Director, Digital Design Innovation

Nike•Beaverton, OR

About The Position

You will lead a growing team of 25+ 3D designers and Generative AI designers. They are aligned and embedded with Sport and Sportswear teams and priority projects, you will be working at the highest level of craft and innovation across Product Creation Engine (Innovation, Product Design, CGM Design, Global Technology, Engineering, Development, Product, Business Integration and manufacturing), partnering with VP Creative Directors in driving the E2E strategic direction and implementation of Digital Product Creation. You'll partner closely with the 3D Design/GenAI team, Global Tech, CP&I (consumer/product/innovation under Jacob), and the Innovation DPC to identify, define, test, pilot & scale the future of AI-augmented product design. We are seeking an accomplished leader in 3D Footwear Design with deep expertise at the intersection of 3D design and generative AI. This individual will bring a clear vision for integrating 3D and GenAI into our product creation workflows, elevating both digital and physical prototyping capabilities. The ideal candidate will excel at coaching a team to develop their own solutions, build custom tools, and drive the organization toward manufacturable, scalable innovation. They will play a pivotal role in establishing excellence in 3D design across digital environments and 3D‑printed prototyping.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in in Industrial Design, Product Design, Footwear Design or relevant design degree or a combination of relevant education, experience, and training
8+ years of experience in 3D Design, digital product creation, computational design or related fields, including 5+ years of management experience.
Highly proficient and knowledgeable in poly modeling across multiple tools with deep specialization in preferred 3D packages, NURBS modeling, and computational design. (Maya, Blender, Rhino/Grasshopper)
Ability to lead teams of 3D Designers who are experts in 3D software for advanced conceptual poly models as well as manufacturable NURBS models, develop and/or utilize tools within the Product Creation Engine (FW / AP / AC)
Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to align with Senior Leaders, product creation partners and tech teams.
Deep understanding of Product Creation Engine and its requirements to provide strategy and direction for 3D execution and adoptions of new 3D and AI tools
Expert-level proficiency with generative AI workflows with ability lead teams to adopt and scale new tools and ways of working.
Hands-on mindset, with the ability to step into the work when needed to solve problems, elevate craft, and accelerate execution.

Responsibilities

Lead, define and communicate a strategy of best practices for 3D design and GenAI integration, create design solutions for complex Product concepts, and partner with global teams to scale 3D and GenAI tools enterprise wide.
Mentor the team, drive strategic vision, and ensure Nike's 3D and GenAI visualization remain at the cutting edge.
Work closely with VP Creative Directors and their team to build a strategy for creating design solutions and collaborations on Product Creation Engine against priorities and key concepts within the co-creation process and timelines
Identify business prioritization projects in collaboration with Design leadership and align your team’s capacity and resources to implement an intake and output process and best practices within the product creation engine.
Partner with Digital Production Studio leadership to build and implement an output strategy and process to implement a best practice asset management transition across digital pipelines and lead the team in delivering against that.
Partner with GenAI team, Global Tech, and CP&I as a key stakeholder to define, refine, and scale 3D/GenAI tools and digital workflows for scale across the Product Engine
Drive adoption of both traditional 3D best practices and emerging AI capabilities, helping others understand when and how to leverage each approach effectively.
Build strategy and vision on how to adopt new custom tools and workflows that can accelerate our product creation capabilities in collaboration with x-functional leaders, ensuring feasibility while pushing the creative boundaries.
Guide Design and Product teams toward manufacturable solutions by understanding footwear and apparel creation processes and constraints (cost/scale/speed etc.) and identifying how 3D/GenAI tools can deliver new solutions and capabilities.
Serve as subject matter expert with Products Design teams, Virtual color, graphics and material teams, pipeline teams, development partners, Innovation DPC and manufacturing partners, sharing best practices and learning about future manufacturing methods
Lead the 3D Design team and community, maintaining a positive attitude and helping the team understand Nike's strategic vision and how their work contributes to it.
Partner closely with Digital Design leaders across the Design Studio to shape the strategy of Generative Systems needed to future proof our Product Creation Engine.
Ensure all work meets brand standards and is ready for adoption into the digital pipeline, understanding that the team’s 3D models and renderings may be shared for multiple purposes
Work with external vendors on the Proof-of-concept trials of new tools, future feature builds, and rollouts.