Altra: Senior Footwear Concept Designer- Innovation

At Altra, we are on a never-ending journey to seek out opportunities to unlock potential in ourselves and others and to create a more diverse and inclusive running community. When we’re all working together as the best versions of ourselves, we can feel empowered both individually and as a community.

So, before we get to the job details, take a minute to learn a little more about us – our values and our culture. If you can see yourself working side‑by‑side with a team of people driven to discover more about ourselves and the world around us, Altra just may be the place for you.

To learn more about our values and our culture, visit Altra Careers () or  ().

As a Senior Concept Footwear Designer for Altra Innovation, you will be working tightly with a cross functional team of developers, materials, color, product management, engineers, & testing to create something new. To remove boundaries. To take risks and to push beyond what can be seen.

You will collaborate with the Inline design team, as well as the extensive VF Design community. You will have access not only to the Altra Product and Leadership team, but many multi-disciplinary design teammates and leaders within our matrix. You will report to the Director of Innovation but have a dotted line into the Design Director and partner closely with the Design team.

This candidate will have a history of charting paths less followed, wanting to grow, learn and push boundaries and be comfortable with calculated risk. They work well in all stages of the product creation process‑conception and experimentation, rapid prototyping, and bringing new designs and concepts to commercialization. This individual will inspire confidence and understand how to influence others, enabling strong cross functional collaborative relationships.

This individual will also bring a positive attitude and align to Altra’s values of a Challenger mindset and the Spirit of Discovery, understanding they must push past roadblocks and create clarity amidst ambiguity.

We all have unique skills that we bring to work and celebrate every day. For this role, there are foundation skills you’ll need to succeed and excel. Additionally, while formal education in a related field is great to have, we are most interested in your 5‑7 years of relevant work experience in designing and developing innovative footwear and other products.

The foundational skills you will need in this position are:

• Create concepts that are new for the Brand and bridge those into footwear designs that align with Altra’s vision and takes us into the future.
• Partner and clearly communicate with all relevant team members including Design, Development and Product Management to ensure our team is aligned and we can deliver on concepts for athletes.
• Present design concepts at key stages in our process and to various leaders within the Org.
• Cobbling and prototyping skills are a bonus
• 3D design programs experience is a plus but not mandatory
• Competency in sketching, illustration, and rendering skills including ability to create 2D tech packs
• Expert knowledge of manufacturing processes and materials and how they apply to footwear
• Experienced with presentation programs:
  Keynote, PowerPoint, Acrobat, etc.
• Being a runner is not a requirement but being excited about the sport and being curious is.
• Deep knowledge of technical and non‑technical footwear constructions across both men’s and women’s.
• Extensive knowledge of the footwear industry and design and development process.
• This person will value performance details and strive to improve the performance of every product ensuring Altra’s legendary fit only improves over time.
• This person will have access to proto‑typing machines and be able to have tools necessary to innovate and create.

You'll provide leadership to fellow Designers and team members sharing your experience and product excellence with others. From concepting the future to working with our key Asia manufacturing partners, to partnering with Athletes, this role has the opportunity to put their footprints on the future‑come build with us!