Technical Fashion Designer | Founding Partner

Job description
Location: San Francisco Bay Area or Western Canada (Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver)

Role Type: Founding Partner (Equity-Based Only)

Commitment: Part-Time to Start | Flexible Hours

Maison Em is building a new kind of bridalwear experience; one that centers on ease, elegance, and self-expression for people who don’t see themselves in the traditional bridal space. We’re creating dresses for modern love stories: elopements, second weddings, ******** ceremonies, and everything in between.

We are seeking a Technical Fashion Designer with extensive experience in bridal or evening wear to join as a founding partner. This role is ideal for someone passionate about developing beautiful, thoughtfully constructed dresses that are easy to wear, inclusive in fit, and designed to move with real bodies. This is an equity-only role at this stage, with the goal of co-creating a brand built with purpose and intention from the ground up. We’re looking for someone eager to take creative and technical ownership alongside the founder and help build a brand that reimagines modern bridalwear with a focus on ease, elegance, and self-expression for individuals who don’t see themselves in the traditional bridal space.

Your Piece of the Puzzle:
• Collaborate closely with the founder to translate three initial dress concepts into production-ready designs with flexible, inclusive fit
• Develop technical packages, construction specs, and patterns that prioritize elegance, adaptability, and ease of wear
• Engineer creative fit solutions that work across varied body types and nontraditional wedding contexts
• Offer insight into simplifying design and construction to ensure pieces can be worn with minimal or no tailoring
• Support fabric selection with attention to sustainability, structure vs. drape, stretch properties, and compatibility with at-home dyeing
• Guide early prototyping, fit testing, and pattern iteration using lean methods and limited resources
• Evaluate the feasibility of inclusive sizing and provide recommendations on modular or limited-size band production
• Collaborate on cost-conscious design decisions to help meet the desired price target without compromising quality
• Contribute to defining a low-barrier, small-scale production strategy that can grow alongside the brand
• Help shape the long-term product development roadmap and production processes: from first samples to small-batch manufacturing

This Role Might Be Right For You If:
• Have strong technical design experience in bridalwear, eveningwear, or formalwear
• Understand the nuances of designing for bodies, not just sizes, and want to create dresses that feel as good as they look
• Can confidently create and iterate on tech packs and specs for sampling and manufacturing
• Are excited by the challenge of simplifying and modernizing bridalwear, and can think creatively about design, fit, and construction
• Are motivated to build something meaningful, flexible, and inclusive from the ground up
• Are collaborative, solutions focused, and open to testing new ideas

Bonus Experience:
• Familiarity with sustainable and low waste fabric options
• Experience with size inclusive or adaptive fashion design
• Knowledge of bridal market expectations and ready-to-wear fit strategies
• Experience working with early stage fashion brands or in small batch production

How to Apply:

If this speaks to you and you’re excited by the idea of redefining what bridalwear can look and feel like, we’d love to hear from you. Please send an email to hello [at] maisonem [dot] studio with the subject line: Application – Technical Designer / Founding Partner – Maison Em

Include:
• A short note about who you are and why this opportunity resonates with you
• A portfolio or examples of relevant work (especially bridal or eveningwear, if available)
• A resume or summary of your experience
• An acknowledgement that you understand this is an equity-based co-founder role

We're especially interested in people who approach fashion with a creative problem-solving mindset and care deeply about building meaningful, modern products. There’s no perfect profile. If this excites you, reach out to us! We can't wait to talk to you!