Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design

Brooks Running • Seattle, WA

5d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, you will lead the exploration of future design opportunities to innovate, and you will work alongside a team of innovators with a shared mission of making athletes better by creating products that take performance to new heights.
As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, you will be challenged to solve challenging problems by creating novel solutions to athletes' needs. This work will be the foundation layer for the next generation of technology platforms that will fuel the future of the brand through the pipeline of inline products. You will work with a cross-functional team of experts from our Run Research Lab, Engineering, Product line managers, computational designers, Development team, and materials experts with the goal of pushing the possibilities of product and athlete potential.
As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, you will partner closely with your teammates to innovate for future shoe-making methods and their future ways of manufacturing. You will work in close cooperation with the Color – Material & Trend Design Team as well as the inline team, ensuring a close connection and high degree of successful product integration to market.
As a Senior Designer, Innovation Footwear Design, your role will be pivotal to providing clear communication to a variety of teams and stakeholders. You will be a partner with the whole design organization of Brooks Running and external organizations. 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 a designer and design mentor within the footwear community at Brooks.

Requirements

• 3-4 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 technical footwear products.
• Proven experience creating and leading the execution of vision and strategy.
• Deep understanding of footwear construction and materials.
• Deep understanding of biomechanics and the science of running performance.
• Ability to understand design concepts and think conceptually.
• 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.
• Ability to understand and empathize with the runner to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.
• Travel 15% (Domestically/Internationally)

Nice To Haves

• 3D not required, but a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the full design of complex performance footwear revolutions by creating and presenting upper, midsole, and outsole sketches.
• Apply identity principles to maximize perceived value to drive superior competitiveness.
• Create and deliver tech packs for prototype manufacture and explore intentional iterations of your designs.
• Lead with curiosity, seeking new possibilities of manufacture, material, and technological innovations, and design and prototyping tool improvements across global networks, bringing ideas and possibilities to life.
• Work with 3D / Computational Designers to increase the fidelity and impact of your concepts.
• Organize and deliver product design presentations, both physical and digital, including the exploration process, using your experience, judgment, and interpretation to select the right course of action.
• Provide feedback and guidance to Associate Designers, Designer 1, and Designer 2.
• May manage up to 1 direct report.
• Respond thoughtfully and non-defensively to design critique with multiple design solutions and influence others through key decisions, milestones, and timelines.
• Drive design excellence within the innovation product creation team to deliver industry-leading product concepts.
• Partner with our Run Research Lab (RRL) with design support and aesthetic know-how.
• Actively influence collaborative work with the Inline Design Team to move our products forward.
• Actively influence the 3D CAD Design Team to move our products forward and integrate 3D CAD tools in your design process.
• Act as design subject matter expert and leader in collaboration within design and other teams.
• Collaborate with the Color, Materials & Trend Design Team on the advancement of our design marker in story, branding, color, material, and finish with advanced design projects.
• Partner with the Product Line Management and Innovation Development teams on future shoe-making and manufacturing methods.
• Lead design research to develop prototypes.
• Partner with product developers in the development phase by creating detailed, executable, and cost-effective footwear designs and design tech packages.
• Participate in sessions to gain customer insight projects of the Run-Sight Lab.
• Own your ideas and autonomously partner with cross-functional teams to successfully bring them to life.
• Maintain calendar/timelines/deadlines that result in a timely completion of each project.
• As an expert in product design, share your design knowledge with your product teams.
• Knowledge of prototyping - ability to use handmade 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.
• Balance your experience with your intuition to deliver unexpected results.
• 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.

Benefits

• Including 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.
• Brooks offers generous time off, including three to five weeks of paid time off, eleven paid holidays, and paid sick and parental leave.
• In addition to base pay, Brooks employees may also be offered an annual bonus based on company performance.
• Including product discounts, employee recognition, fitness discounts, volunteer and donation benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees