Senior Footwear Materials Design Leader

Aquent (United States); Beaverton (OR); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent is seeking a Senior Manager, Footwear Material Design to lead innovative material concepts for sport footwear, bridging art, science, and streetwear culture. You will elevate consumer product experiences by shaping design direction, translating insights, and driving material innovation across cleated footwear, training and golf lines.

Collaborate with leadership and cross-functional partners, including product design, color design, and development teams, to position the brand at the

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in design, art, or a related field, or equivalent education/training.
• 8+ years in material/footwear design with leadership experience.
• Collaborative, solution‑oriented mindset.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite.
• Deep product creation knowledge including construction and build processes.
• Proven people management or leadership inclination.
• Ability to translate consumer insights into compelling product narratives.
• Experience with material innovations and technologies.
• Experience creating mood boards and inspiration presentations.
• Understanding of the Footwear Product Creation process.
• Experience collaborating with manufacturing partners to ensure design intent.
• Strong presentation skills for diverse audiences.
• Portfolio required.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with leadership and cross-functional teams to advance materials and manufacturing approaches.
• Shape design direction and dimensional strategy for materials.
• Translate consumer insights into compelling narratives at product/collection level.
• Integrate design, development, and manufacturing to achieve excellence.
• Leverage knowledge of youth culture, color trends, fashion, art, and sports for innovation.
• Work with color teams, developers, merchandisers, and project managers on cleated footwear.

Skills

Adobe Creative Suite

Presentation skills

Team leadership

Material design

Footwear design

Consumer insights

Communication

Education

Bachelor in design/arts or related field

Tools

Keynote

PowerPoint

Acrobat

Miro

Job description

Aquent is seeking a Senior Manager, Footwear Material Design to lead innovative material concepts for sport footwear, bridging art, science, and streetwear culture. You will elevate consumer product experiences by shaping design direction, translating insights, and driving material innovation across cleated footwear, training and golf lines.

Collaborate with leadership and cross-functional partners, including product design, color design, and development teams, to position the brand at the