Senior Designer, Inline Footwear Design

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****:** As a Brooks Running Senior Footwear Designer, Inline, you will create and innovate - you will elevate and influence the AESTHETIC READINESS of Brooks Running footwear inline product with your strong point of view. With your extensive experience, you will ensure the EXECUTIONAL DESIGN BALANCE between the most progressive and the most acceptable design application as part of a seasonal collection of Brooks Running footwear product. As a Senior Footwear Designer, Inline, you will use the creative foundation CRAFTED BEAUTY to create compelling footwear designs. By applying the creative foundation, you will constantly elevate with your improvements the level of our CRAFTED BEAUTY foundation as a design reference of Brooks Running inline product while maintaining brand direction and appropriate aesthetic appeal for our target consumer. As a Senior Footwear Designer, Inline, you will work in close cooperation with the Color – Material & Trend Design Team on the creation of our Seasonal Beauty. You will lead the implementation of our emotional storytelling of color, graphics, materials, finishes, and trends as part of the footwear pre-season design process and the inline design process. You will work on selective projects in close partnership with the Advanced Design Team on the application of our advanced team design language FUTURE BEAUTY. As a Senior Footwear Designer, Inline, you will implement best practices of 3D visual and technical tools, utilizing strong design, product, and program knowledge. Our design team uses the power of 3D digital tools to make the best running footwear on the planet. You are key in influencing your co-workers to elevate their 3D and DIGITAL DESIGN tools to create clear, well-thought-out, data-influenced ideas and design solutions with these tools. Files will be shared universally across the footwear department and with our Asia partners to imply design intent and fidelity. As a Senior Footwear Designer, Inline, your role will be pivotal to provide clear communication to the Product Line Management Team, the Product Development Team, the Color & Trend team, and the Product Assessment Team. You will establish and build relationships with material vendors and factories across the globe. With your advanced experience in designing footwear, you will play an independent role as designer and design mentor within the whole footwear team to ensure that Brooks is the most LOVED brand for runners worldwide. ### Your Responsibilities: DESIGN - Own the full design of complex performance footwear revolutions by creating and presenting upper, midsole, and outsole sketches for inline product based on direction provided by CRAFTED BEAUTY briefs influenced by your design POV. - Create identity principles to maximize perceived value in order to drive superior aesthetic competitiveness. - Influence and elevate with design solutions the creative foundation of CRAFTED BEAUTY concerning 2D/3D creations with story, color, material, and finishes to grow the appeal of Brooks Running footwear. - Take time to explore the future of what 2D and 3D DESIGN can become and how new technology, tools, and design abilities can benefit performance run design far in the future. - Create new methods to expand the possibilities of what products we create and how we can create them through using advanced 2D and 3D Digital Design tools. - Influence the work of the Color & Trend Team to elevate the deeper integration of coloration thinking in product design. - Drive the pre-season product development to shape and inform templates for CRAFTED BEAUTY for the sequential in-line season. - Organize and deliver product design presentations, both physical and digital work, including exploratory process, using your evaluation, judgment, and interpretation to select the right course of action. - Provide feedback and guidance to Associate Designers, Designer 1, and Designer 2. - Respond thoughtfully and non-defensively to design critique with multiple design solutions and influence others through key decisions, milestones, and timelines. - Seek to constantly be at the top of your game. Learn what is cutting-edge and get involved in where 2D and 3D DIGITAL DESIGN technologies and tools are going. These will be key methods to influence others in your team. TEAM COLLABORATION - Drive design within a product creation team to deliver industry-leading products and stories. - Actively influence the collaborative work with the Advanced Design Team to move our products forward. - Actively influence the 3D CAD Design Team to move our products forward - integrate 3D CAD tools in your design process. - Influence the Color - Material & Trend Design Team to integrate seasonal color and trend concepts. - Actively interact and influence various footwear team experts in Product Color & Trend, Product Materials, Product Development, Product Line Management, and Product Assessment. Utilize their reports to inform our design approach and assume a team lead role for the work group. - Act as a design expert and design leader across other teams – facilitate conversations, lead by example, and show the “how”. - Be a trusted partner to the development teams in Asia and our overseas production sites. - As the brand grows, onboard and develop new Footwear Design members, providing and enshrining best team practices to a growing team and function. - Teach and mentor other members of the Footwear Team as they accelerate their knowledge of new digital tools. ACCOUNTABILITY - Maintain calendar/timelines/deadlines that result in a timely completion of each project - As an expert in product design, use your experience to influence your product team. - Shape and form templates for CRAFTED BEAUTY and SEASONAL BEAUTY in partnership with design leadership. - Answer critique with a curious mindset – propose alternative options after more design exploration. - Have a strong understanding of the design jet stream to keep informed on what’s trending and how this may influence our design. - Anticipate questions or perceived risks - prepare analysis and reasoning. - Balance your experience with your intuition to deliver unexpected results. - Accountable for exploring and translating how all identity elements play together on a product to enhance the product. - Advanced knowledge of prototyping and the ability to use handmade models to demonstrate proof of ideas. - Conduct visits to our factories and material suppliers to gain insights and maintain a high level of understanding of the footwear manufacturing process. ### Qualifications: - 4-year college or university degree in industrial, graphics, apparel, or footwear design, or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be substituted for a degree - 7+ years of experience creating color/material/textile programs and future vision in a retail/manufacturing environment. - 2D and 3D CAD experience with complex surfacing and geometry, such as Rhino, Blender, and Adobe Substance 2d and 3d Suite, Solidworks, etc. - Thorough knowledge of art and design, with a clear understanding of visual design or any design-related environment - Proven experience creating and leading the execution of vision and strategy - Ability to understand design concepts and think conceptually - Ability to understand design conceptually across product categories - Ability to create designs that meet category needs and commercial opportunities - Ability to operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing work environment - Ability to build and foster relationships in a team environment. This position requires employee to engage with many stakeholders, as well as manage various information and relationships - Ability and desire to push themselves, others, and the brand forward. - Ability to influence and collaborate with key business partners - Keen attention to detail in planning, organization, and execution of tasks (self and through others), while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all of the pieces fit together and affect one another. - Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help out wherever necessary. - Passionate participation in Brooks’ sports activities is a plus, overridden by the ability to understand and empathize with the runner in order to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community. - Mastery with Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop - Competent using Apple Mac Operating system - Proficiency with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint etc.) - Embraces and lives the Brooks values! - Travel 10% (Domestically/Internationally)