Established in 1973, Roots is a proudly Canadian lifestyle brand that celebrates authenticity, quality, and community. Inspired by the great outdoors, we create timeless, sustainable apparel and leather goods designed for comfort and everyday adventure. At Roots, we believe in fostering a culture of inclusivity, creativity, and teamwork – where every team member plays a role in shaping our brand’s legacy. If you bring passion to everything you do, lead with integrity, and believe in the power of collaboration to drive growth, we’d love to have you on our journey!

Nature & Scope → Your Role at Roots

We are seeking a visionary yet detail-driven Director of Creative & Technical Store design to lead the future design of our retail environments. This role will be responsible for leading the end-to-end design process of future stores, ensuring each location encapsulates the physical representation of the Roots brand and a nod to the heritage of Roots, while incorporating design elements that elevates the customer experience and addresses store operational needs.

As the ideal candidate, you should be passionate about Roots and eager to lead the future direction of our store design. You have prior experience designing retail stores for brands and understands the balance between design aesthetic, brand cues, customer experience, and operational needs. Finally, you have a good understanding of the regulatory, construction, and cost implications of store designs, capable of effectively working with cross functional internal and external stakeholders to execute on the designs.

Key Responsibilities → How You’ll Make an Impact

Creative Leadership

• Lead the design and development of future store concepts for Roots, balancing the rich heritage with the modern evolution of the brand.
• Coordination with retail operations, visual merchandising, marketing, and merchandising teams to ensure designs serve the customer journey and operational needs.
• Integrate digital touchpoints and omni-channel strategies seamlessly into physical spaces.
• Develop a store design framework to ensure consistent store rollouts for current and future stores across our various store formats.
• Lead and/or partner with external agencies on future elevated flagship-type store concept development.
• Become a key liaison between Roots and our global partners to ensure consistency of brand representation in physical footprints.

Technical Leadership

• Lead and/or partner with external architects to translate creative concepts into scalable, buildable technical drawings and construction documents.
• Oversee store planning, millwork details, lighting, fixture design, and materials specification.
• Close coordination with store construction teams to manage designs to capital expenditure budgets.
• Ensure compliance with building codes, landlord requirements, ADA/accessibility standards, and construction best practices.

Design Execution

• Oversee timelines, budgets, vendor relationships, and execution standards for all design initiatives.

Qualifications & Experience → The Skills You Bring

• 7+ years of experience in store design, architecture, or interior design – preferably in retail apparel brands.
• Thorough understanding of materials, lighting, fixture development, and construction documentation.
• An understanding of Canadian commercial building codes; experience managing landlord design requirements would be considered a plus.
• Proficiency in CAD, SketchUp, Revit, Adobe Creative Suite, and/or rendering software.
• Strong portfolio showcasing both creative and technical design capabilities, demonstrating the ability to merge brand storytelling with functionality.
• A strong interest and understanding of global retail trends and customer behavior in retail environments.
• An understanding of construction project costing would be considered a plus.
• Strong leadership, communication, and project management skills.

At Roots we appreciate that skills and expertise are cultivated through a range of experiences. We are committed to reflecting Canada's diverse landscape in our products, team, and workplace culture. We value your unique perspective and encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet every listed requirement. Accommodations are available for applicants throughout the recruitment process.