Materials Designer - Footwear

Aquent; Beaverton (OR); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent in Beaverton, OR is seeking a Materials Designer II to support footwear material design and development for an athletic and lifestyle brand. You will contribute to existing work and bring seasonal collections to life through material selection, design execution, and close collaboration with designers, product teams, and vendors.

The role covers concept development, CADs, color applications, costing awareness, and using tools like Aurora and Miro to document designs and share progress.

Qualifications

• Approximately 2–5 years of materials design experience, ideally within footwear, athletic, fashion, or a closely related product category.
• Strong understanding of footwear materials and material development processes.
• Experience with material costing, pricing discussions, material libraries, vendors, and material developers.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator.
• Experience using Aurora, particularly for uploading and managing CADs.
• Experience working in Miro.
• Strong understanding of color, materials, texture, form, trend, and consumer-focused design.
• Ability to create accurate 2D technical drawings and communicate design intent clearly.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, highly collaborative creative environment.
• Receptive to feedback and able to quickly incorporate direction into design work.
• Bachelor's degree in Design, Art, or a related discipline preferred, but not required with relevant professional experience.

Responsibilities

• Support the design and development of materials across seasonal footwear collections.
• Create and refine material concepts, CADs, color/material applications, and presentation assets.
• Partner closely with footwear designers, color designers, graphic designers, material developers, product teams, and merchandising partners.
• Navigate material libraries to identify appropriate materials based on design intent, performance, availability, and cost.
• Collaborate with vendors and material development teams on material selection, development, pricing, and execution.
• Understand material costing and help balance creative direction with commercial and production considerations.
• Upload and maintain CADs and relevant design information within Aurora.
• Use Miro to support collaborative design, ideation, and workflow processes.
• Create accurate 2D technical drawings and design specifications as needed.
• Support seasonal storytelling through materials, texture, color, finish, and innovative methods of make.
• Incorporate feedback quickly while maintaining design intent and meeting fast-moving deadlines.
• Help identify new materials, technologies, and sustainable solutions that can elevate the consumer experience.
• Present concepts, material recommendations, and design solutions to internal partners.

Skills

Materials design

Cross-functional collaboration

Color and texture understanding

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Design or related field

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Aurora

Miro

Job description

We're seeking a creative and technically skilled Materials Designer II to support footwear material design and development for a globally recognized athletic and lifestyle brand. This role will contribute to an established body of work and help bring seasonal footwear collections to life through thoughtful material selection, design execution, and cross-functional collaboration.

The ideal candidate understands both the creative and commercial sides of footwear materials—from developing material concepts and CADs to navigating material libraries, understanding costing, working with vendors, and partnering with material developers.

What You'll Do

• Support the design and development of materials across seasonal footwear collections.
• Create and refine material concepts, CADs, color/material applications, and presentation assets.
• Partner closely with footwear designers, color designers, graphic designers, material developers, product teams, and merchandising partners.
• Navigate material libraries to identify appropriate materials based on design intent, performance, availability, and cost.
• Collaborate with vendors and material development teams on material selection, development, pricing, and execution.
• Understand material costing and help balance creative direction with commercial and production considerations.
• Upload and maintain CADs and relevant design information within Aurora.
• Use Miro to support collaborative design, ideation, and workflow processes.
• Create accurate 2D technical drawings and design specifications as needed.
• Support seasonal storytelling through materials, texture, color, finish, and innovative methods of make.
• Incorporate feedback quickly while maintaining design intent and meeting fast-moving deadlines.
• Help identify new materials, technologies, and sustainable solutions that can elevate the consumer experience.
• Present concepts, material recommendations, and design solutions to internal partners.

What We're Looking For

• Approximately 2-5 years of materials design experience, ideally within footwear, athletic, fashion, or a closely related product category.
• Strong understanding of footwear materials and material development processes.
• Experience with material costing, pricing discussions, material libraries, vendors, and material developers.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator.
• Experience using Aurora, particularly for uploading and managing CADs.
• Experience working in Miro.
• Strong understanding of color, materials, texture, form, trend, and consumer-focused design.
• Ability to create accurate 2D technical drawings and communicate design intent clearly.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, highly collaborative creative environment.
• Receptive to feedback and able to quickly incorporate direction into design work.
• Bachelor's degree in Design, Art, or a related discipline preferred, but not required with relevant professional experience.

Nice to Have

• Recent experience working within a major athletic footwear brand or similarly complex footwear organization.
• Experience with footwear manufacturing and development processes.
• Adobe Photoshop and InDesign proficiency.
• Experience creating physical mockups, samples, or prototypes.
• 3D design software experience.
• Knowledge of sustainable materials and manufacturing practices.
• Experience creating and delivering presentations using Keynote, PowerPoint, or Acrobat.