At a Glance
As a Lead Innovation Footwear Developer, you will be a driving force at the forefront of On's product evolution. Operating with a high degree of autonomy, you will lead complex projects, challenge conventions, and champion innovative approaches that define the future of footwear. This role requires mastering technical complexity, managing key stakeholder relationships, and translating visionary concepts into scalable, performance-driven products.
Your Team
On's Innovation team is an agile, interdisciplinary group of footwear creation specialists, advanced manufacturing experts, and pioneers in the future of sports. Together, we drive On's innovative solutions and athlete-informed technologies that distinguish On footwear.
We are committed to challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries to foster footwear innovation. As a member of the On Innovation Team, you will think creatively and bring groundbreaking ideas to life.
Your Mission
- Lead and own the end-to-end creation of high-impact, innovative product concepts, managing multiple projects independently from initial strategy through to commercialization.
- Leverage expert knowledge of manufacturing processes, material properties, and biomechanics to troubleshoot significant and unique issues.
- Act as a key influencer and central communication hub among diverse internal teams and major external T1/T2 partners, effectively managing expectations and negotiations while communicating confidently with stakeholders at all levels.
- Serve as the guardian for product performance by partnering with the testing team to translate consumer and athlete feedback into meaningful design iterations.
- Critically assess and validate last shapes with last engineers to perfect intended fit and performance, collaborating with computational designers to pioneer upper patterns and construction adjustments that enhance fit and durability.
- Document complex tooling and upper-related issues, clearly defining and communicating correction actions to all stakeholders while managing comprehensive tech packs, specification sheets, and BOMs to meet critical development timelines.
- Act as a leader within the team, determining procedures for new assignments and potentially supervising the activities of other team members.
Your Story
- 8+ years of progressive experience in footwear development, focusing significantly on innovation and bringing new technologies to market.
- Bachelor’s or Master's Degree in Engineering, Material Science, or another relevant technical field.
- Expert-level knowledge of advanced footwear manufacturing processes, understanding factory capabilities, tolerances, and limitations for designing scalable replication.
- A natural technical curiosity and a robust, root-cause analysis approach to problem-solving.
- In-depth knowledge of advanced footwear materials, including their properties and performance characteristics, along with experience in advanced testing and analysis.
- Proven ability to lead the scaling of new technologies while assessing their commercial viability and factory readiness.
- Exceptional communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to present and defend concepts confidently to senior management and external partners.
- Demonstrated ability to work autonomously, navigating ambiguity and making independent judgments on complex issues.
- Experience in mentoring junior team members or supervising project activities is a strong plus.
- Comfortable and proficient with industrial machinery and hands-on prototyping.
- Ability to travel up to 10-15% of the time.
Apply online using the form below.
Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.