Career Opportunities: Designer II, Footwear Innovation (75289)

Footwear Innovation Designer The ASICS Creation Center, LLC is ASICS Corporation's product creation office based in Boston, MA. This organization's focus is on taking innovation and product creations to new heights. The team sits across the following areas: Innovation, Performance Running, Sportstyle and Core Performance Sports. At ASICS, our Sound Mind, Sound Body™ philosophy is more than a tagline, it's our way of life. Over 75 years ago our founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, saw that sport and movement had the power to lift spirits, project positivity, and propel people and whole communities forward. ASICS provides a diverse and inclusive culture that enables learning, growth, and opportunity at all levels. Our robust employee benefits allow for real work-life balance and a strong sense of community. We empower our employees to pursue their career goals. If this sounds like you, then we want you on our team.

POSITION SUMMARY:

We are looking for a passionate design innovator, to help create industry-leading innovative performance footwear designs and bring them from concept to reality. The Designer II, Footwear Innovation, collaborates with the innovation team to research, ideate, design and develop new high performance footwear technology concepts while supporting alignment with organizational processes. This person will also support the creation of prototypes, presentations and visual communication tools and tech-packs to facilitate making, development and testing, and the successful presentation and adoption of innovations in the in-line categories.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

No supervisory responsibilities.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Push the boundaries of design language, form, function and materials while maintaining performance goals and developing manufacturability. Creates sketches, rough prototypes, detailed tech packs, CAD files, and presentations to convey concept intents and works with development counterparts to provide necessary information to make and test them. Connect with the consumer, internal wear testing, and internal sports research lab, to gather insights and use these to ideate and conceptualize new high performance footwear constructions and technologies. Utilize knowledge of footwear, design, human performance, and manufacturing to propose new ways to look at our standards and develop new perspectives and the typical high performance footwear problems. Provide design exploration for innovation projects. Support and execute the global footwear innovation strategy, help identifying and driving key design opportunities linked to consumer, enterprise and business goals. Help find and support innovation partnerships beyond the design function (Research, Marketing, Engineering, Development, etc.) Adhere to footwear innovation go-to-market deadlines, including innovation reviews and mainline design reviews. Articulate important project updates and complex information to stakeholders effectively. Ensure cross-functional partners have up-to-date information on each project and facilitate effective collaborations.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

Good understanding of footwear design, construction and production. Highly creative, curious, and passionate about innovation. Ability to work through and manage ambiguity. Strong problem solving skills. Strong sketching and ideation skills. Strong presentation skills. Strong 2D cad and tech packaging skills. 3d modeling, rendering, and 3D printing skills are a plus. Knowledge and experience with sustainable design and manufacturing are a plus. Integrates handcraft and making as part of the creative process. Familiar with footwear product manufacturing processes including materials/fabrics, molding, etc. Proficient with Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop) Strong verbal and written communication skills. Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) Able to travel up to 20% of the time domestically and internationally.

CORE COMPETENCIES:

High competency in written communication. Experience and patience when communicating with international partners who utilize English as a second language. Comfortable working with international parent company structures, cultures and business processes. Demonstrates a competency of understanding how to get things done in a highly matrixed organization. Ability to sometimes shift work schedule to accommodate international calls with key business partners. Demonstrates comfort working in a fast-paced environment, that at times will have ambiguity. Consumer Focus. Innovation & Creativity. Collaboration & Mutual Respect. Self starter. Results Driven.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE:

Bachelor's degree in Design or related field. Will consider suitable combination of education, experience and training. At least 3 to 4 years' experience designing and developing innovative footwear performance products, with experience in running. Direct Innovation experience is a plus. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION YOU MUST PROVIDE A PORTFOLIO REPRESENTING YOUR WORK, (Link to website or uploaded PDF accepted.)

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

In general, the following physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to allow differently abled individuals to perform the essential functions of the job. Must be able to see, hear, speak, and write clearly to communicate with employees and/or other customers. Manual dexterity required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

In general, the following conditions of the work environment are representative of those that an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to allow differently abled individuals to perform the essential functions of the job within the environment. SALARY RANGE: $85,000 - $97,500 - Actual base pay will vary based on factors such as but limited to relevant experience equitable pay practices and time in position. ASICS