Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design

Brooks Running•Seattle, WA

14h•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Brooks Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Designer, you will elevate design quality and create independent design solutions as a key leader in shaping the future of running footwear. You will deliver creative solutions to runner performance needs and elite athlete projects, while also influencing the AESTHETIC READINESS of Brooks Running inline footwear product. You will create within a multidisciplinary innovation team focused on creating products that elevate athlete performance and fuel the future of the Brooks footwear pipeline. With your extensive experience, you will ensure the DESIGN VISION to translate early‑stage innovation concepts into next‑generation footwear platforms and product ideas, striking the balance between modern design and technical excellence. As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, you will apply and elevate the creative foundation CRAFTED BEAUTY – PERFORMANCE EXPRESSIONS to create compelling footwear product designs. You will design with empathy for Brooks ELITE ATHLETES and runners, deepening the connection to the runner’s experience across Fit, Feel, and Ride. Through thoughtful execution and iteration, you will lead the creation of next‑generation platforms, tools, and product ideas while maintaining brand direction and appropriate aesthetic appeal for a targeted consumer. As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, you will innovate shoe-making methods and future manufacturing. You will influence across design functions the future color, graphic, material, and finishes in close cooperation with the Advanced Design & Research Team. In collaboration, you will ensure new concepts can be manufactured and delivered at scale whilst ensuring the integrity of the innovation. As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, your role will be pivotal to provide clear design communication to the Product Line Management Team, the Product Development Team, the Color & Trend team, and the Run Research Lab. You will establish and build relationships with material vendors and factories across the globe. With your advanced experience in designing footwear, you will play an independent role as designer and design mentor within the whole footwear team to ensure that Brooks is the most LOVED brand for runners worldwide.

Requirements

4-year college or university degree in industrial, graphics, apparel, or footwear design, or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience, may be substituted for a degree
7+ years of experience creating color/material/textile programs and future vision in a retail/manufacturing environment.
Thorough knowledge of art and design, with a clear understanding of visual design or any design-related environment
Proven experience creating and leading the execution of vision and strategy
Ability to understand design concepts and think conceptually
Ability to understand design conceptually across product categories
Ability to create designs that meet category needs and commercial opportunities
Ability to operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing work environment
Ability to build and foster relationships in a team environment. This position requires employees 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 of 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 out 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

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

Responsibilities

Own the design of complex performance footwear revolutions.
Ensure that all product designs meet organizational standards of quality, leadership, function/ technology, and project timelines from concept through go-to-market, where applicable.
Apply identity principles to maximize perceived value in order to drive superior aesthetic competitiveness.
Influence the work of the Color & Trend Team to elevate the deeper integration of coloration thinking in product design.
Partner with 3D / Computational Designers to increase the fidelity of design concepts.
Create and present upper, midsole, and outsole sketches and tooling blueprints for innovation product influenced by your design POV.
Create independent design solutions based on innovation briefs/concepts and CRAFTED BEAUTY – PERFORMANCE EXPRESSIONS design direction with your POV on storytelling, color, material, and finishes to grow the appeal of Brooks Running footwear.
Participate in innovation concept development to shape and inform next-generation platforms and product ideas for the Brooks footwear pipeline.
Organize and deliver product design presentations, both physical and digital, including exploratory process to reach final solution.
Respond to design critique with multiple design solutions.
Drive design within a multidisciplinary innovation team to deliver industry-leading products and stories across both innovation and elite athlete projects, collaborating with cross-functional partners including Run Research Lab, Engineering, Development, Product Line, and Program & Process Management.
Actively influence the collaborative work with the Advanced Design Team to ensure the successful implementation of innovation projects.
Actively influence the 3D / Computational Design Team to increase the clarity of design concepts.
Integrate 3D CAD tools in your design process.
Act as design subject matter expert and leader in collaboration within design and other teams – facilitate conversations, lead by example, and show the “how”.
Interact and collaborate with Associate Designer, Designer 1, and Designer 2 to provide feedback and guidance.
Actively influence collaborative work with Inline Design and Color, Material & Trend teams to ensure strong alignment and integration of innovation product pipelines.
Actively interact and influence various footwear team experts in Product Color & Trend, Product Materials, Product Development, Product Line Management, and Product Assessment.
Utilize their reportings to inform our design approach.
Work closely with the development teams in Asia and our overseas production sites.
Maintain calendar/timelines/deadlines that result in a timely completion of each project.
As an expert in product design, use your experience to influence your product team.
Knowledge of prototyping - ability to use hand-made models and 3D CAD models to demonstrate proof of ideas.
Answer critique with a curious mindset – propose alternative options after more design exploration.
Anticipate questions or perceived risks - prepare analysis and reasoning.
Lead innovation workshops, research activities, and prototype reviews in partnership with senior manager of design leadership, leveraging deep runner insights from the Run Research Lab.
Balance your experience with your intuition to deliver unexpected results.
Have a strong understanding of the design jet stream to keep informed on what’s trending and how this may influence our design.
Accountable for exploring and translating how all identity elements play together on a product to enhance the product.
Conduct visits to our factories and material suppliers to gain insights and maintain a high level of understanding of the footwear manufacturing process.
Travel as necessary to Asia, Europe, trade shows, races, retailers, or other external events.