Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design

Brooks Running • Seattle, WA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will own and direct the AESTHETIC READINESS of Brooks Running footwear seasonal design marker including the emotional storytelling of color, graphic, material, finishes and trend to constantly increase the SCOPE OF DESIGN & TREND. In your visionary capacity you are steering the emotional experience of our footwear products to make a positive happy impact. You will work together with multiple Brooks Running design functions to connect the functionality of the product with our aesthetic vision. As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will create and manage the long-term direction of our seasonal palettes of color, graphic, material, and finishes through the creative foundation of the CRAFTED BEAUTY. By directing through the creative foundation and the constant integration of digital creation tools, you will elevate the vision our CRAFTED BEAUTY foundation as a periodic design reference for Brooks Running footwear while maintaining brand direction and appropriate aesthetic appeal for a targeted consumer. As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will directly oversee the design functions of Color & Trend Design for ALL footwear product (Inline, Innovation and Lifestyle) as well as directional for head-to-toe enterprise initiatives, and Product Virtualization. With your extensive experience in trend analysis and energy you will inspire, oversee, and coach, the leadership of each group with your extensive experience in trend analysis and energy. You are proactively anticipating risks and effectively lead the team to navigate any challenges while minimizing exposure to the business. A key element of your role will be to apply and to develop critical thinking, problem solving and process improvement skills in your managers and others. You will provide opportunities to your team to apply these skills and have input on decisions. As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will be a member of the leadership teams of our extended Seasonal Creation Leader group to see your vision of the emotional experience through all times of product creation. You will take the leadership role in the implementation and the establishment of our aesthetic views manifested in our CRAFTED BEAUTY – seasonal design language. As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will thrive in ambiguity through collecting empirical data from the habitats of the runner consumer – RUN, WALK, HIKE, RECOVERY, and WORK - to inform the aesthetic direction. You will direct the overall product quality to higher levels through trend research, design research, use of innovative materials and processes to achieve fresh and market relevant directions in color and material applications throughout the product line. As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will provide clear communication to a variety of people. You are a partner to the whole design organization of Brooks Running and to external organizations. You will be in a partial or a whole design leadership role for our CRAFTED BEAUTY design language as part of multiple work streams – Seasonal Creation Leaders (SCL) including Merchandizing, Development, and Product Marketing to ensure that Brooks is the most LOVED brand for runners worldwide.

Requirements

• 4-year college or university degree in product, graphics, apparel or footwear design, equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be substituted for degree. International education is a plus
• 14+ years of experience creating color/material/textile programs and future vision of consumer goods - ideally sports industry.
• Extensive experience creating aesthetics and stories for international markets of consumer goods.
• Ability to scale and balance aesthetics to include all three major markets NA/EMEA/APLA.
• 7+ year’s managerial experience, managing direct reports and developing talent.
• Thorough knowledge of art and design with clear understanding of visual design or any design related environment.
• Proven experience creating and leading the execution of vision and strategy.
• Experience managing external resources.
• Ability to understand design conceptually across product categories.
• Ability to understand design concepts and think conceptually.
• Ability to create designs that meet category needs and commercial opportunities.
• Ability to operate in a fast pace, ever changing work environment.
• Ability to manage a team of professionals to inspire and motivate them to produce their best work.
• Ability to build and foster relationships in a team environment.
• This position requires employee to engage with many stakeholders, as well as manage various information and relationships.
• Ability and desire to push themselves, others, and the brand forward.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with key business partners.
• Keen attention to detail in planning, organization, and execution of tasks (self and through others), while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all the pieces fit together and affect one another.
• Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help wherever necessary.
• Mastery with Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop
• Competent using Apple Mac Operating system
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint etc.)

Nice To Haves

• 3D not required, but a plus
• Passionate participation in Brooks’ sports activities a plus, overridden by the ability to understand and empathize with the runner to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.

Responsibilities

• Upgrade through direction, education, and coaching in footwear but also across the organization the aesthetic competitiveness of our products
• Co-create our creative foundation CRAFTED BEAUTY – PERFORMANCE EXPRESSIONS with the Director, Footwear Innovation.
• Represent the design team on the Seasonal Creation Leader team (SCLs) to create cross functional alignment across key decisions that impact the inline strategy across Horizon 1 (1-3 yrs) and inform innovation strategy Horizon 2 (5-10 yrs) with an applied color strategy.
• Manage, lead and direct the Brooks Running Footwear Color & Trend Team.
• Lead the teams through our product review gates ensuring adherence to seasonal and long-term calendars.
• Mentor and influence managers and stakeholders on developing and applying both a critical thinking and process improvement lens on decisions.
• Oversee the inline color palette and color CAD creation process.
• Oversee the footwear pre-development of the: a) color palette creation, b) graphic palette creation, c) material palette creation, d) and finish palette creation.
• Participate and play a key role on the footwear steering committee and footwear calibration process
• Demonstrate strong people leadership skills rooted in Connect (our leadership development program) principles.
• Responsible for team culture and keep a pulse on morale to proactively address any concerns.
• Create an organizational design to align with business strategy and conditions.
• Provide career-development planning, coaching, training and support teams to create and foster a culture of learning, personal development, curiosity and innovation.
• Model leadership behavior across the organization.
• Drive performance management using Brooks performance management tools as a foundation.
• Initiate recognition and rewards and celebrate wins
• Direct and lead the color, graphic, material and finish design reviews,
• Create visions extending the seasonal stories into new areas and new topics connecting general trends and macro aesthetics trends to our product portfolio.
• Innovate identity principles to maximize perceived value to drive superior competitiveness.
• Direct the seasonal updates of our CRAFTED BEAUTY with your team.
• Provide strategic direction, leadership, mentorship and inspiration to a diverse team of designers.
• Guide and deliver product design presentations; both physical and digital including exploratory process to reach final solution and color CADs and Material Maps.
• Remain up-to-date and knowledgeable in your craft to ensure you are continuously aware of information needed to design a consumer and brand relevant product.
• Direct the team leads of color and material to integrate 3D CAD.
• Attend trade fairs, cultural events, and sporting events to ensure runner insights for design inspiration.
• Attend store visits, market visits, and team travel as necessary for design inspiration.
• Synthesize results into presentation that drive or aesthetic conversation across the enterprise.
• Incorporate a global point of view, accounting for regional differences for various markets.
• Influence Merchandising to create strong product stories across both Apparel and Footwear.
• Provide strong direction to Footwear Development through integrating design to express performance by influencing development process & cost management from a design perspective.
• Partner with the Marketing and Product Marketing Teams in creating and communicating the inspiration and storytelling.
• Present new color and material directions to product teams and senior management on a seasonal basis.

Benefits

• medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance, HSA and employer contribution, FSA, family & fertility assistance, 401K Savings Plan and match, employee assistance program, and transportation assistance.
• generous time off including five weeks of paid time off, eleven paid holidays, paid sick and parental leave.
• annual bonus based on company performance.
• product discounts, employee recognition, fitness discounts, volunteer and donation benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director