Director, Footwear Design Operations

Beaverton, OR, United States

Become a Part of the NIKE, Inc. Team

NIKE, Inc. does more than outfit the world’s best athletes. It is a place to explore potential, obliterate boundaries and push out the edges of what can be. The company looks for people who can grow, think, dream and create. Its culture thrives by embracing diversity and rewarding imagination. The brand seeks achievers, leaders and visionaries. At NIKE, Inc. it’s about each person bringing skills and passion to a challenging and constantly evolving game.

The first spark of a product idea sets the NIKE, Inc. Product team into motion. The team of developers, testers, engineers, designers and managers obsess over Nike’s iconic silhouettes and create groundbreaking new styles. They collaborate, ideate and refine products’ construction, fit and materials. They maintain a keen understanding of consumer and market trends. They skillfully operate at the intersection of buyer needs, technical feasibility and business objectives. And they work lockstep with Merchandising, Design, Manufacturing and others to produce the final result: products that reflect the soul of sport and inspire athletes to reach new levels of performance.

Global Footwear (FW) Excellence Design Operations partners with our FW Design Center of Excellence (COE) and consumer businesses (Mens, Womens, and Kids) to drive design-specific strategies and priorities related to excellence in the craft of footwear design. The FW Design Excellence team drives a comprehensive end-to-end Design process and includes Speed, Core, Advanced Material Design, Digital Transformation, and our Flex Studio. This group ensures that we are continually advancing the craft of footwear design in service of product excellence.

Who We Are Looking For

We’re looking for a Director, Footwear Design Excellence Operations! In this role, you will be accountable for strategic oversight of the entire body of excellence initiatives and activities to drive the future of footwear design across all Nike businesses. You and your team of three Leads enable and elevate footwear design excellence across Speed, Core, Flex, Materials, and Digital including driving collaborative, innovative, and effective design working sessions, ideation workshops, and review moments.

This role partners with the VP of Footwear Design, their leadership team, and cross-functional Design Operations partners to define clear and consistent moment expectations, tools, and processes while also constantly evolving to improve collaboration and amplify creativity.

The ideal candidate must have a strong strategic mind, team leadership experience, a passion for Design and design processes, an unrelenting focus on creativity and craft, and the capacity to navigate ambiguity.

What You Will Work On

If this is you, you’ll be working with FW Design Excellence Leadership and Global Design Operations Leadership to build and evolve a strategic operating model that prioritizes an innovative and elevated approach to creativity in footwear design while balancing the needs of the business inclusive of head-to-toe connectivity and end-in-mind expression across the Mens, Womens, and Kids businesses.

A typical day/week looks like working with your direct team to accelerate and enable workstreams, support their professional development, and clear roadblocks. You will meet regularly with the leadership team to clarify priorities, provide thought partnership, and identify pain-points for solutioning. You will oversee the orchestration of design workshops, reviews, and cross-functional moments and will partner with a wide variety of ops partners to ensure work is aligned to strategy and all key deliverables are tracking to deadlines.

Who You Will Work With

You will report to and work directly with the Senior Director for Global Design Operations and your key leader partner will be the VP of FW Design Excellence. You’ll manage a team of three Design Operations Leads. This role also works with a broad spectrum of cross-functional partners including senior design leaders, designers and design teams, operations peers, Digital Studios, Innovation, makers labs, and more.

What You Bring

8-10 Years work Experience in Product Creation, Operations, Strategy, Consulting, or Relevant industry, or equivalent combination of education, experience and training

Experience embedding into a cross-functional team

Creative mindset and deep understanding of creative processes

The ability to translate complex subject matter or processes into simplified visual tools

Experience with AirTable, SmartSheet or other Project Management software

Ability to influence and facilitate at the executive level

Experience working with creative/design teams is preferred – doing so at scale (at a company with 1000+ employees) is a bonus

High-level/basic literacy related to 3D tools (ex: Gravity Sketch) and 3D workflows is a super bonus

Passion for simplified processes + workflows to enable the right work at the right time, creating the appropriate environment for decisions that stick

Passion for questioning assumptions and disrupting/improving traditional ways of working

Highly collaborative approach, value for synergy

Strong communication both written and visual including strong presentation skills

Ability to manage complex projects and balance multiple competing priorities in a single workstream

Comfortable working in ambiguous environments and driving a team to clarity and results

Passionate, curious problem solver

Change agent/change management skillset

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

NIKE, Inc. is a growth company that looks for team members to grow with it. Nike offers a generous total rewards package, casual work environment, a diverse and inclusive culture, and an electric atmosphere for professional development. No matter the location, or the role, every Nike employee shares one galvanizing mission: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

NIKE, Inc. is committed to employing a diverse workforce. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.

Benefits

Whether it’s transportation or financial health, we continually invest in our employees to help them achieve greatness – inside and outside of work. All who work here should be able to realize their full potential.

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