Senior Materials Architect for Footwear Innovation

KEEN Footwear; Portland (OR); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Portland, OR based role

Job summary

KEEN Footwear in Portland, OR is seeking a Principal Materials Developer to lead enterprise materials strategy, development, and commercialization for multiple product categories. You will bridge Product, Design, Innovation, Sustainability, Sourcing, and Manufacturing to drive performance, sustainability, cost, and supply resilience across regions.

This senior individual contributor role provides technical leadership, mentors others, and guides decisions without direct people management, with a

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field required.
• 10+ years of materials development leadership experience across footwear categories, seasons, or regions.
• Experience influencing global cross-functional teams and commercialization of innovative materials.

Responsibilities

• Defines enterprise materials metrics, reporting, and decision framework to guide innovation pipelines and supply risk across categories.
• Leads development and commercialization of high-complexity materials balancing design, performance, sustainability, cost, and manufacturability.
• Sets strategy, standards, taxonomy, and governance for global materials libraries and data readiness.
• Establishes multi-season materials roadmaps guiding strategic seasonal plans from concept to commercialization.

Skills

Footwear materials expertise

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Strategic thinking

Mentorship and coaching

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Materials Engineering, Textiles Engineering, Product Development, or related field

Tools

PLM systems

CAD/Visualization tools

MS Office

Job description

KEEN Footwear in Portland, OR is seeking a Principal Materials Developer to lead enterprise materials strategy, development, and commercialization for multiple product categories. You will bridge Product, Design, Innovation, Sustainability, Sourcing, and Manufacturing to drive performance, sustainability, cost, and supply resilience across regions.

This senior individual contributor role provides technical leadership, mentors others, and guides decisions without direct people management, with a