Footwear Designer - Inline; Altra)

Organized in 1899, VF Corporation is a global leader in the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories. Our highly diversified portfolio of brands spans multiple geographies, product categories, consumer demographics and sales channels. VF relies on its Powerful Brands, Powerful Platforms, One VF approach to business to support its brands, maintain its competitive edge and drives a winning company culture

Position:
Footwear Designer II

What will you do?

A day in the life of a Footwear Designer II at Altra looks a little like this.

You will be a critical role in generating functional and aesthetically appropriate footwear for Altra’s Athletic, Outdoor, and Casual Lifestyle categories. You will be asked to participate in the creative direction for all footwear design projects, maintain consistent and relevant design language, and provide industry insight and recommendations in creating elite technical product that aligns with Product Line Management, Sales and Merchandising vision and overall brand strategy.

You will work alongside some of the most innovative, industry-challenging leaders in creating footwear that pushes boundaries and challenges old paradigms to innovate and discover solutions for Altra customers.

Let’s break down that day-in-the-life a bit more.

• Daily management of assigned projects and workload.
• Collaborate with cross-functional product partners:
  Product Line Management, Product Development, Marketing, and Sales.
• Coordinate Design deadlines to ensure on-time delivery of design projects and tasks.
• Participate inproduct strategy meetings to ensure competitive product design and successful products for the Altra brand.
• Develop concepts and creative strategies that fulfill objectives of category, concept, briefs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional team members to ensure consumer and brand focus is met.
• Participate in creation of short-term and long-term creative direction strategies.
• Identify opportunities of improvement, process change, and initiate own proposals/projects.
• Seek out new Design resources, materials and technologies to assist in the development of leading-edge product.
• Partner with Product Line Management to develop and sharpen briefs, lead collaborative idea generation, and develop consumer insights with cross-functional teams.
• Translate briefs and marketing plans into creative concepts that are clearly articulated in mood boards, interactive prototypes then develop presentations and storytelling vehicles to socialize and gain buy-in on your ideas
• Learn new skills and stay abreast of technical and digital design developments and successfully apply these to work practices
• Verbally present concepts and design solutions to mid and senior level managers. Ability to constructively discuss, utilize, and receive feedback to create excellent product.
• Manage multiple projects, with sensitivity to department priorities and deadlines.
• Willingness and ability to travel to sourcing countries, factory partners, team offsites and brand events to drive team projects.
• Perform other duties as required/assigned by manager.

What do you need to succeed?

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 your3-5 years of experience
and professional achievements.

The foundation skills you will need in this position are:

• Ability to understand complex and sometimes fuzzy problems in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficient at Performance Tech Pack and Tooling 2D Blueprint creation.
• Strong knowledge of foot anatomy.
• Knowledge of how to…