VF Innovation Principal, Human

Position: VF Innovation Principal, Human Performance
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A day in the life of an Innovation Manager, Human Performance at VF looks a little like this.

You will manage the day-to-day human performance testing and research projects that lead to new insights and technologies to improve athlete performance and reduce injury incidence across all VF brands in footwear, apparel, and equipment, with an initial strategic focus on footwear.

This position will independently lead biomechanics and physiology testing for VF innovation projects, including collecting, analyzing, and delivering findings with cross-functional teams in Product Creation, Design, Engineering, and Innovation during various phases of the product development process.

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

Effectively translate research and testing findings through impactful visuals and clear summaries that connect complex data with athlete’s needs.undefined

Provide project status updates to senior level executives and product creation teams with non-technical backgrounds to enable quick and actionable feedback and decisions.undefined

Partner with external testing and research projects with an industry network of academic leaders and VF testing partners as needed.undefined

Participate and attend international conferences to ensure VF stays at the cutting edge of Human Performance.undefined

Opportunity to create, build, and test your own functional prototypes for new and innovative concepts to transform the industry. Make, test, and learn will be at the heart of your role.

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 the highest level of formal education in Sport Science is great to have, we are most interested in your experience leading applied research and testing in both the lab and field.

The foundation skills you will need in this position are:

Ph.D. with a background in Exercise Physiology and/or Exercise Science or an equivalent analytical field and 3+ years of relevant work experience or equivalent combination of education, experience, and training (e.g., Masters and 5+ years or Bachelors and 7+ years)3+ years of applied laboratory-based research experience working with physiology in endurance sports preferred.

Advanced experience with study design, including collecting, recording, and analyzing data along with teaching, training, and presenting scientific principles to technical and nontechnical groups.

Advanced experience working with human subject data collection in both lab and field environments (force plates / force treadmills, IMU’s, motion capture systems (optical, markerless, IMU), stationary metabolic carts / portable metabolic systems, pressure sensor systems, thermography, high speed video, etc.) required.

Proficient Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint skills.

Experience in coding to prep, analyze, and visualize data (Python, SQL, MATLAB, Qualtrics).Open minded personality with strong problem-solving skills, who is always up for a challenge in a fast-paced environment of changing circumstances outside of one’s own control.

Ability to challenge the status quo, always looking at improving our lab’s equipment, methods, or processes when needed.

Ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholders with varying skills and perspectives.

Curious, creative, and inventive mindset that is open to learning new skills outside of the lab to expand their knowledge of the…