Principal Footwear Designer, Innovation Leader

Deckers Brands; Portland (OR); Hybrid; USD 138,000 - 186,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discounts

Growth opportunities

Health & Wellness

Time off

Job summary

Deckers Brands seeks a Principal Designer, Footwear – HOKA Innovation in Portland, OR. You will drive creative exploration for next-gen performance footwear, collaborating with athletes, engineers, and developers to translate insights into innovative concepts and technologies.

You will shape breakthrough solutions and inspire teams through design leadership, balancing creativity with manufacturing realities, while traveling for inspiration and validation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in apparel, footwear, industrial, transportation design or equivalent.
• 8-10+ years of related performance footwear design experience.
• 1-3+ years of people management experience preferred.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and engineer future performance footwear blending innovation, athlete needs, and HOKA design DNA.
• Manage and drive innovation projects aligned to the HOKA innovation strategy and calendar.
• Develop and refine accurate 2D and 3D design techpacks, renderings, and product storytelling.
• Collaborate with elite athletes and testing teams to test, iterate, and refine products.
• Translate insights into advanced concepts and radical product solutions.
• Travel with the team to factories, tradeshows, and athlete events.

Skills

Footwear design

Design leadership

Team management

Prototyping

Digital storytelling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in apparel, footwear, industrial, transportation design, or equivalent combination of education and experience

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Photoshop

Figma

Rhino

Grasshopper

Blender

CLO

Keyshot

Gravity Sketch

Vizcom

Midjourney

Claude

Job description

Deckers Brands seeks a Principal Designer, Footwear – HOKA Innovation in Portland, OR. You will drive creative exploration for next-gen performance footwear, collaborating with athletes, engineers, and developers to translate insights into innovative concepts and technologies.

You will shape breakthrough solutions and inspire teams through design leadership, balancing creativity with manufacturing realities, while traveling for inspiration and validation.