Assistant or Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Full Time, Tenure-Track - MassArt in Boston, Massachusetts at MassArt

Position Title: Assistant or Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Full Time, Tenure-Track - MassArt

Location: Boston, MA Category: Faculty Job Type: Full-time Posted On: Mon Nov 2 2026 Job Description:

Salary: $72,000-$78,000 commensurate with experience.

Collective Bargaining Agreement: This position is governed by the MSCA bargaining agreement

Hours: 37.5

About the position

We invite applicants who are accomplished industrial designers and educators with a demonstrated practice that connects physical products with the digital, service, and systemic dimensions that shape how products are made, perceived, and experienced. This is a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in our Industrial Design Department.

In this role, you will join a department that values studio teaching and physical making. We are looking for a dynamic colleague with notable professional design experience, a strong commitment to being an educator who can meet students where they are and help them grow, a collaborative spirit, and has a breadth of knowledge to contribute across our undergraduate curriculum.

The successful candidate will understand products as complete experiences and ecosystems. This includes physical form, materials, manufacturing, digital behavior, interfaces, services, human factors, and the broader social and environmental contexts in which products operate.

At the same time, the successful candidate understands that the role of the industrial designer is being redefined. They see the designer as a future leader, a storyteller, a translator, and an orchestrator of multidisciplinary teams. They are someone who connects business strategy, human insight, design, technology, and implementation across the full product lifecycle and development team. They will prepare students to work fluently with AI as a creative tool and a material in intelligent products, while building the judgment, taste, and critical framing that has become even more valuable. They bring awareness of emerging trends like circular and regenerative design, the convergence of physical and digital experience, and emerging models of production and entrepreneurship. Overall, their focus is to prepare our students to anticipate change and see it as an opportunity to become a leader in something new.

About the Industrial Design Department

MassArt's Industrial Design program prepares students to become creative, critical, and capable problem solvers by developing meaningful products, experiences, and systems. The program is grounded in a hands-on studio culture that integrates research, drawing, form development through digital and physical modeling, prototyping, human factors, materials and manufacturing, professional practice, and clear visual and verbal communication.

As a department, we strive to model the profession we want students to enter: collaborative, supportive, experimental, and forward-looking. Faculty share responsibility for curriculum development, support one another's teaching and professional growth, and maintain active relationships with alumni, industry, community partners, and the local, national, and international design communities. We welcome a colleague who wants to contribute to this shared culture and, over time, develop the experience and trust needed to assume departmental leadership.

Teaching Areas

• The department seeks a broadly capable designer who can teach across several areas of the curriculum. Applicants are not expected to specialize in every area, but should demonstrate strength in several of the following:
• Introductory through advanced level studio courses;
• Form development and design principles;
• Analog and digital drawing, visualization, and storytelling;
• Design research, human factors, inclusive design, and user testing;
• Materials, manufacturing processes, CMF detailing, and design for production;
• CAD, digital and physical, prototyping, traditional and digital fabrication;
• Product systems, connected products, services, interfaces, and product ecosystems;
• Professional practice, entrepreneurship, and industry collaboration;
• Critical perspectives of the discipline, sustainability, and the social impact of design;
• Computational and AI-assisted design workflows within industrial design practice;
• Interdisciplinary collaborative courses e.g. Footwear Design, Object making, & Integrated product design teams.

Primary Responsibilities

• Teach six courses per academic year, including studio, lecture, and technical courses at multiple levels of the Industrial Design curriculum. Teaching through an iterative, student-centered studio process that connects research, drawing, and form development through digital and physical modeling, testing, refinement and presentation when appropriate.
• Help students understand products as integrated physical, digital, service, and system experiences while celebrating the material and form-based foundations of industrial design.
• Introduce computational and AI-assisted methods where they support learning, while helping students evaluate when these methods are appropriate, ethical, and useful.
• Advise, mentor, evaluate, and support student learning and growth understanding their wide range of backgrounds and levels of preparation.
• Collaborate with faculty and department chair on: creating a dynamic & exciting department culture; developing and assessing curriculum; incorporating iterative, student-centered, studio process best practices; sequencing courses; and understanding emerging areas of industrial design education.
• Develop relationships with industry, alumni, community organizations, and other academic programs that create meaningful learning opportunities and highlight the connections between design decisions and business strategy, brand, and market context.
• Maintain an active professional, creative, scholarly, or research practice that informs their teaching and contributes to the field.
• Participate in departmental and college-wide service e.g.: peer reviews, committees, exhibitions, recruitment, advising, and shared governance.
• Contribute to the department's future direction and demonstrate the capacity to grow into leadership responsibilities.

Job Requirements:

Minimum Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree in industrial design, product design, or a closely related field
• Notable professional experience in industrial or product design, demonstrated through a strong portfolio of completed work with evidence of the design process.
• Demonstrated competency with teaching, mentoring, or comparable educational experience in studio-based design.
• Recognizable ability to balance aesthetic, technical, material, systemic, and human considerations in design practice.
• Demonstrated competency with physical and digital making, prototyping, materials and manufacturing, and contemporary design tools and methods.
• Evidence of collaborative practice, effective communication, and commitment to student success.
• Commitment to working with and supporting a diverse and inclusive academic community.

Preferred Qualifications

• A terminal degree in industrial design, product design, or a related field, or a record of professional achievement that demonstrates equivalent preparation.
• College-level teaching beyond a TA experience across more than one area or level of an industrial design curriculum.
• Experience connecting physical products with digital behavior, interfaces, services, or broader systems.
• Experience developing or evaluating AI-assisted and computational workflows within professional practice or design education.
• Evidence of curriculum development, interdisciplinary collaboration, industry partnerships, or community-engaged work.
• Evidence of leadership in professional practice, education, research, or collaborative initiatives.
• Capacity to contribute to graduate programs.

Additional Information:

Please note MassArt:

• Does not support employment-based visa sponsorship or non-student exchange visitor visa sponsorship.
• Is not an E-Verify institution.

Selected candidates must be eligible to work in the US at the time of employment, complete all onboarding tasks including a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI) background review and provide proof of eligibility to work in the US by completing the Form 19, Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

You are required to show proof of your identity and employment eligibility within three (3) days of the start of your employment. You will not be authorized to work in any capacity until all paperwork has been completed. For a list of all acceptable documents please click here.

Comprehensive Benefits (does not apply to contractor/student positions):
When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.
Want the specifics? Please click here to view MassArt Benefits.

MassArt provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition, or membership in any other legally protected class.

MassArt complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the college operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.