Lead Color Designer - Lifestyle - HOKA Footwear

At Deckers Brands, Together, Every Step is a promise kept that every employee can bring their authentic self, is valued and supported, as a whole person, at work and beyond. Together, Every Step is how we continue to deliver exceptional business results, experience an amazing place to work, and have a positive impact on the communities and world around us. Job Title: Lead Color Designer - Lifestyle - HOKA Footwear Reports to: Sr. Manager, Color Design - HOKA Footwear Location: Portland, OR (Hybrid) Typically 3 times per week in office, Tuesday – Thursday The Role As Lead Color Designer for HOKA Lifestyle Footwear, you’ll accelerate our footwear refresh engine, delivering newness, speed to market, and growth across lifestyle footwear. Sitting at the intersection of design, product, and merchandising, you’ll elevate color as a tool for storytelling, product differentiation, and consumer impact. You bring a strong point of view, push newness in product, and translate insights into meaningful color solutions, driving clarity and momentum from concept through final product. We celebrate diversity--of your background, your experiences and your unique identity. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive and equitable workplace where all of our employees can Come as They Are. We believe that when we bring our different perspectives to work, we are truly Better Together. Your Impact Lead color design execution on category priority projects Develop seasonal color solutions across lifestyle footwear Work against seasonal project briefs and franchise concepts, supporting new creation, refresh, and optioning strategies Manage multiple creation calendars across inline, collaborations, and SMU projects Build seasonal color palettes and application strategies aligned to creative direction Partner with product design, material design, development, merchandising, and marketing to deliver cohesive product stories Support seasonal design strategy and contribute to category-level color direction Collaborate with footwear, material, and digital design teams to deliver a holistic product point of view Contribute to seasonal creative direction and kick-off moments Explore unbriefed opportunities that push HOKA expression and innovation in color Who You Are Bachelor’s or master’s degree in industrial design, product design, or related field 6–8 years’ experience in footwear color design, with a focus on lifestyle or performance categories Advanced understanding of color theory, color application, and storytelling in footwear Strong knowledge of footwear construction, materials, and product process, including upper and tooling interaction Ability to translate trends and consumer insights into product-relevant color strategies Proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, PowerPoint, Miro or Lucid Familiarity with generative AI platforms such as Midjourney or Vizcom Strong communication and collaboration skills Portfolio demonstrating color direction, trend insight