Job Offer: Senior Lead Materials Development for Performance in Apparel
As the Senior Lead Materials Development for Performance in Apparel, you will play a pivotal role in driving material excellence across our diverse apparel lines. Your expertise will significantly influence apparel design, aesthetics, and product quality. You will inspire cross-functional teams with a strategic vision while championing ambitious, sustainable solutions that align with ON Running’s brand identity.
Your Mission
- Guide, Curate, and Develop a Premium Material Palette: Ensure that selected materials enhance the garment's fit, trims, and finishes, aligning with our design and performance identity as the world’s leading premium sports brand. Continuously feed a pipeline of innovative material concepts for design.
- Manage Concept Stage Through Commercialization Handoff: Oversee material development from the initial design brief to product commercialization handoff, ensuring adherence to timelines and maintaining clear communication with suppliers.
- Drive Sustainability & Implement Innovation: Collaborate with the Head of Apparel Materials and our innovation and sustainability teams to integrate new preferred materials and commercially viable innovations into our product line. Identify and onboard new material partners while liaising with global sourcing to build a robust and relevant supplier network.
- Financial Acumen: Manage upfront material pricing and lead times with suppliers, ensuring alignment with project goals and business objectives.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as a key partner to all stakeholders in product creation, including Design, Product Management, Development, Testing, and Sales.
Your Story
- Experience: You bring over 10 years of global experience in apparel, material development, or a related industry, with a strong focus on performance apparel products. You can identify materials that enhance the athlete experience and promote ON’s mission of “Feel nothing to feel everything.”
- Technical Expertise: You possess extensive knowledge of materials and trims, including natural and synthetic fiber types, wovens, knits, performance finishes, insulation, and print techniques. You have successfully developed directional material franchises with global suppliers.
- Strategic Vision: You have a strong eye for product aesthetics, a deep awareness of industry trends, and the ability to think and act strategically regarding ON Running's market positioning.
- Communication: You possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, allowing you to collaborate effectively with internal and external partners globally and present complex information clearly.
- Organizational Skills: You are highly detail-oriented and skilled in project management, adept at balancing creative direction with organization in a fast-paced environment.
- Global Exposure: Experience in global material sourcing and development, including travel to key manufacturing hubs, trade fairs, and global sourcing offices, is essential.
Meet the Team
We are responsible for creating innovative products for On. With a vital responsibility to meet the needs and demands of our runners and new customers, we research, design, develop, and test numerous ideas scientifically and aesthetically. Only products that meet our rigorous testing standards ever make it to market.
What We Offer
At On, we cultivate an environment centered around growth and progress. We offer tools designed for holistic development—encouraging individuals to stay active, learn, explore, and innovate. Our distinctive approach combines a supportive, team-oriented atmosphere with access to personal self-care resources, fostering both physical and mental well-being.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to creating a fair and inclusive work environment where all recruitment, advancement, and retention decisions are made free from discrimination.
Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.
Work locationZürich, Switzerland