures, refrigeration, walk-ins, millwork, racking, and kitchen equipment — through one accountable team.

This role sits on the design side of that work. A separate planner owns the floor plan and space layout. This position takes that finished plan and turns it into a store — color palette, materials and finishes, signage direction, lighting concept, and client-ready visuals matched to the retailer's brand.

THE ROLE

Design the look and feel of retail spaces, primarily grocery stores, with other formats — pharmacy, hardware, specialty — as projects come in.

The work starts from a finished floor plan and a short brand brief. The deliverables are a resolved store design: palette selections, material and finish specifications, branding direction, lighting concept, and client-ready visuals including mood boards, finish schedules, and renderings.

Design happens within a fixed product catalog — specific gondola systems and standard refrigeration units, not full custom. The skill is producing a branded, buildable store within those constraints. The aesthetic changes with each retailer's brand. There is no house style.

In the near future there may also be opportunity to take on 2D store layout planning — developing retail floor plans focused on customer flow, space optimization, and fixture placement. Layout planning is currently the core of what we deliver to our customers and where the majority of the volume sits. Interior design is a newer addition to the service offering. For the right designer, layout work can complement design projects and keep your schedule consistently full.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

A designer with a natural pull toward design — someone who instinctively notices proportion, material, light, and detail without being told to. This is the non-negotiable quality that cannot be trained.

The work demands range. Warm woods and terracotta for a family-owned grocery. Brushed steel and concrete for a modern urban market. Each store gets its own palette and material story. The job is serving the retailer's vision — not the designer's.

Beginners will not be considered. Residential-only experience will not be considered.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Proven experience designing commercial retail interiors as a lead designer. Grocery or food-retail experience is a strong advantage.
2. A portfolio of completed, built work only — not concepts, unbuilt renderings, or student projects. Each portfolio piece must reflect work you personally led and can fully explain.
3. Strong color, material, and finish judgment with clear range — the ability to match a palette and material story to each retailer's brand, not apply one default look across every project.
4. A structured discovery approach — the ability to extract what a retailer actually wants from a vague or incomplete brief and translate it into a clear design direction, not interpret it through personal taste.
5. Commercial instinct — retail design must support product sales, traffic flow, and merchandising. Designs that prioritize aesthetics over function are the wrong fit for this role.
6. Proficiency in SketchUp or AutoCAD, a rendering tool (V-Ray, Enscape, Lumion, or equivalent), and Adobe Creative Suite. Must be able to produce client-ready mood boards, finish schedules, and renderings independently.

HIRING PROCESS

1. Portfolio review — applications without a portfolio link will not be considered regardless of other qualifications.
2. A 20-minute interview, booked online. Have your portfolio ready to screen-share. The interview covers your retail projects, your approach to color and materials, and how you design within fixed fixture constraints.
3. Paid sample test — a small 500 sq ft grocery store brief. A floor plan, a brand brief, and 3D models of the fixtures and equipment are provided. The test evaluates design judgment, material and finish selection, branding translation, and presentation quality.
4. Paid preliminary project — a real, live store project. Not a test brief — a full, complex store design from start to finish. This is paid work on an actual client project.
5. Hiring discussion — after completing the preliminary project, we will discuss bringing you on to join the team full-time with a minimum monthly guarantee, paid even when the workload does not fill a full-time schedule.

TO APPLY

Fill out the following application and we will get back to those who qualify for an interview.

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