Designer II – Lifestyle Footwear

Designer II – Lifestyle Footwear

Requirements

• 4-year college or university degree in industrial, graphics, apparel, or footwear design, equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be substituted for a degree.
• 5+ years of experience creating color/material/textile programs and future vision in a retail/manufacturing environment.
• 2D and 3D CAD experience and desire to learn complex surfacing and geometry, such as Rhino, Blender, and Adobe Substance 2D and 3D Suite, etc. (not required but preferred).
• Thorough knowledge of art and design with a clear understanding of visual design or any design-related environment.
• Proven experience creating and leading the execution of vision and strategy.
• Ability to understand design concepts and think conceptually.
• Ability to understand design conceptually across product categories.
• Ability to create designs that meet category needs and commercial opportunities.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing work environment.
• Ability to build and foster relationships in a team environment. This position requires employee to engage with many stakeholders, as well as manage various information and relationships.
• Ability and desire to push themselves, others, and the brand forward.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with key business partners.
• Keen attention to detail in planning, organization, and execution of tasks (self and through others), while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all the pieces fit together and affect one another.
• Demonstration of innovation and initiative—always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help wherever necessary.
• Ability to understand and empathize with the runner to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.
• Mastery of Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop.
• Competent in using Apple Mac Operating system.
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint etc.).
• 3D not required, but a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own key product designs of lifestyle footwear by creating and presenting upper, midsole, and outsole sketches for specialty concept product based on direction provided by the merchandise briefs and in sync with our CRAFTED BEAUTY design standards and creative vision.
• Apply identity principles to maximize perceived value to drive superior aesthetic competitiveness.
• Influence and research direction of work with your design POV on storytelling, color, material, textile, finishes, market, and lifestyle trends to grow the appeal of Brooks Running lifestyle footwear.
• Stay current in the lifestyle footwear market, different category trends, and product design innovations across the global network.
• Expand the possibilities of what products we create and how we can create through the attainment of advanced 2D and 3D digital design tools.
• Incorporate 3D tools to visualize designs during the creation phase and continuously build your 3D skillset to utilize 3D in technical applications (e.g., manipulation of tooling files).
• Partner with senior design staff to align on approach and concepts around your designs to ensure alignment with CRAFTED BEAUTY principles.
• Apply learned techniques and gained experience to approach, analyze, and solve problems.
• Create and manipulate original textile prints on shell-patterns and footwear tech.
• Present footwear concepts and designs at concept debut, key milestone meetings, key internal footwear meetings, and select leadership and executive meetings as needed.
• Finalize product details and proactively follow through on the execution of the design for each product.
• Organize and deliver product design presentations, both physical and digital work, including the exploratory process, using your evaluation, judgment, and interpretation to select the right course of action.
• Develop a strong point of view and bring forward your own creative ideas; have a clear understanding of what’s trending in the market and translate to product concepts.
• Provide feedback and guidance to Designer 1 colleagues.
• Seek out mentorship from more tenured Designers.
• Respond to design critique with multiple design solutions.
• Partner within a product creation team and work across product categories on a wide range of complex projects and products to deliver industry-leading products and stories.
• Act as a main point person for the Lifestyle and Specialty Concepts Design Team, using your footwear expertise to create unique upper and tooling designs and execute original ideations into reality.
• Collaborate with Footwear Design, Product Marketing, Development, and Material Designers to focus on color and print/pattern solutions for success in the market.
• Work closely with the 3D Visualization Design Team to ensure a constant flow of information toward the creation of their digital twins.
• Work closely with Material Design and Product Development to ensure new lifestyle and specialty concept footwear material selection meets our fit/feel/ride quality standards.
• Work towards becoming a design expert and design leader across other teams—facilitate conversations, lead by example, and show the ‘how.’
• Be a trusted partner to the development teams in Asia and our overseas production sites.
• Maintain calendar/timelines/deadlines that result in a timely completion of each product and/or collection.
• Use your strong design knowledge to partner with your product teams.
• Answer critique with a curious mindset—propose alternative options after more design exploration.
• Have a strong understanding of the design jet stream to keep informed on what’s trending and how this may influence design.
• Apply your knowledge of prototyping and ability to use handmade models to demonstrate proof of ideas.
• Conduct visits to our factories and material suppliers to gain insights and maintain a high level of understanding of the footwear manufacturing process.
• Travel as necessary to Asia, Europe, trade shows, races, retailers, or other external events.

Preferred Qualifications

• 2D and 3D CAD experience and desire to learn complex surfacing and geometry, such as Rhino, Blender, and Adobe Substance 2D and 3D Suite, etc. (not required but preferred).
• 3D not required, but a plus.