Senior Designer - Footwear (Performance)

Job description

**Your opportunity at ARC’TERYX:** As a Senior Footwear Designer, you design and develop advanced comprehensive product solutions that are aligned with the Arc’teryx design philosophies, continuously exceeding our users’ evolving needs. In this role, you will support with establishing the long-term vision and design strategy for our Footwear category, helping define a strong and ownable footwear DNA that connects technical innovation, mountain utility, brand expression, and commercial relevance. You will bring your curiosity and passion for product to imagine and build innovative, relevant, and resolved footwear designs that create meaningful commercial drivers for the business. You are an innovative problem solver with a focus on collaborative teamwork. This role is based out of our Portland office and is expected to be performed on-location. **Meet your future team:** The Arc’teryx Footwear team creates innovative, technical product that exceeds the core mountain athlete’s needs in the outdoors. We are builders, problem solvers and passionate outdoor enthusiasts. Fueled by curiosity, we take an immersive approach to identifying our athlete’s needs and 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. ### If you were in the Senior Footwear Designer role now, here are some of the core activities you would be doing: - Executing all design needs for assigned collection and projects within the seasonal offering - Supporting stage gates, meetings, presentations, and long-term strategy work Helping build and evolve a clear footwear design DNA that strengthens Arc’teryx’s point of view across form, fit, function, materials, and brand expression - Partnering with PLM, Development, Merchandising, and Commercial teams to identify and build key product drivers that balance athlete needs, brand leadership, and business growth - Creating strong working relationships with your immediate team, cross functionally, and with overseas teams; communicating clearly and frequently on all topics related to our design, athlete and guest - Serving the mountain athlete and broader guest needs through research and observation, leveraging user-centered and iterative design approaches - Driving the design process from ideation and concept, through to the guest - Supporting the execution of new technologies, materials, constructions, and design for manufacturing techniques - Taking on athlete and user feedback in order to improve upon initial design proposals - Mentoring designers, developers, and new teammates by sharing skills, knowledge and experience - Creating and visually conveying concepts, tech packs, patterns, mock ups, and prototypes to prove new concepts; presenting work at all stage gates in internal reviews and meetings as needed - Providing the Product Creation Development team with detailed product tech packs, inclusive of spec drawings, patterns, fits, materials and color information - Collaborating with the Raw Materials team to source, develop, and test new materials - Developing and maintaining a thorough understanding of existing Arc’teryx materials and manufacturing techniques - Defining and building in collaboration with other designers, creating new and better toolbox solutions - Staying current with industry trends - Assisting with product design changes; addressing in-line production needs as required - Collaborating with the Colour team to provide end-use needs, material considerations and feedback - Adhering to the Arc’teryx sustainability design principles, while also driving future initiatives in consideration of footwear needs ### Here are some of the things you could be working on in the future: - Working on reimagining technical footwear for the mountain athlete - Contributing to the creation of a new footwear chapter for Arc’teryx, centered on product, process and team - Building signature footwear concepts and commercial product drivers that establish a distinct Arc’teryx footwear DNA in the market - Collaborating with Arc’teryx athletes and other industry representatives to help ensure Arc’teryx is exceeding our athlete and guests’ evolving needs - Collaborating with Footwear leadership team to make decisions on product solutions, sharing of responsibilities, workload and overall product plans ### Are you our next Senior Designer – Footwear? - You have a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial/Product Design, or equivalent industry experience - You have 7+ years of hands-on experience designing performance footwear