Footwear Design Director, Nike Basketball Signature Athlete

Nike•Beaverton, OR

About The Position

Nike is seeking a Footwear Design Director for Nike Basketball Signature Athlete to lead the creation of industry-leading footwear and bring bold concepts to life. The role helps define a new visual language for Nike Basketball, expressing sport through style, performance, and modern design. It calls for creative ambition and strategic focus, with global partnerships to build scalable design systems and advance creative innovation. The director will create elevated, emotionally resonant products for consumers on and off the court, drawing on cultural relevance, consumer insights, and emerging trends. They will explore new opportunities, take creative risks, and develop solutions that balance performance, manufacturing, sustainability, and cost. The role also helps shape design direction with the Senior Creative Director and serves as a leader and mentor to other designers. The position collaborates with designers across concept, industrial design, materials, color, graphics, and computational disciplines, as well as product managers, developers, researchers, marketing, costing, athletes, and other project partners. It reports directly to the Sr Creative Director, Kobe Brand + Nike Basketball, and manages a Lead Footwear Designer. Applicants must submit a footwear-design-focused portfolio as a PDF or a URL on their resume, with a password provided if applicable. Accommodations are available during the interview process, including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single-location in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design or a related field; suitable combinations of education, experience, and training will be accepted.
10+ years working in Design or a related field.
Exceptional knowledge of design, art, and fashion, and a passion for sport and youth culture.
Expert knowledge of form, color, materials, and human factors as they relate to the consumer experience.
Ability to translate consumer knowledge and insights into product solutions and narratives.
Experience in technical footwear design.
Strong Photoshop and Illustrator skills.
Ability to build accurate 2D technical drawings (tech packs).
Strong sketching, illustration, and rendering skills.
Expert knowledge of manufacturing processes and materials.
Ability to generate a broad range of concepts and solutions for each project.
Experience with presentation programs such as Keynote, PowerPoint, and Acrobat.
Ability and passion to lead, coach, collaborate, and onboard design teammates.
Positive personality and energy; collaborative, open-minded, receptive to candid feedback and diverse perspectives, and willing to speak up with courage for self and team.
Must be passionate and curious about learning about basketball and the athlete; being a basketball player is not required.
Submit a footwear-design-focused portfolio as a PDF or URL on the resume, with a password if applicable.

Nice To Haves

Basketball footwear design experience.
Cobbling and prototyping skills.
Experience with 3D design programs.

Responsibilities

Direct the creation of industry-leading Nike Basketball footwear and bring bold concepts to life.
Help define Nike Basketball’s visual language through style, performance, and modern design.
Develop scalable design systems and advance creative innovation in partnership across the global brand.
Translate consumer knowledge and insights into product solutions and narratives.
Research, gather insights, and solve performance and manufacturing challenges with project teammates.
Work with athletes and craft a broad range of creative, appealing solutions that consider sustainability and cost.
Participate in and present work during informal and formal reviews.
Collaborate with the Senior Creative Director to build design direction.
Lead, coach, mentor, and onboard design teammates, including managing a Lead Footwear Designer.
Build connections with other design groups and drive partnerships beyond Design, including Marketing, Engineering, and Development.
Contribute to and align with shared team culture and behaviors.