Senior Director, Footwear Development

ARC'TERYX • Portland, OR

1d • $188,000 - $245,000 • Onsite

About The Position

As the Senior Director, Footwear Development, you will lead the product creation and development process to deliver disruptive, aspirational, and sustainable products to the market. You will oversee the execution of our seasonal footwear plans from design concept through production readiness, ensuring a consistent level of quality, fit, and performance. You will operate at the intersection of balancing the athlete’s needs, technical feasibility and business objectives while you work in lockstep with Merchandising, Design, Manufacturing and other cross-functional teams to deliver product that inspires the core mountain athlete to reach new levels of performance. Our Product Creation Development team is a dynamic group spread across the globe. It sits within our Supply Chain organization and is a center of excellence partner with our Footwear Business Unit. The Arc'teryx Footwear team creates innovative, aesthetically striking product that exceeds the core mountain athlete’s outdoors needs across climbing, hiking, and trail running categories. We are builders, problem solvers and passionate outdoor enthusiasts. Fueled by curiosity, we take an immersive approach to identifying our athlete’s future needs – then, build, test, and validate products that solve for real functional challenges. We are a passionate collective with a focus on collaborative teamwork, and our vision is to redefine the industry.

Requirements

• 15+ years’ experience in a technical aspect of the footwear industry (engineering, development, manufacturing, etc.), ideally with extensive experience in manufacturing environments in Asia
• Proven experience building processes and teams from the ground up, and can lead an organization through scale and growth.
• Strong influential leadership, with the ability to drive alignment across diverse cross-functional stakeholders at all levels of the business
• Set a clear vision, align your team around common objectives, and foster commitment to these objectives
• In-depth knowledge of footwear construction, foams and rubbers, pattern making, manufacturing, costing, lasts, and materials
• Proven skills in interpreting design intent and product innovation
• Proven performance history with domestic and offshore vendors and manufacturers
• Excellent communication skills - interpersonal, written and verbal
• Entrepreneurial with the ability to make decisions and take calculated risks
• Proactive in identifying the root cause of issues and developing solutions
• Remain highly flexible and adaptable when faced with ambiguity
• Effectively balance autonomy and collaboration
• Inspire breakthrough thinking and continuous improvement
• Seek the best (sometimes not the easiest) solutions, with an unwavering commitment to do what is right
• Passion for sustainability is paralleled by your passion for getting outside and living it

Responsibilities

• Overseeing the footwear product development process from initial concept to commercialization ready, driving sustainability, performance, and profitability goals.
• Acting as a critical thought partner to Supply Chain and Footwear Leadership Team as we evolve our teams’ strategic priorities.
• Collaborating with the Footwear and Sourcing leadership teams to establish and execute a medium to long-term partner strategy grounded in product excellence, on-time delivery, quality, and risk mitigation.
• Developing recommendations on our future organizational structure and the technical resources needed to support growth, and hiring the technical talent needed to address current and future needs.
• Fostering deep, collaborative partnerships with Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners to ensure Arc’teryx’s standards and processes are agreed upon and followed. You will establish technical metrics and scorecards in collaboration with Supply Chain and Footwear team partners and develop a regular cadence of reviewing and acting upon them.
• Collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders and establishing and driving a footwear innovation agenda. You will recommend an approach to finding solutions to the technical aspects of all projects, including leveraging teams in Portland and North Vancouver, external resources, and with Tier 1 partners in Asia.
• Providing a strong point of view on and heavily influencing our Sustainability agenda and our corporate mission to “Leave It Better†.
• Driving profitability goals through collaboration with all Footwear and cross-functional stakeholders (including Sourcing, Materials, etc.) and establishing a system by which margin targets, cost breakdown, sheets and other financial and technical data are scrutinized and reviewed.
• Leveraging your deep functional expertise to educate, coach and mentor others
• Creating a culture of unmatched footwear product and operational excellence
• Hiring, coaching, and inspiring a team of talented footwear experts to drive innovation and creative vision
• Continuously innovating and evolving how we craft and create product to meet and exceed the needs of the guest
• Leading the collaboration of your team as well as the manufacturing team members to enable them the best product through clear product spec documentation of construction and engineering insight.

Benefits

• Extended health, dental, and vision coverage, including mental health support, fertility benefits, and a 24/7 Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Immediately vested 401(k) retirement savings plan matching, eligibility for Arc'teryx Annual Incentive Plan and access to Employee Stock Purchase program (ESPP) where applicable.
• Paid time off and No Wasted Day program (dedicated paid days to get outside & explore).
• Parental leave for birthing and on-birthing parents, including an option to ease the transition back to work.
• Professional development opportunities, Arc'teryx Academies (outdoor skill-building events), Employee Belonging Councils, and access to employee discounts and Pro Deals (exclusive discounted pricing on gear).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed