Lead Footwear Tooling Engineer / Lead Footwear Tooling Engineeress

Footwear Tooling Engineer

As a Footwear Tooling Engineer, you will create groundbreaking concepts and products for high-performance athletes while advancing On’s sustainability goals. Working in a collaborative environment, you’ll shape the future direction of our pinnacle performance products and technologies through innovation and design.

You will take ownership of the bottom unit development for our performance products and technologies, collaborating closely with designers and developers here at On Labs in Zurich, as well as our tooling team in Vietnam, to create the highest quality products. From concept creation through prototyping, you will guide the team on bottom unit materials, geometries, and construction, focusing on critical manufacturing, biomechanical performance, and durability. Moreover, you will play a key role in identifying and implementing process improvements for all bottom unit development across the company.

Your Mission

• Lead the bottom unit development for On’s performance products.
• Provide solutions to design and construction constraints leveraging your knowledge of materials and manufacturing.
• Evaluate and improve product designs for manufacturability and durability by reviewing 2D/3D CADs, prototypes, and feedback from testing teams.
• Ensure alignment with product specifications and manufacturing capabilities.
• Use your understanding of plastics injection molding to advise on cost, design, and molding capabilities of injected components in the bottom unit.
• Collaborate with our Asian counterparts and support mold shop teams on tooling revisions and manufacturing concerns.
• Assist the development, product management, and design teams with any tooling-related questions or issues.
• Evaluate current workflows and create process improvements to maximize efficiencies and advance testing.

Your Story

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a footwear engineering role, working closely with development and production, ideally in footwear tooling development.
• Technical knowledge of various materials, mold construction, and manufacturing processes relevant to footwear; in-depth knowledge of plastics injection molding principles, including cost, design, and molding capabilities.
• Experience working with 2D and 3D CADs (Rhino is a bonus); proficiency in reviewing and evaluating 2D/3D CADs for manufacturability, durability, and alignment with product specifications.
• Experience in 3D modeling and rapid prototyping tools.
• Demonstrated project management skills, with the ability to provide solutions within complex constraints.
• Experience working with biomechanical performance principles as they relate to footwear bottom unit design.
• Experience collaborating cross-functionally with designers, developers, product management, and testing teams.
• Experience working with international manufacturing partners on tooling revisions and manufacturing concerns.
• Strong communication skills to provide clear guidance and technical support to various stakeholders.
• Excellent time management skills with the ability to meet multiple deadlines.
• Willingness to travel to Asia at least twice a year.

About the Team

Our mission is to define and create the future of sportswear by bringing groundbreaking innovations to life. At the forefront of material science, sports science, and engineering, we develop products that push the boundaries of performance and sustainability while blending in unique aesthetic appeal that embodies On’s design DNA.

Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.