Sr. Manager, Footwear Product Innovation R&D

Crocs, Inc. • Westminster, CO

43d • $139,000 - $149,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr. Manager, Product Innovation at Crocs, Inc. will lead the end-to-end innovation and product development lifecycle, from ideation through commercialization. This role will drive cross-functional collaboration across global teams, manage innovation pipelines, and ensure the successful execution of new product initiatives that align with business goals. The ideal candidate will bring a strong background in footwear and a passion for innovation, and proven leadership in managing teams and complex projects.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in footwear industry or in the plastics or plastics related industry, specializing in innovation or product development, material development, quality, manufacturing or mold engineering.
• At least three (3) years leading others.
• Knowledge of plastics (injection, compression molding, etc.) and tooling, in the footwear industry or parallel businesses.
• Significant understanding of the product development process.
• Solid understanding of footwear construction and materials.
• Basic understanding of 3D design and development.
• Demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence peers, set goals, and guide direction effectively.
• Travel, domestic and international as required by business needs.
• Ability to work independently on multiple projects under minimal guidance, adapt to change, make decisions confidently, and remain comfortable with risk and ambiguity in dynamic environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage innovation projects across different functions and departments.
• Contribute to implement an open innovation environment, extending the network of suppliers even to parallel industries, to collect ideas and solutions from the most diverse sources.
• Collaborating with the Asia and America Innovation teams.
• Take ownership for the entire development process of the innovation, with an emphasis on quality product development and timely completion of all tasks in accordance with the applicable product creation calendar in the internal digital platform.
• Establish strong collaborative relationships with our research and testing team to realize new functional concepts and produce prototypes, evaluate testing results, and drive towards platforms that are ready for hand off to brand product teams.
• Proactively research new technologies, processes and materials to drive innovation.
• Travel to global industry events to gain insight into the latest innovations in the market.
• Ensure successful implementation of the innovations in production, directly working with QA, Product Execution, Materials, costing and other Crocs teams, as well as with the factories.

Benefits

• This position is eligible to participate in a company incentive program.
• This position is eligible for company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short and long-term disability coverage, paid time off, employee assistance, participation in a 401k program that includes company match, and many other additional voluntary benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager