Senior Manager, Core Footwear Product Design

NIKE, Inc. designs the future. At NIKE, Inc. designers chase their curiosities and build what’s next, shaping the culture and advancing human potential. The Design teams include artists, inventors and specialists, all with different focuses, including color and material experts, and apparel, footwear and graphic designers. Nike designers look to the future, aggressively pursuing materials, ideas and forms that further elevate the athlete experience, raise the bar for modern style and reduce environmental impact.

We are looking for an Senior Manager of Footwear product Design for the Nike Core Footwear design team. The ideal designer is a curious observer, eager participant and a cultural sponge – seeking insights to solve problems. You leverage your expert design skills along with highly creative problem solving to create innovative product solutions that elevate the experience and key benefits relevant to the athletes and communities we serve.

You will use your design versatility to create visually stunning and industry-leading product through deeply resonant stories – across the wide range of product in the sport performance and sport lifestyle footwear landscape. The ideal candidate thrives on team collaboration and building new working relationships, while your project management skills, strategic thinking and the ability to work through ambiguity lead your teams to successful project completion from concept to reality.

Core Footwear is responsible for design and creation of price point product across 6 category "Fields of Play", including training, running, basketball, classics, modern lifestyle and sandals.

As part of the Nike Core Footwear design team, you will work with your Snr. Design Director and category Product Manager partners to create groundbreaking footwear across the various categories of Nike design – from lifestyle to performance.

You’ll lead or participate in Key Brand and Footwear Initiatives from design through execution. You’ll champion a culturally connected vision with emphasis on product design integrity, forward thinking innovation, industry leading quality & product performance. You will bring to life the seasonal creative direction through footwear product design, future forward trends, and innovations.

You will work with the Senior Design Director and your cross functional teammates to create innovative designs. You will also communicate concepts and consumer insights to internal and external audiences; finalize tech packages and proactively follow the execution of all product details, including construction, color, form, style, detail, fit performance and cost/value requirements. You will also review all samples and clearly communicate the changes required.

As a Senior Manager with Nike Core Footwear Design you will be working hand in hand with large cross functional project team s consisting of engineers, researchers, scientists, marketing, testing, sustainability, materials, costing, etc. Your role is to represent design within your project team, and collaborate within the design community (industrial designers, materials, color, graphics, computational, etc.). You have experience and/or interest in managing, mentoring and onboarding design teammates.

This role has direct reports. The senior manager of Core footwear reports directly to the Senior Director of Core footwear.

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design or related field.
• 8+ years experience designing and developing innovative footwear and other products.
• Knowledge of form, color, materials, human factors related to elevating the consumer experience.
• Ability to translate consumer knowledge and insights into product solutions and narratives.
• Experience in technical footwear design.
• Strong Photoshop, Illustrator skills.
• Interest and experience in digital design processes.
• Must be able to build accurate 2D technical drawings (tech packs).
• Cobbling and prototyping skills are a plus.
• Strong sketching, illustration, and rendering skills.
• Solid knowledge of manufacturing processes and materials.
• Must be able to generate a broad range of concepts…