Sr. Footwear Designer - Color, Material & Finish

Skechers; Manhattan Beach (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Skechers is seeking a passionate designer to own color, material, and finish for Women’s Sport footwear. You’ll work directly with the Sr. Director of Color & Materials and collaborate with merchandising and development teams to shape product aesthetics each season.

You have at least two years in footwear design with CMF fluency, strong sketching, and proficiency in Photoshop and Illustrator. Foreign travel to Asia and a degree in related design fields are preferred; pay ranges between $120,000

Qualifications

• At least two years of footwear design experience with CMF fluency.
• Sketching ability precise enough for global design translation.
• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, used as working tools.
• Ability to read color and material trends and judge which ones are worth pursuing.
• A degree in Footwear Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, or related field is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead the color, material, and graphic concepting for Women's Sport footwear each season, from concepting to tech pack delivery.
• Collaborate with development teams in the U.S. and Asia to review prototypes and ensure samples reflect design intent.
• Travel to Asia twice a year for hands-on factory and development collaboration.
• Move multiple projects in parallel, hitting calendar deadlines across time zones.

Skills

Footwear design

CMF knowledge

Sketching

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Trend reading

Education

Footwear Design degree

Tools

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Job description

Skechers was built on better questions. About comfort. About value. About what people actually needed from their shoes. Then we engineered the answers. Slip-ins reimagined how people put on shoes. Arch Fit brought podiatrist-certified support to everyday footwear. GO WALK made comfort accessible to millions. The result is one of the great growth stories in consumer brand history. A company that started in a small Manhattan Beach office in 1992 is now the world's third-largest footwear brand. More than $9 billion in annual sales, products in over 180 countries, and double-digit growth, all while the rest of the industry fights for single digits. None of it happened by waiting for permission. It happened because the right people treated the business as their own, moved fast, and worked together toward outcomes that showed up in the market. That's the standard we hire to. We're not managing a legacy. We're building one.

About The Role

Color, material, and finish are where footwear either earns its place on the shelf or disappears into the noise. This role sits at the intersection of trend intelligence and execution. You'll be working directly with the Sr. Director of Color & Materials, alongside merchandising and development teams, shaping how Skechers product looks and feels every season. If you've spent years developing that instinct and skill, keep reading.

What You'll Do

You'll lead the color, material, and graphic concepting for Women's Sport footwear each season — from early concepting through tech pack delivery. The work spans new product development and refreshing existing franchise styles to keep them relevant and commercially sharp. On any given week, you're likely to be:

• Digging into trend research across runway, retail and, materials. Then translating findings into product decisions that are brand-right and buildable.
• Partnering with development teams in the U.S. and Asia to review prototypes and ensure samples reflect design intent before they move forward.
• Traveling to Asia twice a year for hands‑on factory and development collaboration.
• Moving multiple projects in parallel, hitting calendar deadlines, and keeping cross‑timezone development work on track.

What You'll Bring

The person who succeeds here brings a sharp eye, a deep process, and the experience to back both up. Specifically:

• At least two years of footwear design experience with genuine fluency in CMF — not just aesthetics, but materials sourcing, construction implications, and what decisions look like at the factory level.
• Sketching ability precise enough that your design intent doesn't get lost in translation when it crosses an ocean.
• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, used as working tools, not finishing tools.
• The ability to read where color and material trends are heading before they peak — and the judgment to know which ones are worth chasing.
• A degree in Footwear Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, or a related field is preferred, but the quality of your work and the depth of your process matter more.

The pay range for this position is $120,000-$135,000/yr USD.

About Skechers

Skechers, a global Fortune 500® company, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel, and accessories. Serving over 180 countries and territories, Skechers connects customers to products through department and specialty stores, e-commerce and digital stores, and through our more than 5,300 Skechers retail locations.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Skechers is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful work environment. Skechers provides equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment without regard race, color, religion, gender, gender identification and expression, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, military status, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic established by local, state or federal law.

Reasonable Accommodation

Applicants for employment who require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job should request appropriate accommodation by emailing [e-mail]. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily. The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.