Footwear Product Developer, Asia

Job description

**Who We Are:** At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation. Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success: - ***Runner First*** - *We act in the best interest of the runner* - ***Word is Bond*** - *We do what we say we’ll do* - ***Champion Heart*** - *We give our all in everything we do* - ***There is no “I” in Run*** - *We stay generous with our humanity* - ***Keep Moving*** - *We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!* We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement - because we’re *all* moving towards something. Let’s run there. ### **Your Job****:** The Footwear Product Developer, Asia will help drive our footwear development process from concept to commercialization with certain supervision and guidance from Senior Developer/ Development Manager. You will work with cross–functional and multi-national product creation teams to help support the development process between our US based team and our factories in China and Vietnam to meet model, commercialization and material development timelines. You will actively manage and engineer prototypes through to product confirmation while working directly with various product creation groups (Pattern Engineering, Asia Mold Shop, Sample Room, Costing, Materials, and Design Departments) to drive the tech package process and ensure products meet or exceed our quality standards. The Footwear Product Developer, Asia will be responsible for generating and communicating ideas regarding the engineering principles that enhance footwear performance and overall value to our products. ### Your Responsibilities: - Manage multiple projects from Brief stage through Design, Development, Costing and Commercialization with certain supervision and guidance from Senior Developer/ Development Managers, - Execute project development according to the seasonal calendar to drive on–time delivery of sales samples, confirmation and commercialization. - Review and understand all basic blueprints (outsole/ midsole/ upper), upper patterns and materials. - Has a good understanding of basic concepts of footwear creation process - pattern engineering, model making, part drawings, drafting, 2D documentation, mold making, materials, and understand costing/quality implications. - Display a basic knowledge of the manufacturing process with the desire/ability to learn new manufacturing techniques and apply them to products - Collaborate, develop good working relationship and maintain effective communication with internal and external partners (Factory Developers, Engineering, and Production) to obtain necessary information to resolve issues as necessary and to enable joint problem solving to achieve better products; - Initiate meetings with engineering team during various phases of development to review, evaluate, update product that leads to on–time production confirmation and achieving FOB target. - Document key issues and drive action plans to resolve outstanding issues. - Demonstrate good problem-solving skills with persistent questioning to find out the “whys?”. Make some decisions independently and must be a good at identifying issues and facilitating resolution in a timely manner. - Update and maintain technical packages for assigned projects for each quarter, including midsole/outsole blueprints, upper pattern packages, color maps and project specifications - Effectively communicate with our US Product teams (Development, Design, Product, Costing, R&D) to understand, manage, and execute product performance, aesthetics, and costing vision. - Collaborate with our Materials team and vendors to select and improve materials that meet or exceed Brooks’ quality standards. - Seek out learning opportunities on latest footwear trends and manufacturing processes and techniques. - Willing to expand the technical skill sets and learn best practices and sound scientific methods. - Other responsibilities as required. ### Qualifications: - Preferably hold a degree in a post-secondary discipline (ex. Associate degree, B.A, etc) and could be substituted with relevant experience, - 3+ years relevant experience in the product development of Footwear; 1+ years of development experience working with Athletic Footwear. - Understanding of components that effect costing and has working knowledge of cost engineering - Strong logical thought process to identify root cause of issues. - Fluent English communication skills (both speaking and writing). Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from their counterparts at US headquarters, cross-functional colleagues, factory partners, etc - Proven track record of successful collaboration in global product development teams - Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills; must be extremely detail-oriented - Must possess the ability to multi-task and work in a fast-paced, team environment - Must be inquisitive, persistent, and assertive - Strong organizational skills and independent work habits - Must be proficient with MS Office applications (excel, word and powerpoint); - flexPLM, MS Project, Illustrator experience a plus