Sr. Manager, Color Design - HOKA Footwear

Deckers•Portland, OR

1d•Onsite

About The Position

As Sr. Manager, Color Design for HOKA Footwear, you’ll guide the long-term color vision for the brand, ensuring seasonal relevance, athlete credibility, and commercial impact. You’ll sit at the intersection of design, product, brand, and merchandising, elevating color as a strategic tool to drive emotion, storytelling, and brand differentiation. You’ll push newness in product, explore bold ideas, and translate insights into meaningful solutions, bringing clarity, craft, and momentum to the design process from concept to final product. We celebrate diversity--of your background, your experiences and your unique identity. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive and equitable workplace where all of our employees can Come as They Are. We believe that when we bring our different perspectives to work, we are truly Better Together.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in industrial design, product design, or a related field
8+ years’ experience in color design, preferably in footwear
Expert in color theory and regional/global trends
Advanced understanding of footwear material, construction, and process
Proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Powerpoint, Miro or Lucid
Expertise in leading generative AI platforms (e.g., Midjourney, Vizcom)
Strong leadership and communication skills, with a track record of building and mentoring creative teams
Portfolio showcasing macro trend insights, color design direction, creative excellence, and application of footwear color
Promotes healthy dialogue, values all opinions, and displays humility
Collaborates and builds relationships across the organization
Demonstrates agility and inspires vision for change
Holds self and others accountable for achieving results while role-modeling company values
Empowers decision-makers and upholds decisions once made
Finds ways to achieve financial and ESG goals simultaneously
Keeps team motivated by providing opportunities to contribute to society

Responsibilities

Lead color design on category priority projects, building dynamic color tools and strategies
Develop seasonal color palettes that deliver the uniquely HOKA Footwear experience, inspiring consumers globally
Work against seasonal project briefs, annual franchise concepts, and long-term design strategies
Explore “blue sky” opportunities that champion the spirit of HOKA as a tinkerer, challenger, and creator
Collaborate with business partners to deliver color that accelerates the business
Partner with design functions to build products, seasonal strategies, and long-term concepts with a holistic point-of-view
Manage multiple creation calendars for seasonal Inline, collaboration, and SMU design projects
Set color direction for projects/categories and contribute to annual and seasonal Creative Vision
Mentor design team in understanding of consumer and market acumen
Attend seasonal kickoff and participate in design travel and inspiration planning