Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design

Who We Are:

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line.

Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success:

• Runner First
• We act in the best interest of the runner
• Word is Bond
• We do what we say we’ll do
• Champion Heart
• We give our all in everything we do
• There is no “I” in Run
• We stay generous with our humanity
• Keep Moving
• We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!

We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement - because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.

Your Job
:

As the Director, Color & Trend Footwear Design, you will own the aesthetic direction for Brooks Running footwear across color, graphics, materials, finishes, and trend. You will shape the emotional experience of our products, connecting performance function with a clear aesthetic vision that helps Brooks create product runners love.

You will create and manage the long-term direction for seasonal palettes and the CRAFTED BEAUTY design language, using trend insight, design research, runner data, and digital creation tools to guide fresh, market-relevant color and material applications across the footwear line.

You will lead Color & Trend Design across inline, innovation, and lifestyle footwear, while also influencing head-to-toe initiatives and Product Virtualization. You will inspire, coach, and guide design leaders, build critical thinking and problem‑solving skills across the team, and help the group navigate ambiguity, risk, and change with clarity.

As a member of the extended Seasonal Creation Leader group, you will bring the aesthetic vision to life throughout product creation. You will partner across Design, Merchandising, Development, Product Marketing, and external teams to establish and communicate the CRAFTED BEAUTY seasonal design language and support Brooks’ goal of being the most loved brand for runners worldwide.

• Upgrade through direction, education, and coaching in footwear but also across the organization the aesthetic competitiveness of our products
• Co-create our creative foundation CRAFTED BEAUTY – PERFORMANCE EXPRESSIONS with the Director, Footwear Innovation.
• Represent the design team on the Seasonal Creation Leader team (SCLs) to create cross‑functional alignment across key decisions that impact the inline strategy across Horizon 1 (1‑3 yrs) and inform innovation strategy Horizon 2 (5‑10 yrs) with an applied color strategy.
• Manage, lead and direct the Brooks Running Footwear Color & Trend Team.
• Lead the teams through our product review gates ensuring adherence to seasonal and long‑term calendars.
• Mentor and influence managers and stakeholders on developing and applying both a critical thinking and process improvement lens on decisions.
• Oversee the inline color palette and color CAD creation process.
• Oversee the footwear pre‑development of the:

• Participate and play a key role on the footwear steering committee and footwear calibration process
• Demonstrate strong people leadership skills rooted in Connect (our leadership development program) principles.
• Promote Brooks’ Core Cultural Values:
  Responsible for team culture and keep a pulse on morale to proactively address any concerns.
• Create an organizational design to align with business strategy and conditions.
• Provide career‑development planning, coaching, training and support teams to create and foster a culture of learning, personal development, curiosity and innovation.
• Model leadership behavior across the organization.
• Drive performance management using Brooks performance management tools as a foundation.
• Initiate recognition and rewards and celebrate wins

• Direct and lead the color, graphic, material and finish design…