Vans: Head Designer, Color & Materials at VF Corporation Costa Mesa, CA

Vans, a VF Corporation brand, is rooted in skateboarding culture and is driven by the mission to inspire and empower living off the wall. The role of Head Designer, Color & Materials is located in Costa Mesa, CA.

The Head Designer, Color & Materials collaborates with design leadership to build creative direction stories, and then creates seasonal color and material palettes for footwear and apparel.

• Manage the timeline and development of seasonal footwear and apparel/accessory color and material palettes.
• Contribute to the Vans Global Creative Vision.
• Utilize the Creative Vision, Consumer Insights, trend services, and collaborate with designers to assemble color and material direction and stories.
• From the Creative Direction, build seasonal color and material palette that meets the needs of all footwear and apparel/accessory categories.
• Produce the seasonal color and material presentation for all key seasonal milestones.
• Create color and material application usage guides in collaboration with categories to adjust and/or include seasonal alignment.
• Ensure communication of color and materials throughout Vans by creating and distributing palettes, providing supporting materials, and passing additional information to product management and development.
• Work closely with other category design leads to cross‑pollinate ideas and maintain seasonal design direction.
• Support visual consistency across product areas by maintaining palettes throughout the season.
• Organize and manage the color and material library in conjunction with the material development team.
• Create visual tools used in presentations for in‑line reviews, product line meetings, and pre‑line internal and external meetings.
• Research industry and trade shows for new ideas, insights and design trends.
• Partner with material sourcing to develop innovative fabrications using the seasonal palette.
• Develop and track a design schedule to ensure timely completion of color and material assets according to the development calendar.

• 7–10 years of experience and professional achievements in color and material design.
• Understanding of market structure, segmentation and distribution points for all collections, collaborations and categories.
• Proficiency managing a seasonal budget to deliver color and material assets.
• Experience with Fiery XF for printing color assets.
• High level proficiency in Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Word, Keynote and Powerpoint.
• Experience in research analysis and design trend cycles.
• Experience presenting, communicating and storytelling to support color and material usage across design disciplines.
• Experience designing and developing color and material assets that support design.
• Experience managing multiple overlapping seasons.
• Experience in cross‑department communication and collaboration.
• Experience developing and managing designers.
• Experience coordinating/scheduling the seasonal design calendar.
• Strong vision on market trends.
• Excellent knowledge of formulating color and material palettes.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of color and material design tools.
• Excellent communication skills, including presenting concepts to executive boards, cross‑department teams and management.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes, textile and material construction and properties.
• Analytical and problem‑solving skills.
• Leadership to partner and drive performance.
• Ability to work with various counterparts to build seasonal strategies aligned with business initiatives and goals.

Vans offers developmental opportunities, a competitive compensation package, and a benefits program that includes medical, dental, vision and 401(k). The company emphasizes diversity, inclusion, and a respectful workplace.

Salary range: $ – $ USD annually. The position is eligible for additional compensation awards.

VF is committed to creating an inclusive environment and provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin, citizenship, disability, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state or local laws.

VF will accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and complies with all local Fair Chance ordinances.