Manager, Footwear Innovation Development - Athlete

Laceless Design; Seattle (WA); Híbrido; USD 127.000 - 203.000; Jornada completa

Ventajas ofrecidas por este puesto de trabajo

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

AD&D insurance

HSA with employer contribution

FSA

401K with match

Employee assistance program

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Annual bonus

Product discounts

Employee recognition

Fitness discounts

Volunteer benefits

Transportation assistance

Descripción de la vacante

Brooks in Seattle seeks a Manager, Product Development, Footwear Innovation to lead the footwear innovation development team from concept through production. You will work with cross-functional teams across the US, Asia, and factory partners to ensure products meet quality, fit, feel, ride, and performance standards.

You will coach the team, guide development toward Brooks objectives, and collaborate with internal and external partners to drive innovation and manufacturing efficiency while

Formación

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferably in Industrial Engineering, Design, etc.)
• 7+ years in athletic footwear product development.
• Proven management experience leading a high-functioning team (3+ years).
• Excellent verbal and written skills in English.
• Excellent interpersonal communication and presentation skills; detail-oriented.
• Strong organizational skills and independent work habits.
• Ability to connect decisions to customer, partner, and cross-functional impacts.
• Proficient with MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint); Flex PLM, MS Project, Illustrator a plus.

Responsabilidades

• Lead footwear innovation development from concept through production.
• Guide cross-functional teams across the US, Asia, and factories.
• Ensure products meet quality, fit, ride, and performance standards.
• Coach team members and support career development.
• Standardize development processes and share best practices with teams.

Conocimientos

English proficiency

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Educación

Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering or Design

Herramientas

Flex PLM

MS Project

Illustrator

MS Office

Descripción del empleo

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line.

Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success:

• Runner First

We act in the best interest of the runner

• Word is Bond

We do what we say we’ll do

• Champion Heart

We give our all in everything we do

• There is no “I” in Run

We stay generous with our humanity

• Keep Moving

We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!

We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement - because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.

Your Job

Job Requirements

The Manager, Product Development, Footwear Innovation leads the footwear innovation development team in bringing athlete-focused products from concept through production. Working closely with cross-functional product creation teams across the US, Asia, and factory partners, you will guide the development process and ensure products consistently meet or exceed our standards for quality, fit, feel, ride, and performance for athletes through commercialization handoff. You will generate and communicate ideas grounded in engineering principles to solve problems for athletes, enhance footwear performance, and improve manufacturing efficiency, while applying strong problem-solving, decision-making, presentation, and communication skills.

You will connect the team’s work to broader business priorities and strategy, coach team members through assigned projects, and support their career development. In partnership with the Senior Manager, Footwear Innovation, you will help guide the team toward company objectives while building strong relationships with internal and external partners. Success in this role requires a collaborative leader who recognizes that teamwork is essential to Brooks culture.

Product Development & Technical Execution

• Lead thought around footwear innovation and problem solving for athletes and achieve on-time delivery in terms of seasonal calendars with high-level understanding of the concepts of footwear creation process-pattern engineering (pattern making, block system and grade rule), model making, costing implications, materials application.
• Lead meetings with cross-functional teams during various phases to review and evaluate issues and drive action plans with an in-depth knowledge of manufacturing process and the ability to learn new manufacturing techniques and lead implementation to apply them to products;
• Demonstrate strong problem-solving skills with persistent questioning to find out the “whys?” and be proficient at problem solving for development or production issues - understanding the upstream and downstream effects;
• Effectively communicate with Asia and US teams on any issues and viable solutions for construction, cost and aesthetics.
• Lead the innovation development team to ensure that products are manufacturable and meet highest level of performance, quality and fit expectations.

PeopleManagement & Team Development

• Manage team members (including goal setting, performance review, hiring decisions, team culture, etc.) and encourage team members to actively engage in questions, research, observing, networking and experimenting to inform project and program direction.
• Provide training and coaching for the developers to build their skill sets and develop opportunities for them to grow their career.

Partnerships & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Develop strong working relationship with internal and external partners to enable joint problem solving to achieve win-win situations.

Market Awareness & Process Excellence

• Keeps abreast of market trends, category goals, new technology and consumer needs throughout the development process and engages appropriately to ensure projects are completed within corporate guidelines and goals for all facets of product creation.
• Work with Senior Manager to standardize the development process across teams and factories, deliver training and share the best practice to the cross-functional product teams.

Work Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferably in Industrial Engineering, Design, etc.)
• 7+ years relevant experience in the product development of Athletic Footwear or extremely specialized in running category. Practical management skills and experience is required.
• 3+ years proven track record leading high functioning team
• Excellent verbal and written skills in English - Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from their counterparts at US headquarters, cross-functional colleagues, factory partners, etc.
• Excellent interpersonal communication and presentation skills; must be extremely detail-oriented.
• Strong organizational skills and independent work habits;
• Keen attention to detail in planning, organization and execution of tasks, while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all of the pieces fit together and affect one another.
• Ability to anticipate how a decision made can affect our customers, our partners, our products or other departments’ operations and/or morale; “connecting the dots.”
• Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help out wherever necessary.
• Passionate participation in Brooks’ sports activities a plus, overridden by the ability to understand and empathize with the runner in order to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.
• Must be proficient with MS office application (Excel, Word and PowerPoint);Flex PLM , MS project , Illustrator experience a plus.
• Embraces and lives the Brooks values!

Benefits

Brooks is proud to offer a robust benefits package to our employees and their families!

• Benefits- including medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance, HSA and employer contribution, FSA, family & fertility assistance, 401K Savings Plan and match, employee assistance program, and transportation assistance.
• Paid Time Off- Brooks offers generous time off including five weeks of paid time off, eleven paid holidays, paid sick and parental leave.
• Bonus- in addition to base pay, Brooks employees may also be offered an annual bonus based on company performance.
• Perks- including product discounts, employee recognition, fitness discounts, volunteer and donation benefits.
• Location- You will spend 4 days per week in our Seattle offices, as we believe our organization flourishes when connections, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and celebrations happen in person.

Compensation: The pay range for this position, based out of the Brooks Seattle HQ, is $126,670 - $202,714 per year. Base pay offered will vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.