Senior Footwear Innovation Architect

On; Zürich; On-site; CHF 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

On in Zürich seeks a senior individual contributor to turn breakthrough footwear technologies into validated, inline-ready solutions, collaborating across Innovation Development, Product Creation, Sourcing and supply partners.

You will lead complex technical work streams from feasibility and prototyping through validation, industrialization and clean transfer into inline creation and manufacturing, guided by structured problem-solving and data-driven decisions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in sports footwear, innovation development, or R&D.
• Engineering, materials science or product development degree or equivalent.
• Deep technical expertise in at least one footwear discipline.
• Fluent in English, written and spoken.

Responsibilities

• Lead innovation-development work streams translating needs into technical requirements.
• Challenge conventional footwear construction through first-principles thinking.
• Validate and industrialize new technologies.
• Lead prototype trials and test-and-learn cycles.
• Define evidence for technology-readiness gates and clean transfer.

Skills

10+ years of experience in sports shoe

Deep technical footwear expertise

Fluent English

Strong problem-solving and data-driven

Education

Engineering/Materials Science degree or equivalent

Job description

On in Zürich seeks a senior individual contributor to turn breakthrough footwear technologies into validated, inline-ready solutions, collaborating across Innovation Development, Product Creation, Sourcing and supply partners.

You will lead complex technical work streams from feasibility and prototyping through validation, industrialization and clean transfer into inline creation and manufacturing, guided by structured problem-solving and data-driven decisions.