Lead Color Designer – Speed Apparel

Nike; Beaverton (OR); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Nike's Jordan division seeks a Lead Apparel Color Designer to craft color direction across focused opportunities, from mood boards to product specifications. You will partner with cross-functional teams—design, product management, merchandising, and development—to translate consumer, cultural, and sport insights into distinctive color stories for apparel.

You are a hands-on, collaborative designer who thrives in ambiguity, champions craft, and communicates clearly with senior stakeholders while

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Design or related field.
• Minimum 4–6 years of technically challenging color design experience in apparel, sport, footwear, or consumer product.
• Advanced understanding of color theory, palette building, color mixing, compatibility, placement, and application across apparel collections.
• Strong knowledge of apparel design and development processes, including materials, trims, graphics, print, and product construction.
• Ability to translate consumer, cultural, sport, competitive, and marketplace insights into original color concepts and product stories.
• Experience creating high-quality color mood boards, seasonal narratives, presentation tools, and detailed color specifications.
• Strong visual, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to present creative direction to diverse and senior audiences.

Responsibilities

• Develop original color palettes, color narratives, and product-specific color solutions that connect to the Jordan consumer and strengthen the overall product expression.
• Apply color across apparel line art and product concepts with precision, balancing storytelling, commercial relevance, and design intent.
• Research and synthesize consumer behavior, cultural signals, sport insights, market trends, competitive products, materials, and color direction.
• Partner with designers across disciplines to explore, make, test, learn, and refine ideas quickly while protecting product quality and craft.
• Translate broad or ambiguous opportunities into clear creative briefs, visual direction, and actionable product recommendations.
• Build compelling presentations, mood boards, prototypes, and storytelling tools that help teams evaluate possibilities and make informed decisions.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Merchandising, Development, and Innovation partners to ensure creative solutions are relevant, feasible, and executable.
• Contribute color expertise beyond a single category or project, sharing learning and helping strengthen future ways of working.
• Manage multiple workstreams and communicate progress, decisions, risks, and required inputs with clarity.
• Deliver exceptional product at pace. The speed of the process should never lower the standard of the outcome.

Skills

Color theory

Palette building

Color mixing

Color placement

Cross-functional collaboration

Storytelling

Education

Bachelor's degree in Design

Job description

Nike's Jordan division seeks a Lead Apparel Color Designer to craft color direction across focused opportunities, from mood boards to product specifications. You will partner with cross-functional teams—design, product management, merchandising, and development—to translate consumer, cultural, and sport insights into distinctive color stories for apparel.

You are a hands-on, collaborative designer who thrives in ambiguity, champions craft, and communicates clearly with senior stakeholders while