Sr. Designer Footwear Product Creation - Sportwear (pooling)
Adidas
Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
- Partner with Product Creation Lead along with Sourcing and Factory leads to develop industry leading creative and functional (manufacturing and costing) solutions for assigned concept or category.
Key Responsibilities:
- Create and revise Technical Packages for assigned styles/models and ensure all key must haves are achieved, focusing on aesthetic, proportion, costing, and manufacturing
- Interpreting design intent, offering alternative and supplementary solutions; acting as a technical resource to HQ partners and Factory Leads
- Track and facilitate prototyping of multiple projects, identify and address key issues and challenges in construction/manufacturing/costing, and plan accordingly to deliver world class product
- Manage multiple projects with tight timelines, with expectations to manage timelines for self and team
- Acts as a technical resource to other team members and HQ partners
- Steer and coach team members and their creative processes and drive development of direct reports
- Collaborate with HQ with design support for potential in-line and SMU designs
- Review and approve development stages of sample execution
- Participate in creation of annual and long-term Creative Direction strategies
- Present and communicate creative solutions with clarity, effectively selling in ideas to variety of stakeholders
- Identify opportunities of improvement and change, and initiate own proposals/projects
- Seek out new Design resources that can deliver world class results
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- High level of interpreting design intent, offering alternative solutions, and acting as a technical resource
- High level of understanding of 2D and 3D design
- Expert in writing product specs and construction standards instructions
- Strong knowledge of product design and development
- Proficient working with factory vendors to ensure and improve manufacturability
- Prior knowledge of taking product from conception through implementation preferred
- Knowledge of footwear concepts in construction/development strongly preferred
- Comprehensive understanding of consumer markets, specifically in the sporting goods industry
- Understanding of various product types, silhouettes and categories
- Strong problem solving, organization and communication and comprehension skills
- Collaborator, resilient leader, and works well with others
- Understanding of color / material trends, compatibility, and color placement
- Speaks up with courage for self and the team
- Ability to understand challenges or underlying concerns, share ideas and develop effective responses
- Ability to manage multiple projects with tight timelines, with expectations to manage timelines for self and team
- Highly organized with a high tolerance for ambiguity, with an outstanding ability to seamlessly balance constantly evolving priorities
- Proficient ability to dive deep into details and following through to organize complexity into simplicity
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a keen awareness of the audience
- Ability to effectively present to groups, including members of all organizational levels
- Digital Design Skills proficiency (design based software knowledge needed: adobe Creative Suite – Illustrator, Photoshop; Rhinoceros and other CAD software knowledge is a plus)
- IT skills: Excel, Word, PowerPoint: advanced /Outlook
- Strong visual communication skills and verbal skills with the ability to create impactful/exciting/effective visuals
- Language: English: excellent
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:
- Under-graduate level Design education or combination thereof
- Solid education and advanced experience in the creative development of communication tools
- At least 6-8 years experience in Sporting Goods/Fashion Industry or Design on managerial level
- Proven experience with the entire design process (project scope, conception, timing and planning, production/execution of design solution, pre-press processes)
- Passion for adidas and its mission
- Passion for sports, culture, design