Lead, Footwear Design Exploration

Under Armour, Inc; Baltimore (MD); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Volunteer days

Maternity & parental leave

Health & wellness benefits

Job summary

Under Armour in Baltimore, MD is seeking a Lead, Footwear Design Exploration to identify opportunities, create concepts, and develop exploratory design work that supports future growth of our footwear.

Reporting to the Director of Exploratory Design, you will connect athlete needs, market shifts, and emerging technologies to actionable footwear opportunities, collaborating across design, product management, and manufacturing.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and relevant experience in footwear design or related field.
• Strong understanding of footwear consumer needs and market trends.
• Ability to translate insights into compelling design opportunities.
• Experience with AI-enabled design tools preferred.

Responsibilities

• Identify emerging footwear trends and whitespace opportunities.
• Translate insights into concepts, visual assets, and prototypes.
• Explore new materials, constructions, and technologies for future products.
• Collaborate with design, product management, and manufacturing partners.
• Support seasonal kickoffs and future product pipelines.

Skills

Footwear Design

Innovation

Concept Development

Visualization

Cross-functional Collaboration

AI-enabled Design

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

AI-enabled design tools

Visualization platforms

Job description

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

At Under Armour, we are committed to empowering those who strive for more, and the company's values - Act Sustainably, Celebrate the Wins, Fight on Together, Love Athletes and Stand for Equality - serve as both a roadmap for our teams and the qualities expected of every teammate.

Our Values define and unite us, the beliefs that are the red thread that connects everyone at Under Armour. Our values are rallying cries, reminding us why we're here, and fueling everything we do.

Our pursuit of better begins with innovation and with our team's mission of being the best. With us, you get the freedom to go further - no matter your role. That means developing, delivering, and selling the state-of-the-art products and digital tools that make top performers even better.

The Lead, Footwear Design Exploration is responsible for identifying emerging opportunities, creating concepts, and developing exploratory design work that supports the future growth of Under Armour Footwear. Reporting to the Director, Exploratory Design, this role connects athlete needs, marketplace shifts, emerging technologies, cultural influences, and design trends to actionable footwear opportunities. This role is a creator first, developing concepts, inspiration, visual assets, and exploratory product ideas that help Product Creation teams see around corners, challenge convention, and pursue opportunities that can drive future growth and differentiation.

Your Impact

• Identify emerging footwear trends, athlete needs, consumer shifts, cultural influences, and whitespace opportunities that can strengthen Under Armour’s position in the market.
• Translate insights into concepts, inspiration, visual assets, exploratory prototypes, and actionable product direction for Footwear Design and Product Creation teams.
• Explore new forms, constructions, materials, technologies, and design opportunities while keeping exploratory work connected to athlete relevance and business opportunity.
• Create inspiration and opportunity platforms that support seasonal kickoffs, exploratory initiatives, Greenhouse work, and future product pipeline discussions.
• Partner with Footwear Design, Product Management, Merchandising, Innovation, Development, Testing, strategic factory partners, and materials and technology partners to develop and refine concepts.
• Utilize AI-enabled design tools and visualization technologies to accelerate concept generation, design iteration, creative exploration, and asset creation.
• Maintain ongoing alignment with category teams to ensure exploratory outputs remain practical, relevant, actionable, and connected to Footwear priorities.
• Share insights, concepts, and exploratory outputs that build organizational capability and support a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and continuous learning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with typically 8 years of relevant experience or Master's degree with typically 6 years of relevant experience or typically 12 years of relevant work experience without degree.
• Experience in Footwear Design, Innovation, Concept Design, Product Creation, or a related creative product field.
• Strong understanding of footwear consumer needs, category trends, product creation processes, and marketplace dynamics.
• Knowledge of footwear construction, materials, manufacturing considerations, and exploratory product creation.
• Strong concept development, visualization, storytelling, and presentation capabilities.
• Ability to translate insights, trends, and athlete needs into compelling design opportunities.
• Experience using AI-enabled design tools, visualization platforms, and emerging creative technologies preferred.
• Strong creative judgment, product sensibility, collaboration skills, and ability to influence cross-functional partners.

Workplace Location

• Location: This individual must reside within commuting distance from our Baltimore, MD (HQ) office.
• Work Schedule: This role follows a hybrid work schedule, requiring 4 days in-office per week.
• Travel: As needed to support product creation, partner engagement, and exploratory development.

Sponsorship Eligibility: (US ONLY) UA does not offer sponsorship of job applicants for employment-based work authorization for this position at this time.

Relocation

• Relocation may be provided up to a specified amount

Base Compensation

$110,000.00-$150,000.00USD

Most new hires fall within this range and have the opportunity to earn more over time. Initial placement within the salary range, however, is based on an individual's relevant knowledge, skills and experience for the position. UA is committed to helping our teammates succeed and advance in their careers. Base salary is only one component of our competitive Total Rewards package.

• Paid "UA Give Back" Volunteer Days: Work alongside your team to support initiatives in your local community
• Maternity and Parental Leave for eligible and FMLA-eligible teammates
• Health & fitness benefits, discounts and resources- We offer teammates across the country programs to promote physical activity and overall well-being

#LI-JW1

#LI-Hybrid

Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity

At Under Armour, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, family or paternal status and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Under Armour seeks to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people representing a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact our Human Resources team via [e-mail].